Removal of Spikes from Reflector Telescope Images

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astronomynut
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Removal of Spikes from Reflector Telescope Images

Post by astronomynut »

I was wondering if there is a way to remove the spikes from the images I will soon be taking through my Third Planet Optics RC8 telescope. I know some people love seeing those spikes. I am not one of those people. I like round stars. I feel the spikes are distracting, especially the very bright to medium bright stars that occasionally pop up in images. Caley
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Amaranthus
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Re: Removal of Spikes from Reflector Telescope Images

Post by Amaranthus »

Best best is to use the "Synth" module - this allows you to modify the stars in various ways, including removing or modifying diffraction spikes, and even completely replacing your originals. YMMV.
Long-time visual observer, now learning the AP dark arts...
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Re: Removal of Spikes from Reflector Telescope Images

Post by admin »

Removing diffraction spikes completely is pretty difficult and YMMV indeed with the tools available (Heal and Synth). The best answer is - unfortunately - "use a refractor"... :(

There are nice aspects of having diffraction spikes though. They can help with color calibration, converying color temperature and give a better sense of stars' luminosities. But then, I'm one of those weird people that actually like them... :P
Ivo Jager
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astronomynut
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Re: Removal of Spikes from Reflector Telescope Images

Post by astronomynut »

Thanks so much. Guess I will have to live with the spikes. I only got the 8" RC so that I could get a bit more focal length to make some of these tiny objects a bit bigger. Even some of the Messier objects are small, and my 102 APO refractor just barely lets me see them well enough for me to extract a little structure. Caley
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Re: Removal of Spikes from Reflector Telescope Images

Post by Amaranthus »

You can always drizzle-stack your APO images to improve their pixel resolution. I managed to image a fairly small planetary nebula at 480mm focal length, thanks to drizzling! http://www.astrobin.com/125368/
Long-time visual observer, now learning the AP dark arts...
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