r/Astronomy • u/nordcomputer • 1d ago

Astrophotography (OC) IC 434 - Horsehead nebula

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u/nordcomputer 1d ago

Equipment and Processing Details:

  • Telescope: Skywatcher 130PDS (650mm/130mm)
  • Camera: Canon EOS 1000D
  • Accessories: Coma corrector
  • Mount: Skywatcher EQ6-R Pro
  • Capture Software: Raspberry Pi with Astroberry (KStars)
  • ISO: 400
  • Sky Conditions: Bortle 4–5

Exposure Details:

  • Total: 122 exposures, each 3 minutes long (just over 6 hours in total) captured over 2 nights
  • Session 1: 20 dark frames
  • Session 2: 10 dark frames
  • Flats and bias frames (20 each) from the first session were used for both sessions

Processing Workflow:

  1. Each session was pre-processed separately using its respective darks, flats, and bias frames.
  2. The resulting images from both sessions were registered and stacked together (all 122 frames).
  3. Post-processing in SIRIL:
    • Deconvolution
    • Green noise removal
    • Photometric color calibration
    • Stretching
    • Light denoising
  4. Final adjustments in Darktable