A busy weekend for the telescope, not as much for me. Process automation is a huge time saver. This is all as a run-up to hosting the telescope remotely.
The Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) is reprocessed from data I collected in November 2025. I didn’t particularly care for the result then but this, I like this much better. What changed? I started using GraXpert as a plugin for PixInsight. I feel it does a better job than the other gradient removal tools. It also does a better job at noise reduction (elimination really) than my other favorite tool, NoiseXterminator from RC Astro, at least for now. Both will take advantage of an Nvidia GPU if you have one in your PC. What might take 30-40 minutes on the CPU takes perhaps 20-30 seconds on the GPU.
Tech details:
- 89 subexposures of 300 seconds
- QHY 268C astronomical camera cooled to -5 C, gain 30, offset 30
- IDAS LPS-P2 broadband light pollution filter
- Apertura 75Q Petzval refractor
The Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443)