StarTools

Well folks I didn't want this to be available to the general members, but I'm at wits end literally. My initial intent was to ask Ivo privately, but evidently I'm not smart enough to figure out how to do so at this time.

You see I had a stroke about a year ago, and have forgotten many simple things I used to know, and take for granted.
This will be a dumb question for most of you, but I assure you I am not pulling you legs, and need some elementary guidance.

My setup consists of a Tak FSQ-106, and a Mallincam DS2.3 Plus Camera. I've been trying to capture the Horsehead Nebula (Tri-Color Frames), and have had limited success.
After capturing frames in FITs format, I stack them using Siril, by my understanding Siril only Normalizes the frames, then stacks them. I don't do any white balancing in Siril either.

That's where my questions begin...
Should I input this stacked frame into StarTools using

1. Linear
2. Linear, from OSC/DSLR with Bayer Matrix & not White Balanced
3. Non-linear sRGB source

I know, stupid huh? That's my new mind though. Any help would be greatly appreciated, understand that my mind is foggy but I still want to pursue this hobby, thus my plea for elementary information I should be able to figure out, but no longer have the capability to easily do.

Here is the URL which has my best attempt at capturing and processing.
http://tgalebachmo.net/astronomy/
(scroll down to the bottom of the page it is the last image).

Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide.

Regards,
Troy Galebach

Hi Troy
That's good to see you are embracing your hobby, that will be stimulating.
I don't use siiril but a member put together a guide for use maybe this is of interest.
http://download.startools.org/Siril%20w ... irilic.pdf
What version of StarTools are you using?
I would likely select the middle 2. linear option in StarTools.
I would also play with the new compose module as you have narrow band data.
https://www.startools.org/modules/composite

If you wanted to share your raw stacked data by posting a link to it we could have a play and see what is there if that helps.
Seeing has been pretty rubbish over Christmas on the few clear spells, maybe it was where you are.

Thank you happy-kat!

I have posted a link on my website at http://tgalebachmo.net/Horse_stacked.fit
It is 50 frames stacked with no white balancing hope you can help me decide which is the proper way to load the file.
It is tough remembering things for me these days, but I'm not going to give in without a fight.

Any guidance you can provide is greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Troy

Hi
I am wary of downloading from an unsecure site, perhaps you have drop box or similar site.

No other site I'm afraid happy-kat. No problem, I completely understand, I spent 40 years in IT and associated industry.
Regards,
Troy

My first pass try would have been use the latest beta 1.6x
Load startools
Compose module and load the same image for R,G,B (I think you used a single tri band filter when acquiring)
Then from the options select linear
Next I bin 50%
Crop to remove the edges and any stacking artifacts
Then wipe (don't worry it is B/W)
Now either auto dev or manual dev to taste
Now colour and choose the suitable narrow band for your data from the matrix menu
save

Just a quick first process to see what is extracted.
Then I would see if decon or star masks and life module etc. would help bring out more in a reprocess from scratch.

Oh by the way, that is my personal website. It is a virtual I lease for $130 per year, and only I have upload capability. I got to thinking, it's Linux based, and the Vendor has it locked down pretty tight, only I can enable ports which are uncommon. I do understand your hesitation, but I began to think that without bringing up a Server here in my house (a pain because I'm on satellite, and there are IP changes possible), I don't know of any site which might be more secure except for Govt. secure networks.
Thanks for the input, I downloaded the latest beta and will play around with a stack of Images I took of the Orion Nebula at the same time I took the Horsehead.
Thanks again for the advice happy-kat, it is much appreciated.

Regards,
Troy

Hi Troy,

Great to hear you're persevering!

Some great advice from happy-kat already. However, I just had a quick look at the dataset, and something is not quite right. It's as if you stacked JPEGs, rather than RAW files?

As for your hosting, you should be able to obtain and install a free SSL certificate (for example from here) for tgalebachmo.net. Your hosting provider may be able to do this for you, or you may well be able to figure this out yourself. Once installed, all traffic between vistors and your website will be encrypted.