Wednesday, January 30, 2019

January 30, 2019: Progress with post processing DSLR deep space objects

GIMP and processing astrophotographs

The main idea is to use levels to expand the histogram and "bring out" the features hidden in the almost black.  One way is to use Colors:Levels and move the center pointer to the right edge of the histogram, save and reopen moving the left pointer to the left edge of the histogram.  Repeat until you see the hidden features (this has the effect of expanding the histogram and moving it toward the middle of the intensity graph.

An alternate and easier way is to us Colors:Levels:All Colors: Auto Input Levels

Original Image of Alnitak with hidden NGC2024 and IC434

After processing with GIMP: Colors: Levels: All Colors Auto Input Levels

After cropping.  Auto Input Levels works magic to bring how hidden features
NGC2244:Rosette Nebula stacked

Single Frame NCG2244 with aircraft flyby
Rosette Nebula annotated by Astrometry.net
Astrometry.net annotation close
 
M31 uncropped

M31 cropped

Monday, January 21, 2019

Jan 20, 2019. Total Lunar Eclipse Sequence

Photos taken with Nikon D500,  Tamron 160-600mm lens @ 600mm, Tracking with a Starguider pro.