Our Beautiful Universe - Photos and Videos

[Oldman too]

ESO has, what must be, the coolest webcams on Earth. https://www.eso.org/public/outreach/webcams/
Check out the stars at night, you will be impressed with the cams.

 

[Oldman too]

Regarding those cams, I was looking around and came across something I don't recognize. Does anyone know what the purpose of these things are?

 

[collinsmark]

Regarding those cams, I was looking around and came across something I don't recognize. Does anyone know what the purpose of these things are?
View attachment 303690
View attachment 303691

'Took me a bit of googling, but apparently it's a 3-axis ultrasonic anemometers (wind sensors)
https://www.biral.com/product/ultrasonic-anemometer-3d-4-3830-20-340/#product-overview

Ultrasonic anemometers measure wind speed by detecting the difference in time taken for an ultrasonic pulse to travel in each direction between pairs of transducers caused by movement of the air. This method allows accurate measurement even at low wind speeds as there is no mechanical inertia to overcome. The lack of mechanical inertia also allows measurements to be taken at high frequency allowing precise time dependent measurement. Sonic temperature is also available in the output data.​

 

[Oldman too]

'Took me a bit of googling, but apparently it's a 3-axis ultrasonic anemometers (wind sensors)

Thanks, I was at a loss for search parameters. I noticed on some of the dishes that they had pairs, side by side but facing opposite directions.

 

[Oldman too]

Just curious, does anyone here use the MAST portal?
https://www.stsci.edu/contents/news...ence-data-after-the-end-of-commissioning.html

 

[collinsmark]

Here's my capture of Hoag's Object, from my back patio, 2022. We've discussed this object recently in posts #1693 through #1695 of this thread. Those posts inspired me to give it a try, myself.

Yeah, that ring in the middle is a galaxy. And it's about the same diameter of our own galaxy, roughly 100,000 light-years across. But in a nearly perfect ring. I mean, WTF.

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF on an equatorial wedge.
Starlight Instruments FeatherTouch Crayford focuser modified for electronic focusing.
Off-axis guiding.
ZWO RGB filter set.
Optolong L-Pro filter.
Baader 3.5 nm Hα filter.
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

It's not my prettiest astrophoto, but it was kinda' difficult. The ring is too faint to be clearly visible in any given sub-frame. It took 20 hours of integration to pull it out of the noise. (The light pollution in my area had a lot to do with that.)

Software:
Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A.)
PHD2 Guiding
PixInsight
Topaz Labs Denoise AI
Topaz Labs Sharpen AI

If I ever find myself with a lot less light pollution and/or a lot more telescope, I may consider revisiting this object.

Integration:
Bortle Class 7 (maybe 8) skies
All subframes binned 3×3
R: 16 × 5 min = 1.33 hrs
B: 54 × 5 min = 4.50 hrs
G: 24 × 5 min = 2.00 hrs
Hα: 7 × 10 min = 1.17 hrs
L-Pro: 134 × 5 min = 11.17 hrs
Total integration time: 20.17 hours

 

[DennisN]

Recently I was out shooting the Moon, and later when it was setting over the trees, I took a few shots with different exposure times to see if I could make something with them in Photoshop.

I could, but it took quite some work I hadn't done before*.

A cheesecake Moon setting

Photo info: Composite photo.
Camera and lens: Sony A6000 + Tokina 400mm f/6.3.
Moon details shot at f/8, ISO 1600, 1/200s exposure time.
Moonlight and foreground shot at f/8, ISO 1600, 1s exposure time.

*Edits: Lots . I worked with 3 layers in Photoshop (one for the background, one for the left part of the Moon and one for the right part of the Moon) and blending them together.
I also slightly increased the size of the Moon layers in the photo to get rid of all Moon overexposure in the background layer. Manual removal of some Moon fringes was also done. At last noise reduction in DXO Photolab and desaturation and increased contrast in Photoshop was done.And here's a stack of the Moon:
(I'm not sure if I quite nailed focus here, and furthermore the Moon was quite low on the horizon)

Photo info: 620 photos taken at f/8, ISO 1600 and 1/1000s exposure time.
Photos with quality 92% and higher (estimated by PIPP) were stacked.
Software: PIPP, Autostakkert and postprocessing in Photoshop.
Camera and lens: Sony A6000 + Tokina 400mm f/6.3 + 2x Teleconverter (=800mm total focal length).

 

[Drakkith]

Beautiful, Dennis!

 

[DennisN]

Beautiful, Dennis!

Thanks!

 

[Oldman too]

About that MAST portal question, I'm not familiar with the FITS or ECSV file format and could use some advice on working with them. I downloaded FITS Liberator 4 from https://noirlab.edu/public/products/applications/app001/ according to https://www.photographingspace.com/how-to-use-fits/ is the way to go. I'll be playing around with it for a while, mostly for format conversion and basic stuff. They also recommended using DeepSkyStacker along with the Liberator to take the edge off the learning curve for newbies (That would be me). I would appreciate any tips, advice or comments as I try and figure this stuff out.
Thanks, Scott

 

[Drakkith]

You'll get no help from me. I know just enough to use my software and that's it.

 

[Oldman too]

I know just enough to use my software and that's it.

I'm working on reaching that level myself, I figured, since I don't have my own equipment that I would take advantage of the free imaging files for JWST (and maybe some others) on MAST to see what happens. Free data, free software and lots of time, what a combination. By the way, just out of curiosity, what software do you prefer for processing?
Cheers, Scott

 

[Drakkith]

By the way, just out of curiosity, what software do you prefer for processing?

I use Maxim DL that I bought a while back, but it's a premium software, not free.

 

[collinsmark]

Processing:

For planetary work I use Autostakkert!, and for now, still use RegiStax only for its wavelet sharpening, and often incorporating WinJUPOS for de-rotation of planets. All of them are free. I might be able to help with those, maybe.

For deep-sky work I almost exclusively use PixInsight, which is about the opposite of free. I'm not sure how much help I could be here -- after a year of using it consistently, I'm still learning it. Best I could do is probably point to some YouTube video of somebody doing a better job with it than myself. It's very, very powerful though.

Gnu Image Manipulation Program (GIMP) I'll use as a last resort sometimes to get rid of bad dust motes that stuck around even after flat-frame calibration. This is a last resort though, hopefully I don't have to use this. It's completely free software, btw.

I'll often use Topaz Labs Denoise AI and/or Sharpen AI, for both planetary and deep-sky, toward the very end of processing, as a near-final step. These software packages are not free, and they're pretty limited on what they do (denoise and sharpen are pretty much it). But they do what they intend to do exceptionally well. You don't need help using these. The interface is very straightforward with little to no learning curve.

 

[DennisN]

They also recommended using DeepSkyStacker along with the Liberator to take the edge off the learning curve for newbies (That would be me). I would appreciate any tips, advice or comments as I try and figure this stuff out.

For deep sky stacking (i.e. stars etc, not planets) I've only used the two free software DeepSkyStacker and Sequator (Sequator is comparatively quite easy to use).

For DeepSkyStacker, here is (1) an online manual, (2) FAQ and (3) Tutorials.

For Sequator, here is (1) a quick start, (2) an online manual and (3) a Q&A.

If you've never used a star stacking software before, I would suggest to watch a video where someone demonstrates using it. Below I post a good one by Forrest Tanaka where he demonstrates stacking with DeepSkyStacker at 6:57 and onwards (but the entire video is good). He's also got more videos here.

Astrophotography without a star tracker (Forrest Tanaka)


From watching others and doing some stuff myself, I would roughly say there are usually three basic steps involved (but these steps can involve quite many substeps and technical details, depending on what is being done):

1. Aquiring images (i.e. photographing if you are using your own photos).
2. Stacking multiple images into one final image.
3. Postprocessing the final image (e.g. stretching levels, color correction/edits, additional noise reduction etc).

If you are stacking photos you haven't taken yourself, step 1 obviously just becomes downloading the photos from somewhere.

Also, below I post a longer, very good video by Nico Carver (more videos here), where he describes the entire process (including all the 3 steps (and substeps) I mentioned above).

1. The first hour of the video describes the preparations and capture of images.
2. At 1:02:36 and onwards, he demonstrates stacking with DeepSkyStacker.
3. And at 1:14:13 and onwards he demonstrates postprocessing in Photoshop.

Orion Nebula WITHOUT a Star Tracker or Telescope, Start to Finish, DSLR Astrophotography (Nico Carver)


Enjoy, and good luck!

 

[Oldman too]

If you are stacking photos you haven't taken yourself, step 1 obviously just becomes downloading the photos from somewhere.

I've got a plan for that. I really appreciate the feedback, very useful info for me!

 

[Andy Resnick]

They also recommended using DeepSkyStacker along with the Liberator to take the edge off the learning curve for newbies (That would be me). I would appreciate any tips, advice or comments as I try and figure this stuff out.
Thanks, Scott

When I started astrophotography, I learned using Deep Sky Stacker and Lynkeos, because they were (are?) free. After a few years, as I learned more and got better, I ran up against the limitations of that software and switched to Astro Pixel Processor (not free), which I am still mastering.

I try to avoid post-processing as in my hands, the results often look worse than before. So far I have not used APP for planetary stacking, but I have used it for a comet.

 

[DennisN]

Recently it was a so-called supermoon (which means the Moon is about at its closest to the Earth).
Funny thing is I didn't know about it, but I was out taking shots of it anyway.

(I've recently started a long-term project: my plan is to take stacks of the Moon when different percentages (i.e. 0-100%) of the area is illuminated in order to create an animation which shows the changing phases of the Moon. I hope it will be completed someday in the future. )

Anyway, here's the "supermoon":

(Lens used: Tokina 400mm RMC f/5.6, stack of 25 of the best of 254 photos, stacked with Autostakkert)

 

[collinsmark]

M16, the Eagle Nebula (also called the Star Queen Nebula), imaged from my back patio in June 2022.The Eagle Nebula is roughly 7000 light-years away (sources differ), and can be seen (from Earth) in the constellation Serpens.

From what I can gather, M16 is called the "Eagle Nebula" due to the dark area up top that resembles the dark silhouette of a giant eagle, majestically swooping down, with calculated precision, about to cleanly nipp off a pointed, outstretched finger presenting itself.

It's also called the "Star Queen Nebula" presumably because star queens can metaphorically do the same thing.

Speaking of that finger-hand-like structure, you may find it familiar. This was the target of what is one of the most iconic space images of all time, taken from Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data and processed by Jeff Hester ad Paul Scowen from Arizona State University, back in 1995, called the "Pillars of Creation." Yes, it's the same thing shown here, part of M16, the Eagle Nebula.

A crop of full image above image, showing my version of The Pillars (of Creation).

Equipment:
Meade 10" LX200-ACF fork-mounted on an equatorial wedge.
Starlight Instruments FeatherTouch Crayford focuser modified for electronic focusing.
ZWO M68 OAG with ASI174MM-mini guide camera.
Baader 3.5/4 nm Ultra-Narrowband filter set (for slower scopes).
ZWO ASI6200MM-Pro main camera.

Software:
Nighttime Imaging 'N' Astronomy (N.I.N.A.)
PHD2 Guiding
PixInsight
Topaz Labs Denoise AI
Topaz Labs Sharpen AI

The Eagle Nebula's coordinates are about 14 deg south of the celestial equator. This makes it a bit more susceptible to seeing conditions and tracking/guiding errors by my telescope located in San Diego. There were also some minor issues with field curvature and probably sensor tilt. I tried to mitigate these issues with some deconvolution in post-processing with limited success. 'Room for improvement, I suppose. In the end though, I think it turned out OK. I'm pretty happy with the image for a first attempt at the Eagle Nebula.

Integration:
Bortle Class 7 (maybe 8) skies
All subframes binned 3×3
SII: 43 × 10 min = 7.17 hrs
Hα: 56 × 10 min = 9.33 hrs
Oiii: 37 × 10 min = 6.17 hrs
Total integration time: 22.67 hours

 

[DennisN]

M16, the Eagle Nebula (also called the Star Queen Nebula), imaged from my back patio in June 2022.The Eagle Nebula is roughly 7000 light-years away (sources differ), and can be seen (from Earth) in the constellation Serpens.

Lovely colors and lovely details!

 

[Devin-M]

I was poking through some of the raw James Webb Telescope data and found a couple interesting photos, one showing part of Jupiter and another showing what appears to be a reflection of the main mirror:

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co...01001/jw01022001001_03101_00001_nrca1_cal.jpg

Jupiter Rings (bottom left):
https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co.../jw01022-o103_t001_nircam_clear-f212n_i2d.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co.../jw01022-o011_t001_nircam_clear-f356w_i2d.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co.../jw01022-o002_t001_nircam_clear-f212n_i2d.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co...01/jw01022001001_03101_00001_nrcalong_cal.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co.../jw01022-o011_t001_nircam_clear-f140m_i2d.jpg

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co.../jw01022-o001_t001_nircam_clear-f212n_i2d.jpg

 

[berkeman]

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co...01/jw01022001001_03101_00001_nrcalong_cal.jpg

https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/my-god-its-full-of-stars

 

[Devin-M]

A lot of those dots are sensor noise... you can see the dots in front of the planet for example.

When I run it through the photoshop dust & scratches filter (radius:4 threshold: 32) I get this:

before:

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co...01/jw01022001001_03101_00001_nrcalong_cal.jpg

 

[Devin-M]

cleaned up from JWST raw data - 2120nm narrowband - (sensor noise removal w/ dust & scratches filter - radius: 4, threshold:32 - in photoshop):

https://stpubdata-jwst.stsci.edu/co.../jw01022-o001_t001_nircam_clear-f212n_i2d.jpg

100% crops (cleaned up):

 

[Devin-M]

I converted a 32bit FITS file from the JWST telescope to 32bit TIF using SiriL (free) on MacOSX, and then histogram stretched the image in Adobe Lightroom...

Center of NGC 698 - Phantom Galaxy

100% Crop - Distant galaxies visible behind the Phantom Galaxy near the core

600% Crop

 

[Devin-M]

James Webb NGC 7469 - Processed from FITS file:

100% crop of the core:

 

[Devin-M]

This image has been widely released in the news:

But using a 32bit FITS file with Adobe Lightroom, I was able to pull a lot more dynamic range out of a single exposure such that the central band & great red spot of Jupiter aren't over-exposed and the ring system isn't under-exposed...

...which leads me to believe there may be a lot more dynamic range in the released images than some people may realize...

 

[Devin-M]

Einstein Cross?
(original image: https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/...livers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet - just below and to the left of the brightest star in the original image)

 

[Devin-M]

It took a huge amount of effort, but I was able to create a color image from James Webb data, 1st by downloading (3) 32bit grayscale FITS files from the MAST archive (the 3 files totaled 2.2 GB):
https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html

Next these were converted to 32 bit TIF files using SiriL on MacOSX

Then I had to histogram stretch each of the files using Adobe Lightroom

After that, the 3 grayscale TIF images were imported into Adobe Photoshop in order to align them, and then the shortest wavelength filter was pasted into the blue channel, the mid wavelength filter to the green channel, and the longest wavelength filter was pasted into the red channel.

Next I imported that file back into Adobe Lightroom to adjust the color temperature of the overall image.

Final Step was to reduce the file size for web publishing and make a 100 percent crop, both of these steps in Adobe Photoshop... voila:

100% Crop:

Before Colorization:

 

[Devin-M]

I colorized this one of NGC 7320 myself from JWST MIRI data ( https://mast.stsci.edu/portal/Mashup/Clients/Mast/Portal.html ) using the F770W filter as blue, the F1000W data as green, and the F1500W data as red... SiriL on MacOSX was used for FITS file to TIF file conversion, and a combination of Adobe Photoshop & Lightroom for compositing the RGB channels and histogram stretching.

Visible Light Hubble Image: