PixInsight DSLR Workflow - Part 1a, Bias Frames

Andromeda Galaxy - M31

This is the first in a series of posts explaining the general workflow I follow when using PixInsight. We will be looking at my Andromeda image in this post but will bring in other images later. This is certainly not the ultimate workflow and there are some problems I have not resolved which I will point out along the way, but hopefully it will be of some help for fellow DSLR imagers in combating the rather noisy images that these uncooled cameras produce.

I undertake all of my processing in PixInsight (PI).  I am not 'anti-PhotoShop' and I know many great imagers use it for the processing, often in combination with other packages.  Personally I find PI suits my working style; as a computer scientist by training I like repeatable processes that I can analyse, refine and re-use in the future, and PI allows me to do this.  It does have a steep learning curve, but having spent about 300 hours using it over the past two years, including 200 hours of painstaking testing and learning on my Markarian's Chain image, I think I have started to get to grips with it.

Read on for Part 1 of my PixInsight DSLR workflow.

The Andromeda Galaxy - M31, M32 & M110

This is the Andromeda Galaxy, taken 14th/15th September 2013.  The image consists of 6 x 30 minute subexposures.  Read on below for technical details.

Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

Imaging Toolbox Unavailable Morning of Friday 13th Sept 2013

Due to planned major electrical works at the CDS, all their services will be offline 08:00-12:00 CET on 13th September 2013. The Imaging Toolbox relies on Aladin Lite which is served up by the CDS, plus many of the sky surveys are also hosted by the CDS.

Service will resume automatically once the work is completed.

Widefield in the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies

Markarian's Chain (bottom left) plus M87, M89 and M90. This is a small part of the huge Virgo Cluster of galaxies. The image is composed of 81 ten minute exposures (13.5 hours) taken over nine nights between 1st April and 4th May 2013.

Markarian's Chain plus M87, M89 and M90.