How stacking reduces noise to photograph faint objects in space
Here's a brief explanation of how stacking works! This is super important for taking photos of the deep sky objects which are extremely dim and often obscured by light pollution. Taking photos of these is a little more challenging than creating longer and longer exposures. It's also about holding the noise at bay!
Equipment:
Camera: ZWO ASI294mm pro (temp -10C, gain 120, offset 4)
Filters: ZWO Ha 7mm, LRGB
Telescope Mount: iOptron CEM40
Telescope: Astrotech AT115 with field flattener (644mm f/5.6)
Accessories: ZWO electronic filter wheel (EFW) and autofocuser (EAF)
Software:
Remote control: TeamViewer www.teamviewer.com
Acquisition: AstroPhotography Tool (APT) https://astrophotography.app/
Preprocessing: SiriL www.siril.org
Postprocessing: Pixinsight www.pixinsight.com
Star removal: Starnet www.starnetastro.com
Final touches: Photoshop www.adobe.com
More final touches: Topaz Denoise www.topazlabs.com
Acquisition/Processing:
Ha, 135x300sec exposures
Sii, 138x300sec exposures
Oiii, 170x300sec exposures
Total exposure (integration) time: 36 hours spread over 16 nights
I didn't save the cropped images with stars (still not used to Pixinsight!) so these stars are the star mask from Ha data. They look pretty bad, I know. I need to find a way to realign and redo them with some color!
#astrophotography #photography #nebula
Music: White Bat Audio / Karl Casey