Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

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andreahaku

Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

Very good sunny day today and I recorded a lot of videos. But not much time to process them.

So this if a "first taste" of what I've done in H-Alpha with the Vixen PST mod.

A mosaic (colour and negative), a very intriguing piece of the surface and a huge set of prominences (more later as I process them).









I hope you'll like them.

Andrea


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Montana »

Some very fine pictures Andrea! especially the prom.

Regards
Alxandra


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

Thanks a lot everyone! :bow:

I'm very happy with the prominences but I want to get better with the surface processing. Can anyone help me with that?

Alexandra... can you please describe me how do you process your great surface images... they look so soft and "natural" :) I'll give you more details on how I do proms :D

I'd really like to do a time lapse of a prominence. As soon as I got a "stable" setup and time to do it I'll surely start doing some.


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Montana »

Hi Andrea,
Nothing special really, for prime focus I process in Avistack 2, then use iterative Unsharp mask at 0.5 pixels, 25% and 0 threshold for around 14 times. For the 2x Barlow it is the same but with a pixel of 1.

For my prominences, absolutely nothing happens! sometimes I wonder if anything is working in the program. Only Registax wavelets work (vaguely). I get absolutely nothing like the detail you get. So what is different between the surface and the prom? I may add that if I have surface detail in the shot that sharpens lovely but the prom stays exactly the same - unmovable!

Regards
Alexandra


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

For my prominences, absolutely nothing happens! sometimes I wonder if anything is working in the program. Only Registax wavelets work (vaguely). I get absolutely nothing like the detail you get. So what is different between the surface and the prom? I may add that if I have surface detail in the shot that sharpens lovely but the prom stays exactly the same - unmovable!

Thanks for the description. I'll test it with my images. I take different steps that are more or less the same for prominences.

There are a few things that are important for prominences. The first is etalon tuning. I use the same tuning for both surface and prominences. But I redo the tuning everyday as the PST etalon is quite sensitive. To tune it I look for the position where I have no gradient. To help me in that process I usually set a slightly longer than normal exposition so that the gradient (if any) burns the disk.

Once done that I don't touch the etalon for the whole session.

Then there are two ways to catch prominences: burning the disk (so you can focus on the prominences only and "eclipse" the disk) or keeping the disk portion but a little over exposed (just a setting before the disk shows burnings). The prominence are usually well visible in the recording.

The stacking. It is fundamental that the image aligning is perfect. This is a crucial step. I now use AutoStakkert2! And works very well. For proms I use AP 25 (lowest value). I don't do any wavelet with any software.

The AS2! output is the taken into Photoshop. I record with a 2.25 Barlow and use iterative Smart Sharpen 10%, 3.3 range for about 10/15 times. Then I do some Unsharp Mask (10%, 1 range) and then I blur it a little to remove artifacts. This is more or less what I uses for surfaces as well. So it seems that we take different post-processing steps. Sincerely I don't think that post-processing is the real difference. Something before must be the reason for your lack of details.

Coloring is also important but that would take another page :D

I hope I've given some idea to try and improve your proms like I'm sure I'll improve with your info for surface details ;)

Thanks!
Andrea


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Derek Klepp »

Andrea that prom shot is fantastic thanks for the pics


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by peter drew »

Wonderful prominance image, we have seasonal grass fires in these parts that look just like that at night.


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by mattwastell »

Hi Andrea
Really impressive images - as mentioned the prom is a great pic of an epic scene!
A joy to look at - thanks!


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by marktownley »

Hi Andrea, great shots!

To get more surface wise you could use masks and process the limb and disk detail seperately - then combine as an overlay using opacity. The High Pass filter in PS is also another option you need to explore...

Mark :)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Bill E. »

Andrea, they came out excellent, That first one is stunning. B) Karma to ya


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Derek Klepp »

Hi Andrea,
Nothing special really, for prime focus I process in Avistack 2, then use iterative Unsharp mask at 0.5 pixels, 25% and 0 threshold for around 14 times. For the 2x Barlow it is the same but with a pixel of 1.

For my prominences, absolutely nothing happens! sometimes I wonder if anything is working in the program. Only Registax wavelets work (vaguely). I get absolutely nothing like the detail you get. So what is different between the surface and the prom? I may add that if I have surface detail in the shot that sharpens lovely but the prom stays exactly the same - unmovable!

Regards
Alexandra
Alexandra with Proms the greater Magnification I use the greater I apply wavelets to get some effect. Up to the middle and beyond in some instances
Derek


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by JimLafferty »

Wonderful shots--I probably missed it but what camera and how many frames do you normally use?

Jim


andreahaku

Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

Hi Jim,
Thanks. I use a DMK41 monocrome camera.
The recordings are Made of 1000 frames and I usually stack between 10% and 30% of the frames.

Andrea


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

I think that we are missing some important point about surface and prominences quality.

I use a PST Etalon that has a bandpass < 1.0 A while Alexandra is using something with probably half the bandpass.

Having a larger bandpass is good for priminences and bad for surface details. That's why people double stack.
Vice versa having a smaller one gives you more surface details but less prominences one. I don't know if there's a way to increase the bandpass of a telescope :?

I think that this consideration has to be taken into account as probably we are both experiencing the limits of our setups ;)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Andrea

a very fine prom shot with excellent processing :bow:


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

Hi Andrea, great shots!

To get more surface wise you could use masks and process the limb and disk detail seperately - then combine as an overlay using opacity. The High Pass filter in PS is also another option you need to explore...

Mark :)

Thanks Mark. Sometimes I do that. But I think that the real problem for surface details is in the PST etalon. It is has a <1.0A bandpass that is good for prominences but I should doulbe stack to have more disk surface details ;)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Montana »

Hi Andrea,
Thanks for all the info! I think the lower in bandpass the prominences get better, especially with my PST vs DSPST as they become more 3D in appearance and easier to capture on camera. With the Solarscope so far I just seem to get flat featureless prominences, however, may be I have just been unlucky with the proms on the days I get it out to look?

Regards
Alexandra


andreahaku

Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

You have to sacrifice one of your PSTs and mod it. And you'll have a prominence monster ;)
But you'll still need luck to be in the right place at the right time... can't help with that :D


andreahaku

Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

It seems that I've finally found a way to improve my disk surface images. Now they have more details and look more "natural". I think :)






I did by using only one pass of Smart Sharpen initially but with 500% amount. And then some Unsharp Mask and Blur.
But the key seems to be not to have an iterative Smart Sharpen but only one pass of it.

I'll experiment with it more but for now the comparison between the image I did yesterday and today's one tells me that I'm in the right direction ;)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Montana »

You certainly are! :)

Alexandra


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by marktownley »

Oh yes, that's very good! B)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by solarchat »

uhhh.....WOW!

todays pic on www.solarastronomy.org nice work!


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by swisswalter »

Hi André

extremely fine result


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by Montana »

I think Andrea is from Italy Stephen ;)

Alexandra


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by MapleRidge »

Hi Andrea...

Those are excellent pics form the modded set-up.

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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

uhhh.....WOW!

todays pic on www.solarastronomy.org nice work!

WOW! I am honored.

P.S. I'm from Italy ;)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by swisswalter »

Hi André

congrats on the pic of the day :bow:


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
andreahaku

Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

Yeah! That's great. I'm just back from the seaside (sunny and warm day here, almost spring) and I've found that nice surprise! :D


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by swisswalter »

Hi André

welcome back to the shore ;)


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
andreahaku

Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

Hi André

welcome back to the shore ;)

Most incredible if you think that only 10 days ago we were at -15°C with 2 meters of snow!


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by swisswalter »

Hi Andréa

great you are on the spring side again :)


Only stardust in the wind, some fine and some less fine scopes, filters and adapters as well. Switzerland 47 N, 9 E, in the heart of EUROPE :)

from 7 am - 7 pm http://www.nanosys.ch

from 7.01 pm - 6.59 am http://www.wastronomiko.com some times vice versa ;)
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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by solarchat »

I'll change it after work tonight...sorry


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by andreahaku »

I'll change it after work tonight...sorry
NP... a double honour ;)


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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by edobosz »

I missed this post earlier. The proms shot is just fantastic!

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Re: Feb 24th - H-Alpha images

Post by florencior »

Andrea your images are better and better, thanks for sharing the processing technique.


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