u/Odd-Series-4511 — reddlx

M31 -Andromeda Galaxy

This is 11 h 22 min of M31 collected over three nights.

I still have another three nights of data available, but those were captured as 30 second subs under a full Moon and have noticeably stronger gradients. I’m still debating whether adding them would improve the final result or whether the moonlit data would do more harm than good. I’d be interested to hear what others would do.

This was also a bit of a processing experiment for me, trying several new techniques and working with separate starless/star layers. I’m happy with how much dust structure came through, but I’m not completely satisfied with the final processing yet and feel there’s probably more hiding in the data. Any processing tips, criticism, or feedback are very welcome.

Acquisition Details:

Camera: Nikon D3400 (unmodified)

Telescope: Askar FMA180 Pro

Aperture: 40 mm

Focal length: 180 mm

Focal ratio: f/4.5

Mount: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi (unguided)

Acquisition software: N.I.N.A.

ISO: 400

Sub-exposure: 60 seconds

Light pollution: approximately Bortle 6

Capture dates:

2026-08-08 → 2026-08-09

2026-08-09 → 2026-08-10

2026-08-10 → 2026-08-11

Accepted integration:

Aug 8/9: 252 × 60 s = 4 h 12 min

Aug 9/10: 244 × 60 s = 4 h 04 min

Aug 10/11: 186 × 60 s = 3 h 06 min

Total: 682 × 60 s = 11 h 22 min

Calibration frames:

Darks

Flats

Dark-flats

Processing:

Stacked in Siril

Plate solving and SPCC in Siril

Cropping / framing

BlurXTerminator

NoiseXTerminator

StarXTerminator

Generalized Hyperbolic Stretch (GHS)

Local contrast enhancement

SCNR green cast removal

Global and selective color saturation

Star reduction with Morphological Transformation

Separate stretching and processing of the star layer

Starless processing and color finishing in Adobe Photoshop / Camera Raw

Curves and tonal adjustments

Selective HSL / Color Mixer adjustments

Stars recombined using Screen blending

u/Odd-Series-4511 — 3 hours ago

▲ 99 r/astrophotography+1 crossposts

North America Nebula

Acquisition Details:

Nikon D3400

Askar FMA180 Pro

ISO: 400

Sub exposure time: 60 seconds

Total sub exposures: 258

Total integration time: ~4 hours 18 minutes

Tracking: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTI

Light pollution: Bortle 7

N.I.N.A

Capture Date:

24 July 2026

Calibration:

40 Dark frames

50 Flat frames

50 Dark Flat frames

Processing:

Siril:

Calibration, registration and stacking

Crop

GraXpert Background extraction

SPCC colour calibration

GraXpert Stellar deconvolution

GraXpert denoise

PixInsight:

Star removal

Separate histogram stretches for starless and stars

CloneStamp cleanup of star-removal artefacts

CurvesTransformation for contrast and colour

Luminance mask creation

LocalHistogramEqualization on the nebula

Mild saturation adjustment

Star and starless recombination with PixelMath

Photoshop:

Camera Raw Filter

White balance and tonal adjustments

Mild texture, clarity and dehaze

Colour Mixer adjustments

Final contrast and saturation refinement

Final crop, resize and export

u/Odd-Series-4511 — 24 days ago

▲ 2 r/AskAstrophotography

Is an ASI120MM Mini + 50mm guide scope too much for my setup?

Hi everyone,

I’m looking for some advice before buying more gear.

My current setup is:

Nikon D3400
Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i
Askar FMA180 Pro as the main imaging scope

I recently ordered a used Star Adventurer GTi, mainly because I want DEC tracking. So the new setup would be:

Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer GTi
Nikon D3400
Askar FMA180 Pro as the main imaging scope

Now I have the chance to buy a used ASI120MM Mini guiding camera with a 50mm TS Optics guide scope.

My main concern is weight and mounting. The TS guide scope is listed at around 600 g, which is almost the weight of the Askar, and I’m wondering if this is too much for this kind of setup, especially if mounted on the Askar FMA180 Pro.

I’m not too worried about the SA GTi payload overall, but I’m more unsure about whether the Askar and the whole setup would handle the extra guide scope weight. I also don’t want to make the setup harder to balance than it needs to be.

Would this guide scope and camera combo be a good idea for the GTi + FMA180 setup, or would a lighter 30mm guide scope make more sense?

Any advice from people using a similar lightweight setup would be appreciated.

reddit.com

u/Odd-Series-4511 — 1 month ago

▲ 654 r/astrophotography+1 crossposts

Milky Way Core

Acquisition details:

• Total integration: ~1h 33m
• Camera: Nikon D3400 (unmodified)
• Lens: Nikkor 35mm @ f/2.8
• Mount: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i
• Subexposures: 30s
• ISO: 800

Calibration frames:

• 30 dark frames
• 31 flat frames
• 101 bias frames

Processing:

Stacking in DeepSkyStacker.

GraXpert for cropping, RBF background extraction, denoising and deconvolution.

PixInsight for PCC, Histogram stretching, separate processing of starless and stars layers, MorphologicalTransformation for star reduction, curves.

u/Odd-Series-4511 — 1 month ago

▲ 357 r/astrophotography+1 crossposts

Orion Molecular Cloud Complex

Acquisition Details

Camera: Nikon D3400

Lens: 35mm

Aperture: f/2.8

ISO: 800

Subexposure time: 30 seconds

Total subexposures: 695

Total integration time: ~5h 47m

Tracking: Sky-Watcher Star Adventurer 2i

Light pollution: Bortle 6–7

Capture Dates

13 February 2026

17 February 2026

18 February 2026

Calibration

Dark frames (captured per night)

Flat frames (captured per night)

Bias frames (reused master bias)

Processing Summary

Stacked in DeepSkyStacker

RBF background extraction and denoising in GraXpert

SPCC color calibration in Siril

Further processing in PixInsight:

Histogram stretching

Star separation

Separate processing of starless and stars layers

Curves adjustments (contrast and color balance)

Local Histogram Equalization on nebula

MorphologicalTransformation and curves adjustments for star reduction

Recombined stars and starless image

u/Odd-Series-4511 — 1 month ago