Going Crazy on the Christmas Tree Nebula

[astronomynut]

I imaged the subject object on 24 December. Since then I have gone buggy trying to process it. It may be that I do not have enough data, but when AutoDev is used I definitely see the Cone Nebula at the right, and the triangular shaped nebula to its left, with a very bright patch of nebulosity near the top of that triangle.

I am following the standard sequence of processing that is in the Tutorials section, but one function I have not been able to puzzle out, and that is Masking specific areas. All I can manage to do is do Auto, Stars, Do, and the other functions provided with each button. But I understand that you can somehow pick areas out manually to prevent Wipe from wiping those areas.

I will note that I am using an unmodified Canon 600D DSLR camera, so that may be one reason why I am having trouble. I have nearly three hours of data at ISO800, 360 second exposures, so I know I have to have something here.

So far I have tried to work this object about a dozen times, and with the same results after Wipe, that being going from the stretched version that shows lots of information, to a result that shows two small bright blue areas that I mentioned are at the top of the Tree. I am wondering if I can somehow preserve most of this, will I get better results when I finally get to the Color module.

Needless to say, I have had thoughts of just tossing this whole project in the computer trash bin. I am definitely frustrated. Caley

[Cheman]

Caley
Care to share your data? Maybe someone can help
Che

[astronomynut]

I finally uploaded this file to Google Drive, for anyone out there who might wish to view and work with the data. If anyone does, could you please PM me as to how you got your image with StarTools. I am still struggling to understand many of the functions.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6hwUm ... sp=sharing

Caley

[Cheman]

Hi Caley
I took a quick look. First I had to bin as the image was too big for my computer. then I had to crop to try to get rid of the stacking artifacts. Then I went to wipe and I got some very strange results. I'm not sure if it was because of my binning or what. I got rectangular boxes with red borders showing up, sort of radiating out from the center. I've never seen this, but I dont use a DLSR. I had to crank up the aggressive setting in wipe to get rid of this. I dont know the cause of this, maybe Ivo can take a look.
Che

[astronomynut]

Cheman, Thanks so much for trying. It could very well be may camera, or maybe it is the light pollution in my back yard. It's about Bortle 5. I am attaching a stretched beyond the limits photo that went through StarTools, GIMP and CS2. It has colour, more than the one I posted on Astrobin, but it is laughable in my opinion. Caley

[Cheman]

Caley
thats somewhat similar to what I came up with. I think we need Ivo's opinion here

[admin]

Hi Caley,

Thanks so much for sharing the data - it's very useful!

I opened the file.
--- Auto Develop
To see what we got.

Right off the bat we can see that the colors (and to an extent - levels) have been meddled with (most likely by DSS) as everything looks gray.
Please use some different stacking settings to make sure DSS meddles with the colors as little as possible - specifically;

RGB Channels Background Calibration: No
Per Channel Background Calibration: No

Screenshot-Stacking Steps-1.png (36.8 KiB) Viewed 9030 times

We can see also see some stacking artifacts.

--- Crop
To get rid of the stacking artifacts.
Parameter [X1] set to [112 pixels]
Parameter [Y1] set to [141 pixels]
Parameter [X2] set to [5159 pixels (-91)]
Parameter [Y2] set to [3434 pixels (-119)]
--- Bin
The data appears oversampled (common with DSLR data), so I bin the data to convert 'useless' resolution into noise reduction.
Parameter [Scale] set to [(scale/noise reduction 35.38%)/(798.89%)/(+3.00 bits)]

You'll notice that Bin will normalize the data, geting rid of the useless artificial pedestal values that DSS introduced, so we can better see what we're doing (Develop, AutoDev and some other modules would've done the same thing). We're now back to what is a 'typical' data set (though some data loss may have occurred due to DSS' shenanigans). You'll notice a 'nice' red cast typical of a data set that has been whitebalanced (again DSS is the culprit here, but not much we can do about that) and shows light pollution.

--- Wipe
With the stacking artifacts gone, we can get rid of the bias/light pollution.
I set parameter [Dark Anomaly Filter] to [7 pixels], in order to catch any small darker-than-background anomalies (maybe a dead pixel here and there or a small dust speck).

--- Auto Develop
I choose (e.g. click & drag) a Region Of Interest over the central (most luminous) part of the nebula.
Parameter [Ignore Fine Detail <] set to [2.7 pixels] - this tells AutoDev to not bring out fine stuff as much (such as noise).
Parameter [Outside ROI Influence] set to [5 %] - this tells AutoDev to optimise the ROI a lot more and only optimise about 5% for the stuff outside the ROI.
I noticed some sort of quantization effect in the dimmer areas, possibly due to DSS channel calibration funkiness - hard to tell. It's not too severe fortunately and "it'll buff right out" with the Denoise module.
--- HDR
I use the Reveal preset. This shows a bit more of the dust lanes within the nebula.
--- Life
I used the Isolate preset to push back noise and star field.
Parameter [Strength] set to [75 %]
--- Color
This is where it gets a bit tricky, because DSS has destroyed/mangled much of the information.
StarTools still comes up with a decent color balance, but we have to really push the saturation to get any sort of color out of it.
Parameter [Cap Green] set to [To Yellow]
Parameter [Dark Saturation] set to [7.90]
Parameter [Bright Saturation] set to [Full]
Parameter [Saturation Amount] set to [502 %]
--- Wavelet De-Noise
Final noise reduction (switching Tracking off).
Note that these settings apply to the StarTools 1.4 alpha.
Parameter [Grain Size] set to [15.1 pixels]
Parameter [Scale 5] set to [50 %]
Parameter [Color Detail Loss] set to [18 %]
Parameter [Brightness Detail Loss] set to [23 %]

NGC2264 Christmas Tree Nebula.jpg (608.54 KiB) Viewed 9030 times

[astronomynut]

Ivo, That's totally amazing.

I am still trying to figure out how to configure my DSS like you did. Actually, I haven't a clue as to what settings on DSS are recommended for use to process FITS files for Star Tools. Is there somewhere here on the forum where you or someone has provided a page by page list of how DSS parameters should be set?

I am running this data again, in the hope I did change the settings on DSS. I get no indication that things have changed, but I hope so. Software isn't something very easy to figure out for myself. I usually need to be taken by the hand for a step-by-step how to.

I appreciate the steps listed that you took to achieve the photo you posted. Could you tell me how to download these steps from Star Tools, so I can archive them for future reference. Maybe looking at what others do, and what I have done, will help me figure things out. Thanks again, I now know my data isn't totally bad. Caley

[astronomynut]

Ivo, I just went through the process with what you gave me. The results are close to what you provided, but I think I am still not setting DSS on one of those parameters correctly.

But, what you provided in the way of steps has shown me what a few of these modules can do. I hadn't even played with these sliders, as I still have difficulty understanding just what they do. I guess that I need a lot more time with your software. Maybe someday things will come to me a bit easier.

I hope you don't mind me posting this new images results on Astrobin. I know all the steps are yours. I'm just thrilled that my data isn't totally bad. Caley

[admin]

Ivo, That's totally amazing.

Just pulling some sliders - it's all your data!

Is there somewhere here on the forum where you or someone has provided a page by page list of how DSS parameters should be set?

Just make sure RGB Channels Background Calibration and Per Channel Background Calibration are set to 'No' and you should be good!
Also, don't do any 'fancy' HDR stacking, mixing multiple exposure times, etc. in DSS. Leave that to StarTools if you must.

Software isn't something very easy to figure out for myself. I usually need to be taken by the hand for a step-by-step how to.

We're here to help you get started - if there is anything in particular you'd like to know more about just ask!

At the end of the day, this type of software (image processing) is just a tool to express your own vision with. As such there is no 'perfect' step-by-step guide. StarTools was actually designed to get out of your way as much as possible and while StarTools is my baby, I still fundamentally regard it as a necessary evil. The moment someone comes along with a tool that can read my mind and make my vision take shape in an easier and more powerful way, I can - and will - stop development of StarTools.

Could you tell me how to download these steps from Star Tools, so I can archive them for future reference.

You can find a file called 'StarTools.log' amongst the executables. This file contains all the modules and parameters you used in chronological order.

now know my data isn't totally bad.

On the contrary - it's really quite clean. No issues with vignetting or dust donuts, artifacts, dead or hot pixels. It's the only reason we can confidently pull out the very faint stuff from your data!
More exposures are always better of course, but that will always be the case no matter how far we advance in this hobby.

I hope you don't mind me posting this new images results on Astrobin. I know all the steps are yours.

It's your data Caley, please do whatever you want with my interpretation of it!