These videos are fantastic! Me and my grandfather got into astrophotography 3 years ago, and both of us are really leveling up our work thanks to your highly in-depth videos that are easy to follow. It's great to see how fast your channel has been growing because you deserve it!
Thank you so much. I just checked out your channel. I love the introductory video: "We've never seen grandpa move so fast!" It's beautiful to see you two discovering the stars together.
Greeting from Germany to Canada! It is the brain and it will always stay the space brain. 😄 My 8" RC is going to visit the brain for another two or three nights in case the clouds will allow to do. The Wizard Nebula is still on my list. As I don't have much space for my equipment exposing to the north I did not capture it yet as with a 420mm Apo with an APS-C size sensor behind the nebula is too small. As I now have a strain wave gear mount I can set up my 6" New't to the north too as I don't need to respect balance of my setup anymore. I just hope that the clouds do not disappear only once I cannot see the Wiz anymore from my balcony. Btw: The videos that you create are great! I relly like watching them as I usually learn something new. 👍
Absolutely true! I’ve got to learn to slow down. I saw another content creator take data from several astrophotographers and combine 1056 hours of integration time on M31. Amazing detail when you can go that far.
I’m new to the monochrome world, but one thing I really like about it is that it really promotes longer sessions. How about whole night in just sulfur? Sure! All my mono images have at least three nights of data so far. My few images I’ve shot this way are leagues ahead of my previous images, and I suspect integration time is more important in this regard just the debayered sensor.
I live in a bortle 6 area and have trees all through out my back yard. Looking straight up I long have about 45 degress of skie view. I am only able to get anywhere from 1 to 3 hours MAX a night on a target. Recently due to where cygnus is rising, I have only been able to get about 1.5 hours of data. Its taken me over a month to get to 5.5 hours with the lack of clear skies. I have learned to not rush my projects. Most do take months to accomplish. Just part of the hobby! Clear skies
@@marekgumienny5813 Wish I could do the same! Quite often does the family rely on me. So I have very rare chances to pack up and move to open and dark skies. A good forecast is all I can ask for at this point haha. Clear skies!
Good luck with it. Does your telescope have a low F ratio? Every F stop down means you can gather light twice as fast. A good Newtonian might be ideal in your circumstance.
@@SKYST0RY Running a RedCat51 with a ASI2600 MC pro. Mounted on a AZ-GTI set in EQ mode. So not the best but not the worst either. My mount is basically at its weight limit too. So I'd need to upgrade my mount before getting a scope with a larger aperture. Oh the joys of this hobby! It is endless haha
I remember seeing images of the Crescent nebula years ago & not seeing much of it at all as it was well just a crescent shape, a couple of years ago I shot it & like you the first thing I thought was space brain. Problem for me in the UK to take time on a target could probably take years as the weather is just so unpredictable, last winter & this year has been especially bad so lets hope for some clear skies soon.
I spent some time in the UK, mostly over in Wales and Scotland. I was fortunate, it was clear and sunny the entire month. I don't think there was even a cloud the whole time. But I would imagine much of the time your weather is pretty soupy. Nova Scotia is often wet but we get a mix of murky days and good days. We will typically see a good night for AP at least once a week.
Love the video , Sky Story is the reincarnation of Carl Sagen lol. Sharing the wonder and inspiring us, old and new to love , respect and enjoy what we are doing . Not to just 'do it ' .
Excellent! I shot 5 hours LRGB on the Dark Shark two nights ago and the mud is thick. Looking forward to getting at least two more night's of subs on this one. Where are you in Canada? Mike form Owen Sound
It takes a while for the integration to add up. I've fallen in love with reflectors and plan to replace the small refractor with a good Newtonian pretty soon. You might consider that as the low F ratio will speed up integration time for shots that do best with low FL. Im in the upper backwoods of Nova Scotia.
Thanks for the very informative video. I have a question about dealing with multiple night sessions on the same target: Do you calibrate, register, and stack each night's photos and then after five nights register and stack the five sets of shots or do you keep adding the subframe files into one folder and at the end preprocess those for the final result (could be a huge amount of files!)?
@@SKYST0RY I'm not sure what you mean by 'I "separate" calibrate....' Do you just combine the individual stacked results from each night or do you accumulate all of the subframes collected from the five nights and then calibrate, register, and stack all the the subframes in one pass? Sorry for asking for clarification but perhaps I hadn't been clear with my original question.
Great video. Thanks for the inspiration. But... 5 days (nights) for 1 image. Wow, in my area in Germany that's basically 100% of the clear nightsky available over a year...
hi, I actualy spent 2 nights on m106 few weeks ago and run into problems combining the data. Using a6500 i got a moire -like pattern. I suspect it is caused by framing rotation of 30-40deg beyween noghts and bayer pattern. Will have a go at stacking nights separately, then extracting rgb channels and combining them separately. Am I on the right track? Would you care to share how you do it?
What software are you using? If in PixInsight, it is important to stack each group of lights and calibration frames separately then add them together in WBPP. Then, in processing, deblur then star align your subframes. I'll try to make a video on the whole process soon.
@@SKYST0RY For the benefit of others that happen to make same mistake: i stacked each night separately in dss, even cropped to usable areas to speed up processing as both images are drizzled x2, removed gradient in graxpert, then color calibrated and stacked in siril. So nice to have nearly 4 hours of integration to work with vs just under 2 hours from single night:) Now i am really tempted to collect 4 more hours:)
Only if you are lucky enough to have dark skies...I find more than 5 hours is of no benefit- and even that can take a month with the clouds how they've been since last year.
The weather so far this year has been truly terrible.. I got only 4 nights so far for DSOs here in Germany, one of which I had to cancel due to the aurora (which was incredible). But its actually the other way around. Especially in light polluted skies you rather want to shorten your exposure time for each frame and get as much data as possible to somewhat "combat" light pollution. Lets say you live in an area of Botle 8 skies. The jump from 5h vs 10 or even 30h makes a huge difference in detail and nebulosity you see in your images. It's in dark skies where you can get away with way less exposure time. Obviously its not always possible to shoot that amount of exposure for a single target - weather, moon, target setting too early to even consider shooting more, etc.. I mean its all personal preference how much is "good enough", and even with 1h exposure time, as long as youre happy with the results then you did everything right :)
@@crateer Yes in theory more time equals better SNR but every doubling means only 40% more. I cant tell any difference past 4 or 5 hours in B7 (and the opportunity to do so is rare nowadays- we even missed the aurora!). In darker skies the exposure time can be longer, the cooling (relative to sky noise) should be lower and the integration benefit is more obvious. Theres some good videos by Robin Glover on YT about this.
SUPER AWESOME MATE!
MANY BLESSINGS FROM NEWCASTLE IN AUSTRALIA.
APPRECIATE YOU AND THOSE MEGA INFORMATIVE PRESENTATIONS!
ANNIKA
🔮🔭🍹
Thank you, Annika. Love Australia! My wife is from there.
@@SKYST0RY Are you ever pictured in your videos. I have wondered about the face behind the voice. Annika
These videos are fantastic! Me and my grandfather got into astrophotography 3 years ago, and both of us are really leveling up our work thanks to your highly in-depth videos that are easy to follow. It's great to see how fast your channel has been growing because you deserve it!
Thank you so much. I just checked out your channel. I love the introductory video: "We've never seen grandpa move so fast!" It's beautiful to see you two discovering the stars together.
Thank you! Astrophotography has been a great way to strengthen our bond with each other and it's changed my life
Yes discipline is the key. Last year was my marathon of targets. Now i want more data for every project.
A very valuable lesson! I am now over a year into my deepest project I’ve done solo. 230hrs exposure at this point, and I need every second
What are you shooting?
@@SKYST0RY new supernova remnant. Very large low surface brightness
Wow! The great Bray Falls himself has commented! You are an inspiration Bray!
@@astrofalls Have you made a video on it? I'd love to see it.
Love the Back Stories as well as the before and after on these shots
Greeting from Germany to Canada!
It is the brain and it will always stay the space brain. 😄 My 8" RC is going to visit the brain for another two or three nights in case the clouds will allow to do. The Wizard Nebula is still on my list. As I don't have much space for my equipment exposing to the north I did not capture it yet as with a 420mm Apo with an APS-C size sensor behind the nebula is too small. As I now have a strain wave gear mount I can set up my 6" New't to the north too as I don't need to respect balance of my setup anymore. I just hope that the clouds do not disappear only once I cannot see the Wiz anymore from my balcony.
Btw: The videos that you create are great! I relly like watching them as I usually learn something new. 👍
Good luck with it. It's tough shooting in tight spaces and under city lights. Worth the effort, though. They are both beautiful nebulae.
Absolutely true! I’ve got to learn to slow down. I saw another content creator take data from several astrophotographers and combine 1056 hours of integration time on M31. Amazing detail when you can go that far.
Who did that? I'd love to see the image.
@@SKYST0RY ua-cam.com/video/yst7ZOVnSmI/v-deo.htmlsi=zhgsmSn_m2SUb4-o
@@SKYST0RY ua-cam.com/video/yst7ZOVnSmI/v-deo.htmlsi=zhgsmSn_m2SUb4-o
@@SKYST0RY Don"t know if you are seeing the link, the channel is called Galactic Hunter
@@SKYST0RY ua-cam.com/video/yst7ZOVnSmI/v-deo.htmlsi=e6Bb-ymXuU4H1J0T
I’m new to the monochrome world, but one thing I really like about it is that it really promotes longer sessions. How about whole night in just sulfur? Sure! All my mono images have at least three nights of data so far. My few images I’ve shot this way are leagues ahead of my previous images, and I suspect integration time is more important in this regard just the debayered sensor.
They say aperture is king. If so, then integration time is queen.
I live in a bortle 6 area and have trees all through out my back yard. Looking straight up I long have about 45 degress of skie view. I am only able to get anywhere from 1 to 3 hours MAX a night on a target. Recently due to where cygnus is rising, I have only been able to get about 1.5 hours of data. Its taken me over a month to get to 5.5 hours with the lack of clear skies. I have learned to not rush my projects. Most do take months to accomplish. Just part of the hobby! Clear skies
yup same here. I nearly sorted out the gear, process and power to go out to darker skies. What I need now is good forecast.
@@marekgumienny5813 Wish I could do the same! Quite often does the family rely on me. So I have very rare chances to pack up and move to open and dark skies. A good forecast is all I can ask for at this point haha. Clear skies!
Good luck with it. Does your telescope have a low F ratio? Every F stop down means you can gather light twice as fast. A good Newtonian might be ideal in your circumstance.
@@SKYST0RY Running a RedCat51 with a ASI2600 MC pro. Mounted on a AZ-GTI set in EQ mode. So not the best but not the worst either. My mount is basically at its weight limit too. So I'd need to upgrade my mount before getting a scope with a larger aperture. Oh the joys of this hobby! It is endless haha
I remember seeing images of the Crescent nebula years ago & not seeing much of it at all as it was well just a crescent shape, a couple of years ago I shot it & like you the first thing I thought was space brain. Problem for me in the UK to take time on a target could probably take years as the weather is just so unpredictable, last winter & this year has been especially bad so lets hope for some clear skies soon.
I spent some time in the UK, mostly over in Wales and Scotland. I was fortunate, it was clear and sunny the entire month. I don't think there was even a cloud the whole time. But I would imagine much of the time your weather is pretty soupy. Nova Scotia is often wet but we get a mix of murky days and good days. We will typically see a good night for AP at least once a week.
Love the video , Sky Story is the reincarnation of Carl Sagen lol. Sharing the wonder and inspiring us, old and new to love , respect and enjoy what we are doing . Not to just 'do it ' .
Carl Sagan was my childhood hero.
@@SKYST0RY yeah mine too
Your voice is Carl Saganisque (for want of a better word) thank you for teaching us
Now i know what mud is. I have mud. Ty :)
Now the question becomes.....what would Jesus do? 😅
@@ziggyfrnds head up a religion that persecuted people for using telescopes and thinking
Excellent! I shot 5 hours LRGB on the Dark Shark two nights ago and the mud is thick. Looking forward to getting at least two more night's of subs on this one. Where are you in Canada?
Mike form Owen Sound
It takes a while for the integration to add up. I've fallen in love with reflectors and plan to replace the small refractor with a good Newtonian pretty soon. You might consider that as the low F ratio will speed up integration time for shots that do best with low FL. Im in the upper backwoods of Nova Scotia.
Thanks for the very informative video. I have a question about dealing with multiple night sessions on the same target: Do you calibrate, register, and stack each night's photos and then after five nights register and stack the five sets of shots or do you keep adding the subframe files into one folder and at the end preprocess those for the final result (could be a huge amount of files!)?
I separate calibrate and register all the photos in the Weighted Batch Preprocessor found in PixInsight.
@@SKYST0RY I'm not sure what you mean by 'I "separate" calibrate....' Do you just combine the individual stacked results from each night or do you accumulate all of the subframes collected from the five nights and then calibrate, register, and stack all the the subframes in one pass? Sorry for asking for clarification but perhaps I hadn't been clear with my original question.
I thought the wizard was the whole thing? There is pictures showing the ‘wizards’ outline?
Still, awesome picture tho 👌🏼
Great video. Thanks for the inspiration. But... 5 days (nights) for 1 image. Wow, in my area in Germany that's basically 100% of the clear nightsky available over a year...
It is definitely an exercise in patience. It is why I've decided to build another observatory. More scopes, faster imaging.
I’m happy with mud if i get to observe 5x the number of objects 😉
hi, I actualy spent 2 nights on m106 few weeks ago and run into problems combining the data. Using a6500 i got a moire -like pattern. I suspect it is caused by framing rotation of 30-40deg beyween noghts and bayer pattern. Will have a go at stacking nights separately, then extracting rgb channels and combining them separately. Am I on the right track? Would you care to share how you do it?
What software are you using? If in PixInsight, it is important to stack each group of lights and calibration frames separately then add them together in WBPP. Then, in processing, deblur then star align your subframes. I'll try to make a video on the whole process soon.
Thanks for your reply. I use DSS for now. I look forward to future episodes:)
@@SKYST0RY For the benefit of others that happen to make same mistake: i stacked each night separately in dss, even cropped to usable areas to speed up processing as both images are drizzled x2, removed gradient in graxpert, then color calibrated and stacked in siril. So nice to have nearly 4 hours of integration to work with vs just under 2 hours from single night:) Now i am really tempted to collect 4 more hours:)
Only if you are lucky enough to have dark skies...I find more than 5 hours is of no benefit- and even that can take a month with the clouds how they've been since last year.
The weather so far this year has been truly terrible.. I got only 4 nights so far for DSOs here in Germany, one of which I had to cancel due to the aurora (which was incredible).
But its actually the other way around. Especially in light polluted skies you rather want to shorten your exposure time for each frame and get as much data as possible to somewhat "combat" light pollution. Lets say you live in an area of Botle 8 skies. The jump from 5h vs 10 or even 30h makes a huge difference in detail and nebulosity you see in your images. It's in dark skies where you can get away with way less exposure time.
Obviously its not always possible to shoot that amount of exposure for a single target - weather, moon, target setting too early to even consider shooting more, etc..
I mean its all personal preference how much is "good enough", and even with 1h exposure time, as long as youre happy with the results then you did everything right :)
@@crateer Yes in theory more time equals better SNR but every doubling means only 40% more. I cant tell any difference past 4 or 5 hours in B7 (and the opportunity to do so is rare nowadays- we even missed the aurora!). In darker skies the exposure time can be longer, the cooling (relative to sky noise) should be lower and the integration benefit is more obvious. Theres some good videos by Robin Glover on YT about this.