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10 stacked frames of 20 second exposure of NGC 3628 on an UC18 with a Mallincam DS10cTEC camera.

Great photo.
Any adjusting in between the 10 frames to keep focused and centered...or not necessary??
Steve

Steve,

Thanks!

I installed a focus motor with temperature compensation, so I just focus once per night and that is all that is needed.? The focus motor also has 10 soft buttons and I do change focus as I change filters.? I characterized each filter with the focus motor steps and I can hop to any preset focus to match my various filters (no filter, LeNhance, L, R, G, B etc)

However, I do make camera adjustments during the stacking for a technique called "Live HDR".

Richard

Steve,

Yes. Average and stacking significantly lowers noise.? I have not used dithering, but I believe you can use them together.

I have no need for a guide camera due to the great Mallincam Sky software.

The Mallincam SkyRaider family of cameras come with free software (Mallincam Sky) that offers 2 types of stacking and 2 types of implementations.

Deep Sky Stacking and?Planetary Stacking

Average or Additive?

If you have enough stars and enough contrast you can use the Deep Sky stacking which actually de-rotates the image.

If you use "Average" then your signal to noise ratio is significantly improved with each frame that is added to your stack by lowering the noise floor.

If you have a very dim object then you can use additive and it will "pull" the image out of the noise.? Raising the signal rather than lowering the noise.

The really cool thing is the fault tolerance in the Mallincam Sky software.? It aligns each frame before adding it to the stack.?

This software is what really makes it possible for me to use my UC18 for astrophotography in my opinion.

I typically only spend 200 seconds on faint galaxies and most dim nebula.? I live under the Atlanta airport flight path and under the thousands of SpaceX satellites.?

If I look to the south toward the airport (for example to see Orion) then I have to image between all the flying objects (jets and satellites) above me.? My big UC18 allows me this freedom as I just need more than 200 seconds (10 stacks at 20 second exposure each).

Hope this helps.

Richard