Show me the way Sensei(s)

Questions and answers about processing in StarTools and how to accomplish certain tasks.
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LuckyEddie
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Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:31 pm

Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by LuckyEddie »

I'm very new to StarTools and still trying to learn. I've started by using existing data that I've previously processed with other software so that I have a baseline for comparison. I've got a basic grip on the workflow that seems to be working for galaxies. Tonight I tried M13. This is a small stack of 26 exposures totalling only 13 minutes - I'm imaging unguided at present and so limited to 30sec subs. Flats, darks & biases were used, stacked in Siril. I know that's not much time at all (this wasn't the primary target of the session, just something I grabbed at the end) but I was pleasantly surprised at the result I got previously - it just wasn't very 'punchy' in the colouring.
StarTools (in my hands) seems far less forgiving with the noise exposed by AutoDev to the point where it's drowning out the cluster.
The stacked fit can be found at:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1TTKeqh ... sp=sharing
The previous result using just Siril & GIMP can be found at:
https://storage.googleapis.com/dso-brow ... iginal.png

Please show me what is achievable with StarTools on this data, and share what was needed to get there.
Thanks for looking and any input.
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admin
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Re: Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by admin »

Hi,

Did you maybe upload the wrong dataset? The field in no way matches the Siril image (in fact the dataset is extremely poor with noise grain that is extremely big);
Selection_581.jpg
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Ivo Jager
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
LuckyEddie
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Re: Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by LuckyEddie »

Oh, oops! :oops:
Looks like the first thing I need to fix is my filing, sorry.
Please see this one:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dvjhBR ... sp=sharing
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Re: Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by admin »

LuckyEddie wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 7:47 am Oh, oops! :oops:
Looks like the first thing I need to fix is my filing, sorry.
Please see this one:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dvjhBR ... sp=sharing
Thank you Ed, unfortunately this dataset too is unsuitable - it appears to be already processed/stretched at the very least... :(
Ivo Jager
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
LuckyEddie
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Joined: Wed Apr 14, 2021 12:31 pm

Re: Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by LuckyEddie »

Damn it. I was sure I had the data with me on my backup drive - I'm away from home at the moment.
Please ignore me and pretend this never happened...
:doh: :oops:
LuckyEddie
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Re: Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by LuckyEddie »

More to prove to myself that I'm not a complete idiot, I reran my M3 data through StarTools, and I'm very happy with the result. Thanks Ivo.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ywbL1C ... sp=sharing
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Re: Show me the way Sensei(s)

Post by admin »

LuckyEddie wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:43 pm Damn it. I was sure I had the data with me on my backup drive - I'm away from home at the moment.
Please ignore me and pretend this never happened...
:doh: :oops:
LuckyEddie wrote: Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:43 pm Damn it. I was sure I had the data with me on my backup drive - I'm away from home at the moment.
Please ignore me and pretend this never happened...
:doh: :oops:
No problem Ed! :D

That said, when it is time to launch the Color module, do some sanity checks on the color balance before committing to it. For example if you flip the view into MaxRGB mode, you will see an over-abundance of green in the core of the glob;
Selection_582.jpg
Selection_582.jpg (231.37 KiB) Viewed 2625 times
Green dominance is exceedingly rare in deep space, so usually when this happens it means your color balance is off and it is a good idea to reduce the green multiplier, until the dominance largely disappears.

Have a look here for some other techniques and sanity checks when it comes to color balancing. Hope this helps!
Ivo Jager
StarTools creator and astronomy enthusiast
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