Astrophotography PixInsight Galaxy Data Workflow | Triangulum Galaxy | Pt 1

[@warrencraddock3775]

Have you ever had the experience of going to a bookstore, and happening upon a book that was presented so perfectly that reading it felt like pouring information effortlessly into your head? This video has more information in it than any astrophotography video I've ever seen, yet it's also general enough that virtually everyone will learn something. I also really appreciate how you quickly stated what each little button does, and how it works, anticipating your audiences' questions -- the PixInsight UI is brilliant but not obvious at all. This is wizard-tier content, thank you!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

This is, without a doubt, the best news to hear/ read! I'm so glad that this tutorial was helpful and intuitive for you. Thank you for the incredibly kind words and feedback. It means a lot that you took the time to watch this and to write such a thoughtful comment. Cheers!

[@arcadium86]

Thanks Sarah, urs are the most detailed tutorials on YT! Amazing!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

I'm really happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to watch and for your kind words. Cheers!

[@Prof.Yod_academy]

The best tutorial on galaxy processing that I have ever seen. So detailed and clear. After I watched this tutorial, my processing has improved a lot. Sure, I have to adjust parameters according to my data, but this video gives an excellent guideline to me.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

This is so awesome to hear. Helping others improve in these ways is always my goal. Thanks so much for giving this a try and thanks for the great feedback. Cheers!

[@jaredcase3676]

Appreciate the detail and step by step instructions. Thanks!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thanks for stopping by, Jared!

[@RigoFromSpain]

Well done Sarah, great tutorial !!!!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you so much! Glad to hear it :)

[@tommccrorie8022]

Fantastic video, Sarah! Very comprehensive and easy to understand.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you, Tom! Glad to hear to it :)

[@altrnum]

Will be trying this out soon when I’m free. Overall brilliant video so far. Thanks for this. 🤩

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thanks, Finley! Can't wait to see the results :)

[@darle94]

Merci Sarah pour ces superbes vidéos. Je les visionnes en plusieurs fois... Je suis débutant en astrophotographie et je trouve tes vidéos super intéressantes. Je te remercie pour le partage ,mais aussi pour le travail effectué à la création de tes vidéos...🙏🙏🙏🙏 Dans l'attente de tes prochaines vidéos . Bien à toi et te souhaite bon ciel ,ainsi que de superbes captures. Patrick (France )

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Merci! :)

[@bofblog]

Superb video.. as the other shows the process so well in such a complex program....

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you, Les!

[@bofblog]

@@SarahMathsAstro Your welcome.. well deserved

[@sonnyedmonds2212]

Perfect Sarah! I'm struggling with MM and here you are exactly what I was looking for, with no foreign accent, starting right in with processing the RGB,HA. And on a subject I already have on file. PixInsight is already daunting to begin with (At least for this Grandpa.) So here I go, encouraged already because you are right on que with the method I need so badly. Thank You!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

I hope you were able to find this video helpful after giving the steps a try! Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you clear skies!

[@sonnyedmonds2212]

Hi Sarah, Yes, this is exactly the help I've been seeking for... well, years now. I'm finding my currant computer is stalling with PixInsight's requirements. I noticed your computer seems to be handling the processes much better. May I inquire as to what you are using and the RAM used? I'm using a PC. 12 processors, 8GB or RAM.@@SarahMathsAstro

[@Spaced_Out_Bill]

Really awesome video! Thank you.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thanks, Bill! Glad you enjoyed it.

[@plumberman19]

Great stuff, your knowledge of PI procedures is impressive and valuable, thank you very much for sharing and putting this out for free!! Just a quick suggestion for future PI tuts, could I recommend making the image file you work with in tutorial videos available to download? Rational: because it allows those that are following along to have accurate and expected feedback while in this learning process. If we are working with different data, we might(do) get different results. If we are watching this, we're likely new and unfamiliar with many of the processes used here, and may get confused about why this or that did or did not work. Anyhoo, I suppose you get what I'm suggesting, lol. You could embed watermarks or other data if CR is a concern. Thanks again!!!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Hey! Thanks for taking the time to watch the video and provide some really thoughtful feedback! I definitely get your rationale and have experienced similar when it comes to trying out different processing tutorials. It's nice to see the 1-1 conversion of, "okay, here is the process, we are doing this, we get this effect on the data." Sometimes using different data yields different results. Absolutely. If not always, even slightly. No one data set is ever the same. I do try my best to explain why or how certain processes work, although I'm finding that I could segment my videos more for beginners, intermediate, to advanced levels. Sometimes certain information is more relevant to certain levels of knowledge holders. Anyways, about the data, I do offer my data for Patreon members to follow along with. Maybe I'll make more available in the future though. Thanks again for the thoughtful discussion. Very much appreciated. Cheers!

[@plumberman19]

@@SarahMathsAstro Ah very good points, and I didn't know you offered data to work with for your patrons, which is cool, and makes absolute business sense haha. Thanks for replying and your perspective! And thanks for your helpful videos. I did notice that you explain reasoning and effects for the litany of processes that many creators don't, which I appreciate a ton, because that's how I, and probably many others, learn things more concretely. Thanks again for your time and discourse! Clear skies!(so cliché 🤦🏻‍♂️) haha

[@ZigmanZulkowski]

Nice Tutorial! Great Job! Can you recommend a tutorial on how to use the ASI Software?

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you! Which ASI software? The ASIStudio for PCs or the ASIAir software for the ASIAir Plus/ Mini/ etc?

[@alexandreastronomy8022]

Thanks for this simple but efficient workflow! Anything looks simpler now :) Clear skyes!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

I’m glad it helped! Thank you for stopping by. Clear skies :)

[@magedsyehia]

Very detailed and useful content

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thanks! I’m happy to hear the content is useful.

[@CarlParnellCoach]

Amazing tutorial thank you for taking the time 🙏

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you, Carl! :)

[@gregerianne3880]

This was great, Sarah! I learned quite a bit. I'm very new to PI so forgive the naive questions that follow... I use flats and dark flats for my images, so how can I tell if the gradients I'm seeing are still due to unequal field illumination or something else (around 14:35 in your video)? I was totally and hopelessly lost in the Linear Noise Reduction sections, I'm afraid. The processes were over my head right now. Can you recommend a simpler tool I can use until I get more comfortable with PI, e.g., is NoiseXterminator a reasonable alternative and, if so, what general settings do you suggest for using that tool to avoid the 'plasticy' look, or is that going to be image dependent? Sorry again for the naive questions. Great video, though! I'm moving on to Part 2... 😀

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thanks, Greg! These aren't naive questions at all, they're very thoughtful! To your first question about discerning whether gradients that you're seeing are due to unequal field illumination or something else, if it's unequal field illumination due to vignetting, for example (that your flats + dark flats didn't correct for) you would see darkened corners all around and would want to use Division correction first. Typically unequal field illumination from the moon or nearby cities will show up with a gradient disproportionately on one side of your image. You can use Normalization during the pre-processing steps to correct for this usually. But if that still doesn't work, even with flats as well, then Division would also be good, then use another round of DBE with the 'Subtract' target correction setting. Sometimes it helps to create the RGB image first and see what gradients appear in that image and then do DBE. I hope that answers your question. In regard to linear noise reduction, I apologize if it was a bit complicated. I thought about using the EZ Suite for noise reduction or using NoiseXTerminator, but opted not to use the latter since it costs money and was already going to be using StarXTerminator in Part 2. I try my best to provide processing options for viewers that come included with PI and/or are free to download to PI before using tools that cost money as not everyone wants to spend / can afford additional tools. And I've not used the EZ Suite enough to speak to it. However, I could have explained Jon Rista's approach better, or made a separate video on it. If you're willing to purchase NoiseXTerminator, which I do recommend - it's a fantastic tool, I would try the default settings on some preview areas of your image. Typically create previews for areas with a lot of open sky and stars, areas of the subject with a lot of signal/ detail, and areas with less signal. Apply the settings to all the previews and adjust from there. Typically being a little more aggressive with the RGB image is 'okay' compared to the Luminance image since we're usually processing the RGB image mainly for its color. I would be less aggressive with the Luminance on noise reduction since we would use that for adding sharpening and contrast to the RGB image later on. I just try my best to reduce as much noise while not losing detail.Once you start losing detail, that's when it starts to have a plastic-y look. Every dataset will be different so it's hard to tell you the exact settings without trial and error. I hope this helps? Thanks again and thanks for your support. Please feel free to ask any other questions you have and I'll do my best to answer them. -Sarah

[@gregerianne3880]

@@SarahMathsAstro On a break from Part 2, which is fantastic! Thank you so much for the comprehensive reply, Sarah. That was very kind of you taking the time to do that, and extremely helpful. I understand completely about the unequal field illumination and will have to try division since I've only used subtraction so far (since that's what I've seen used the most and didn't want to blow anything up 😂). Please don't apologize about the complexity of that section of the video! You did an excellent job explaining things and it was just my unfamiliarity with PI that was the problem. You have a terrific teaching style. (I used to tell my students that chaos was the beginning of learning, so I fully welcome and embrace the mental chaos I'm feeling right now as a steppingstone to understanding it all.) Yes, I already have NoiseXterminator (since I don't know how to do what you did!) and I like it very much, I was just wondering what you thought of it and/or if I should be using different settings as a starting point. Okay, back to Part 2! Thank you again, Sarah.

[@rodneybutch454]

Hi Sarah. Your two part galaxy workflow series is excellent. A must for all astro photography. Even though I have used Pixinsight for years I learned several new key pathways that I have incorporated into my imaging work flow. I recently posted my test process for imaging M51 with two scopes of vastly different focal lengths (450 and 1941mm) wit two differnt ccd cameras (QHY 268M and QHY 600M). The M 51 can be found on Astrobin under milkywayrod22. This image exclusively used all your techniques. The result is fantastic. Perhaps you should consider a video on techniques for combining data obtained from different cameras and different focal length telescopes. Keep up the good work. Much appreciated! Rodney Butch

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Hi Rodney, it's great to hear from you again! Thank you for taking the time to watch the series! And thank you for the kind words and feedback. I'm very happy to hear that you found these steps helpful. I just checked out your M51 on Astrobin and it is beautiful! I love the details and the colors! www.astrobin.com/dcbo5w/ . Thank you for sharing this with me! It's always awesome to see others' work. Also, thanks for the video recommendation. I haven't combined different focal lengths yet, but I know it's a wonderful way to normalize gradients. Thanks again! Hope all is well! Sarah

[@rodneybutch454]

@@SarahMathsAstro M51 data was really only an equipment test but the image really turned out better than I expected. I am looking forward to some real data collection with the AP GTX and the AP 2.2 barlow. The weather here in Virginia has been really poor for the past 6 months and my trees always are in the way except due north. It would take several thousand dollars to cut them down! Better to just get another telescope. My go to site is in the Shenandoah national park but that is 2 hours away and you can never really count on the weather reports. The rangers in the park are wonderful and they look out for me at 3 o'clock in the AM. First name basis with the rangers. Most are woman and they all pack and wear body armor. That should tell you something about my safety. Wish me luck as I have some cardiac surgery coming up in a few weeks. I'll let you know how it all turns out. Best to you. Rodney

[@anata5127]

Very good rig! What is focuser? What’s company filters? I don’t need tutorials, but I will watch this.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thanks! Focuser is a Baader Planetarium. Filters are from ZWO.

[@JulesStoop]

7:56 come to think of it, it really should be called ‘foreground extraction’ 😅

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Haha :D

[@Astrokhels]

Thanks Sarah for this process. 👍🏼

[@SarahMathsAstro]

You bet, Paul! Thanks for stopping by.

[@andrewramsay8929]

Very good tutorial, very clear and people should feel they know the processing procedure for these targets pretty well to do it on their own now. 🌌📸🤩 Well done my friend.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you so much, friend!! I really appreciate you checking the video out and for your feedback. You rock!!

[@andrewramsay8929]

@@SarahMathsAstro you're totally welcome. Looking forward to seeing what you do next I know you're already working on more! Keep well and if there's any chance can you clean up the clouds over here they are blocking my view 😅😂🌌📸🤩

[@pei6426]

I am working on a M33 project that I am trying to gather more detail out of. I am using a OSC camera but I did get some L Extreme data to develop the HA signal. Since you are doing precisely what I am attempting to do I am glad I found your part 1 and 2 videos. You used quite a complicated masking technique for Linear Noise Reduction. In reviewing your videos I see that you have used the Noise Exterminator tool. In a fair assessment would you say the TGV De-noise or Noise Exterminator does a better job with a project such as this? Or, was your desire just to show what the base PixInsight Tools could do?

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Hello there, it sounds like you have a fun project on your hands. I personally prefer TGV de-noise and MLT for reducing noise at different frequencies. I use Noise Xterminator for quick applications and if the noise isn't "terrible." The former requires much more time but if I have it, that's what I do.

[@pei6426]

@@SarahMathsAstro Thank you so much for replying back! Since the intent of my project is to elevate beyond my normal processing I will then follow and learn the process that you are sharing. Thank you.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

You bet! It will seem subtle at each iteration but that’s the point and won’t look overdone. Cheers!

[@ioan_astro]

nice work Sarah!!!! :)

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Thank you, Ioan!!!

[@fabriziocanale9768]

Great tutorial indeed. Being a rookie at Pixinsight I finally understood the very use of the buttons. I wanted to ask you whether or not this process worked for a dslr or one shot color camera but, I saw you already answered positively. Just one question, as I’m going to buy a new computer to replace my old 27” iMac dated 2015, which would you suggest between an iMac 24” M1 16 go ram and a Mac Mini M2? Thank you, Fabrizo

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Hi Fabrizio, I'm glad this tutorial was helpful! And yep, you're correct on the DSLR/ OSC, it should be just fine for that data, at least in my own experience it's worked great. The only real difference is not needing to use StarAlignment or ChannelCombination for creating an RGB master file since that should already exist. You would then want to apply DBE to the master RGB file. You also wouldn't need to worry about the Ha processing portion either. Assuming that you didn't shoot with a narrowband filter of some sort like an Optolong LeXtreme or something. If you did, then extracting the Ha, Oiii, etc from DSLR/OSC data and then recombining it into the RGB data is a whole other processing workflow, as you probably know. Regarding your question about which computer I would go with, at least pertaining to astro processing, really the more CPU and RAM the better.

[@fabriziocanale9768]

@@SarahMathsAstro Thank you!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

You bet!

[@tomcocchiaro3997]

Hi Sarah, just a quick couple of questions. I found it serendipitous to find this video of yours since your imaging equipment mirrors exactly one of my primary imaging rigs with one exception, I'm using an ASi1600MM Pro rather than your 2600. Everything else is exactly the same right down to your "vintage" WO FLT 110 (TMB). My first question is have you ever had an issue with your stock WO focuser slipping as there were many posts when I bought mine from people who switched their focusers out for Feather Touch or Moonlite units. I have to say that from time to time I have had trouble with the same. If you haven't had issues and you still have the original focuser, what did you did to fix the issue--that is if you ever had any--and if so did you find a way to cure it or give up and replace it. Question two involves your galaxy image, it pretty much fills the frame using a scope with a native focal length of 770mm. Did you just crop it in or did you use a 2 or 3X OCR or barlow to zoom in. Thanks for any thoughts you might have. Cheers, Tom

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Hi Tom, thanks for reaching out and for your questions. That is quite serendipitous, indeed, and really cool to hear that we have such similar rigs. I don't hear of too many folks having the WO FLT 110 these days, either! Regarding your question about the WO focuser, I did have issues with it slipping and eventually I had to replace it completely last year. I now have a Baader Planetarium focuser and haven't had any issues with it. Although I still need to install an EAF to it. To your second question about the FOV, I slightly cropped in the edges of all master light files to remove stacking artifacts, but nothing crazy (in my opinion). I did create a KZbin Short of the Triangulum Galaxy and that view of it is significantly cropped in to fit the frame. But for this specific KZbin processing video, I just cropped the stacking artifacts. Could just be exposure settings and the linear auto-stretches, too? Hope this helps! Cheers.

[@tomcocchiaro3997]

@@SarahMathsAstro Thanks Sarah for your quick reply. I was kind of on the fence regarding replacing the focuser but after hearing from you I guess I will just have to dig deep and go for the gusto and buy the Starlight Feathertouch that fits my scope. :Lucky I will be at NEAF this coming weekend where I can talk to those folks directly and make the order. There are other options, but I have Starlight focusers on two other scopes--and their dedicated motor focuser--that I can switch between them. C' la vie. : )

[@joekritz8227]

Does this work for a Color Camera ASI533MC Pro? Minus the image registration and HA data of course.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Hey Joe, yes, it should also work well for one-shot-color images. Especially the synthetic luminance extraction/ creation.

[@joekritz8227]

@@SarahMathsAstro awesome thanks!! One last question. Have you thought of using Blur Xterminator in your workflow and if so what part of this workflow would you use it in?

[@SarahMathsAstro]

You’re welcome! And yes, I do use BlurXTerminator normally these days. I would swap out the PSF Image Analysis script and Deconvolution PI process for BlurXTerminator.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

I didn’t include it in this workflow as it costs money and there isn’t a free, third party alternative like there is for StarXTerminator and StarNet. But I highly recommend the entire RC Astro suite.

[@vandal_ross]

Can anyone help, how do you keep your loaded icons in Pixinsight permanent? Is this even possible?

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Here is a video covering that: kzbin.info/www/bejne/faW2k4OsZaqlotU

[@magedsyehia]

If I may ask for a video tutorial request. Can you do a tutorial video on how you calibrate your monitor for image editing? I’m asking because I’m having issues in color balancing when I edit my images on my pc monitor and then open them on Mac or iPhone. It’s a totally different color than what I have intended!

[@SarahMathsAstro]

Great idea. I know this is a common issue. and important topic that doesn’t get talked about enough. Thank you for the recommendation, I’ll add this to my list.

[@SarahMathsAstro]

If you would like to support this channel and follow along in PixInsight with the linear Red, Green, Blue, and Ha master light files, please consider becoming a Patron over on my Patreon page here: www.patreon.com/SarahMathsAstro Thank you!! :)