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Best way/tool/database to identify tiny objects in our pictures?

Deep Sky Planetary Nebula
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ValeryL avatar
ValeryL avatar
Hello all,

As said in the title, I often zoom deep in my pictures to look for tiny objects and I'm always wondering if the small blurry thing I see is an artefact from processing or an actual very small (apparent size) object like a galaxy or a planetary nebula.

As an example, I found in my heart & soul nebula picture the tiny WeBo 1 planetary nebula, but it took me ages to identify it (mostly I was lucky to find an article about it).

So my question is, when we think we might have something in our pictures that is not showing in stellarium for example, where to look for?
Is there a free database for very small DSO objects? 


Clear skies
Respectful Engaging
Ruediger avatar
Ruediger avatar
Hello Valery,

I recommend ASTAP. Fast and free and a lot of different catalogues. Just tested on WeBo1 in one of my RAWs. Works like charm. It solves and annotates DS objects in fraction of a second. My absolute favorite. It also identifies quickly asteroids or comets.

Alternative. PixInsight (solver and annotator). But expensive.

ASTAP: one of the Ha subs of the final image here: https://www.astrobin.com/hqvtlh/
Also tested on a wider field (https://www.astrobin.com/emw527/) WeBo1 is always clearly identified via ASTAP.
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MaksPower avatar
MaksPower avatar
Aladin Lite.
Scott Badger avatar
Scott Badger avatar
If you have pixinsight then the ‘What’s in my image’ script by SetiAstro toward the bottom of this page is great! It will even create a collage of the objects in your image according to the types you select.
https://www.setiastro.com/pjsr-scripts

Cheers,
Scott
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ValeryL avatar
ValeryL avatar
Scott Badger:
If you have pixinsight then the ‘What’s in my image’ script by SetiAstro toward the bottom of this page is great! It will even create a collage of the objects in your image according to the types you select.
https://www.setiastro.com/pjsr-scripts

Cheers,
Scott

Thanks Scott, 

I'll try it ASAP !

clear skies
ValeryL avatar
ValeryL avatar
Ruediger:
Hello Valery,

I recommend ASTAP. Fast and free and a lot of different catalogues. Just tested on WeBo1 in one of my RAWs. Works like charm. It solves and annotates DS objects in fraction of a second. My absolute favorite. It also identifies quickly asteroids or comets.

Alternative. PixInsight (solver and annotator). But expensive.

ASTAP: one of the Ha subs of the final image here: https://www.astrobin.com/hqvtlh/
Also tested on a wider field (https://www.astrobin.com/emw527/) WeBo1 is always clearly identified via ASTAP.

Hello Ruediger,

Thanks for your detailed answer, as I already own Pixinsight, i'll give it a try, your WeBo1 is insane

Clear skies
ValeryL avatar
ValeryL avatar
MaksPower:
Aladin Lite.

Hello,

Just gave it a try on the my M31 picture, I was sure I had something, and I could find it in Aladin lite ! it was galaxy UGC 372.

I really enjoy the fact that you can just browse the map, zoom, make it match to your picture, and the click on the object to discover the name : )
Much more pleasant than an automated program !

Thanks 

Clear skies
Scott Badger avatar
Scott Badger avatar
Scott Badger (ScottBadger)
If you have pixinsight then the ‘What’s in my image’ script by SetiAstro toward the bottom of this page is great! It will even create a collage of the objects in your image according to the types you select.
https://www.setiastro.com/pjsr-scripts

Cheers,
Scott

Here's an example of the collage that the SA script created from my image of NGC 4725. I think the blank ones can be filtered out, but need to play with it more.

Cheers,
Scott

ValeryL avatar
ValeryL avatar
Scott Badger:
Scott Badger (ScottBadger)
If you have pixinsight then the ‘What’s in my image’ script by SetiAstro toward the bottom of this page is great! It will even create a collage of the objects in your image according to the types you select.
https://www.setiastro.com/pjsr-scripts

Cheers,
Scott

Here's an example of the collage that the SA script created from my image of NGC 4725. I think the blank ones can be filtered out, but need to play with it more.

Cheers,
Scott


This is insane, my week end is now fully booked xD I'll check every image i own
Scott Badger avatar
Scott Badger avatar
Yeah, it's a bit of a wormhole…… : )
Oskari Nikkinen avatar
Oskari Nikkinen avatar
TypeCat can create custom annotation catalogues for Pixinsight: http://www.skypixels.at/pixinsight_scripts.html

You can select the type of object to search for and include in the annotation catalogue. You could for example select galaxies, planetary nebulae, and globular clusters and create a custom catalogue to use with the default annotate image script in Pixinsight. It scours Simbad for the entries and often finds more faint fuzzies than the regular Pixinsight catalogues or Astrobin annotation.
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Matthew Kiss avatar
Matthew Kiss avatar
@ValeryL ​​​​​​

Try this script in pixinsight. The Seti Astro script is very awesome! 

https://youtu.be/YwJhgcfQUPQ?si=N4Bisu73XEQUVcAm

Clear skies
Matthew
Salvatore Iovene avatar
Salvatore Iovene avatar
The PixInsight plate-solving is also part of AstroBin Ultimate:

https://welcome.astrobin.com/features/astrometry-tools
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