{"id":2070,"date":"2020-10-11T23:22:55","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T03:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/?p=2070"},"modified":"2020-10-11T23:25:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-12T03:25:59","slug":"andromeda-at-50mm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/andromeda-at-50mm\/","title":{"rendered":"Andromeda at 50mm"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This is from a session that I did back on Sept 25, using the 50mm f\/1.8 prime lens. Been banging my head against it in Deep Sky Stacker, Siril, and Sequator for the stacking and pre-processing, and then finishing up with The GIMP for post-processing. I just was not happy with the results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I’ve created, deleted and recreated that picture I don’t even know how many times. Actually, looking at what I have there, this is a fairly weak example. I’ve done much better since then…and deleted them all for being not very good. At first I thought it was out of focus but that isn’t the case. I was looking at those blown-out stars. Those are chromatic aberrations<\/a> and they tell me that I need to stop down my lens from f\/2.2 to probably something like f\/2.8. I’ll still be able to get 3 second exposures, and those stars should all go nice a crisp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To help with focusing, I purchased a Bahtinov mask<\/a> that snaps into my 52mm lens. Probably overkill, especially for anything under 100mm, but it was short money. I messed around with it a bit the other night to get the hang of it and it seem to sharpen things up a bit at 200mm. I actually purchased it from a reseller, but I went to the company that makes them because what I originally received did not fit the filter ring, even though the packaging all said it was the correct piece. The manufacturer said that they probably tossed the wrong one in the bag and they sent me a replacement. If you are in the market for telescopes, astronomy gear, photography gear, or astrophotography gear, please give the fine folks at FarPointAstro<\/a> at least a look. Seriously, they could have told me to get stuffed or to deal with the reseller, but the owner took responsibility and fixed the issue. The least I can do is give him a plug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to the story, I remembered this morning that I had a 30-day trial of Astro Pixel Processor<\/a> installed that I hadn’t been using. This thing does damn-near the whole workflow, from stacking to post-processing. My favorite feature is the light pollution removal tool. I need a bit more practice with it, but wow, what a difference. While working in APP, I made peace with my Andromeda being so small in the field. This is closer to what we should be able to see in the sky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wednesday should be clear skies. I am going to get back out there and try out the Bahtinov mask and f\/2.8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is from a session that I did back on Sept 25, using the 50mm f\/1.8 prime lens. Been banging my head against it in Deep Sky Stacker, Siril, and Sequator for the stacking and pre-processing, and then finishing up … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[376,13],"tags":[536,512,539,537,538],"class_list":["post-2070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-astronomy","category-photography","tag-50mm","tag-andromeda","tag-astro-pixel-processor","tag-bahtinov-mask","tag-farpoint-astro"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NxlE-xo","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2077,"url":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/andromeda-at-50mm-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":2070,"position":0},"title":"Andromeda at 50mm, again","author":"matthannan","date":"18 October 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Went out on the 14th and took a quick 470 pictures of a blank spot in the sky. Actually, they were 4 seconds a piece, so just over a 30 minute exposure. Stopped down to f\/2.8 and tried out reducing to ISO 640. There is some discussion that modern (and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Andro-Sequator-crop-close.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Andro-Sequator-crop-close.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Andro-Sequator-crop-close.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Andro-Sequator-crop-close.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2133,"url":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/perseus-at-50mm\/","url_meta":{"origin":2070,"position":1},"title":"Perseus at 50mm","author":"matthannan","date":"27 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"After a Thanksgiving Day of clouds yesterday, I happened to glance at my Clear Skies app and saw that the skies would clear at 8:00PM, so I jumped into my new Carhartt insulated overalls and headed out. It was warm enough that I didn't need the overalls, but they were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Perseus-scaled-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Perseus-scaled-1.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Perseus-scaled-1.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Perseus-scaled-1.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Perseus-scaled-1.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Perseus-scaled-1.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2081,"url":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/triangulum-galaxy-at-50mm\/","url_meta":{"origin":2070,"position":2},"title":"Triangulum Galaxy at 50mm","author":"matthannan","date":"18 October 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"M33, the Triangulum Galaxy, or the Pinwheel Galaxy, and its neighborhood at 50mm. If the sky stays clear, I am going to try again tonight at 100mm. I knew nothing about this galaxy yesterday. Now I know that it is the second brightest object that we can see with our\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/M33-study-scaled-down.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/M33-study-scaled-down.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/M33-study-scaled-down.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/M33-study-scaled-down.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/M33-study-scaled-down.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/M33-study-scaled-down.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2114,"url":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/finally-caught-m31-and-m33-together-plus-cassiopeia-with-m103\/","url_meta":{"origin":2070,"position":3},"title":"Finally caught M31 and M33 together. Plus Cassiopeia with M103","author":"matthannan","date":"15 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I finally got a good shot of M31 and M33! So happy. 50mm, f\/2.8, ISO 640, 361 exposures at 5 seconds each (just over 30 minutes) I have a much larger version, should you be interested. In that one, you can see that I was starting to capture the arms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Mirach-RGB-session_1-mod-lpc-cbg-cbg-St-ro.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Mirach-RGB-session_1-mod-lpc-cbg-cbg-St-ro.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Mirach-RGB-session_1-mod-lpc-cbg-cbg-St-ro.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Mirach-RGB-session_1-mod-lpc-cbg-cbg-St-ro.png?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2129,"url":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/leveling-up-my-post-processing-with-starnet\/","url_meta":{"origin":2070,"position":4},"title":"Leveling up my post-processing with StarNet++","author":"matthannan","date":"18 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The other night I posted an image of Cassiopeia that I banged out very quickly in Sequator and The GIMP. Over the last few nights, I have re-run those images through Astro Pixel Processor as a way of getting better acquainted with that tool and its huge amount of features.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cass-Seq-scaled-annotated.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cass-Seq-scaled-annotated.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cass-Seq-scaled-annotated.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cass-Seq-scaled-annotated.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cass-Seq-scaled-annotated.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Cass-Seq-scaled-annotated.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2098,"url":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/m31-and-m33-again\/","url_meta":{"origin":2070,"position":5},"title":"M31 and M33 again","author":"matthannan","date":"8 November 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Revisited the sky last night after a period of inactivity due to rain, snow, clouds, and\/or cold. It was nice to be outside again. Tried to get M31 and M33 in the same shot. M31 & M33, Take 1 Because I was unable to see my two main targets, I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Astronomy"","block_context":{"text":"Astronomy","link":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/category\/astronomy\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2for50-Seq-cleaned-scaled-1.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2for50-Seq-cleaned-scaled-1.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2for50-Seq-cleaned-scaled-1.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2for50-Seq-cleaned-scaled-1.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2for50-Seq-cleaned-scaled-1.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/2for50-Seq-cleaned-scaled-1.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2070"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2075,"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2070\/revisions\/2075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2070"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2070"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matthannan.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2070"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}