Stars Have Orbs and overall better processing.

Frequent contributor

8 days ago

It's useless to post a question like this without more information. As andrea said, post an image. But along with that we need to have the details of your rig and how you created the image. Telescope or lens, mount, filters used, sub-exposure time are the kind of details that are needed here. Without that, all we can do is guess.

Well Written Concise

Oscar

8 days ago · Edited: 8 days ago

If I were to guess your problem, it sounds like dew, fog, or heavy haze. I really shouldn't recommend any post-processing fix until I see an example.

Well Written

Topic starter

8 days ago

Duncan Hathaway:
Good evening everyone!

Still very new in the hobby and I am struggling with post processing. Kind have a thing going with siril, PS, and SAS.

I am getting light orbs around all of my stars and they are drowning my nebula out. What are some tools I can do to minimize that? I kind of understand creating a starless mask and starmask but am failing to get any good results in that.

I also want to note I do have bortle 6 skys, so I am assuming that is a factor? Would a light pollution filter help with this?

8 days ago · Edited: 8 days ago

Duncan Hathaway:
Duncan Hathaway:
Good evening everyone!

Still very new in the hobby and I am struggling with post processing. Kind have a thing going with siril, PS, and SAS.

I am getting light orbs around all of my stars and they are drowning my nebula out. What are some tools I can do to minimize that? I kind of understand creating a starless mask and starmask but am failing to get any good results in that.

I also want to note I do have bortle 6 skys, so I am assuming that is a factor? Would a light pollution filter help with this?

Looks like possible dew or haze!! Could also be dirty objectives, filters or camera sensor

I would suggest cranking up the settings of the dew heater if you have one or start using one of you don’t already!!

Cleaning all the refractor glass, filters if using any and camera sensor glass would be beneficial as well

If it’s haze in the sky, there’s not much you can do about that unless someone else knows a trick??

Oscar

7 days ago · Edited: 7 days ago

Sam Badcock:
If it’s haze in the sky, there’s not much you can do about that unless someone else knows a trick??

Maybe this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/zarkov-cloud-gun.html🤫

Jokes aside, I don't know what can save that data. Does look like a dew/haze problem, or maybe a dirty objective.

7 days ago

Oscar:
Sam Badcock:
If it’s haze in the sky, there’s not much you can do about that unless someone else knows a trick??

Maybe this: https://www.firstlightoptics.com/misc/zarkov-cloud-gun.html🤫

Jokes aside, I don't know what can save that data. Does look like a dew/haze problem, or maybe a dirty objective.

You could get more integration time and use stronger rejection parameters, that may average the halo’s out then use something like BlurX to tidy up the last of it!! SETI Astro star stretch could help too!!

If I didn’t have much integration time I’d throw them away start again personally!!

You could always shoot 20-30s images for 30minutes or so and use these as your stars image!! Extract the stars from the nebula image, clear out any left over halos (may be a huge pain in the ass) then stretch the nebula and stars separately and screen the stars back in could work as well

Supportive

Frequent contributor

7 days ago

Thanks for posting a picture but we still don't know what telescope and filters, if any, were used.

Well Written

Topic starter

7 days ago

Tony Gondola:
Thanks for posting a picture but we still don't know what telescope and filters, if any, were used.

Telescope - William Optics Z73 w/ WO field (73A) flattener.
Camera - ZWO ASI585 MC.

No filters used.

7 days ago

Duncan Hathaway:
Tony Gondola:
Thanks for posting a picture but we still don't know what telescope and filters, if any, were used.

Telescope - William Optics Z73 w/ WO field (73A) flattener.
Camera - ZWO ASI585 MC.

No filters used.

Dew heaters??

Frequent contributor

7 days ago

Given that then as others have mentioned it could be thin clouds or dew on the objective. It’s not something of the optical system itself. Next time you are taking data keep a close eye on the bright stars as the subs come in. If you start to see them developing that halo, go outside and take a look at the sky (thin clouds?) and take a look at the objective (is it fogged up?).

Helpful Concise

Topic starter

6 days ago

Sam Badcock:
Duncan Hathaway:
Tony Gondola:
Thanks for posting a picture but we still don't know what telescope and filters, if any, were used.

Telescope - William Optics Z73 w/ WO field (73A) flattener.
Camera - ZWO ASI585 MC.

No filters used.

Yes I have dew heater bands. I
Thinking clouds - being real close to the ocean here in San Diego its very often that fog comes in early morning late night - probably the issue. I appreciate all of y'alls help so far though! Going to be testing all the things tonight. I did clean everything as well.

The0s

6 days ago · Edited: 6 days ago

There's a much simpler answer to OP's problem: the camera needs a UV/IR cut filter. The 585 doesn't have a built in window to cut out those wavelengths, resulting in massive halos if no additional filters are used. Since the OP said they didn't use any filters, that's likely the issue.

If the problem is the lack of the UV/IR filter, then it's an easy fix - even the cheapest filters like those from ZWO are good enough for most people.

Edit: Everyone else's suggestions about dew heaters and checking for fog are also good, even if they aren't directly involved in the problem in this case

Edit 2: Just noticed OP is using a doublet telescope - for the record, for these scopes, I know some people get better results with more restrictive UV/IR cut filters like the Astronomik L-3. These reduce the blue bloat and/or mild CA inherent to most doublets.

Helpful Respectful

6 days ago

There's a much simpler answer to OP's problem: the camera needs a UV/IR cut filter. The 585 doesn't have a built in window to cut out those wavelengths, resulting in massive halos if no additional filters are used. Since the OP said they didn't use any filters, that's likely the issue.

If the problem is the lack of the UV/IR filter, then it's an easy fix - even the cheapest filters like those from ZWO are good enough for most people.

Edit: Everyone else's suggestions about dew heaters and checking for fog are also good, even if they aren't directly involved in the problem in this case

Edit 2: Just noticed OP is using a doublet telescope - for the record, for these scopes, I know some people get better results with more restrictive UV/IR cut filters like the Astronomik L-3. These reduce the blue bloat and/or mild CA inherent to most doublets.

Great suggestion re the UV/IR cut filter, OP should invest in one even if it’s a cheapy …… something is generally better than nothing!!

With the OP just commenting saying his location is well known for fog, I’m putting most of my eggs in that basket being the primary culprit with the no filter being the next contributor!! It’ll be that thin whispy fog/cloud you don’t think is there but after a 300s sub you can see it’s effects

Helpful Supportive

6 days ago

Duncan Hathaway:
Sam Badcock:
Duncan Hathaway:
Tony Gondola:
Thanks for posting a picture but we still don't know what telescope and filters, if any, were used.

Telescope - William Optics Z73 w/ WO field (73A) flattener.
Camera - ZWO ASI585 MC.

No filters used.

Yes I have dew heater bands. I
Thinking clouds - being real close to the ocean here in San Diego its very often that fog comes in early morning late night - probably the issue. I appreciate all of y'alls help so far though! Going to be testing all the things tonight. I did clean everything as well.

Next time you go out imaging, after a couple hours or so run the images you have through a program where you can rapidly look through each frame!! Leave the camera running

Pixinisght has Blink, not sure about Siril, pretty sure if you load the lights in to DeepSkyStacker you can do the same thing then you should be able to see small gradient changes move across the sensor over multiple images!! That should confirm if it’s fog or not, they will be subtle changes btw

Adam Block

6 days ago

Sorry, I am confused by this thread. It appears the OP has applied some…. non-optimal stretching/processing. There are many comments about clouds, dew and such- but this looks like a strong non-linear stretch to me. I demonstrate in my tutorials how to either avoid or use this kind of stretching. (I just did tonight on the AstroImaging Channel).
I took the OP to mean the struggle in processing was the fact he reached this point- not the original data.
-adam

Helpful Insightful Concise

Frequent contributor

6 days ago

Sam Badcock · Aug 11, 2025, 04:47 AM
Duncan Hathaway:
Sam Badcock:
Duncan Hathaway:
Tony Gondola:
Thanks for posting a picture but we still don't know what telescope and filters, if any, were used.

Telescope - William Optics Z73 w/ WO field (73A) flattener.
Camera - ZWO ASI585 MC.

No filters used.

Yes I have dew heater bands. I
Thinking clouds - being real close to the ocean here in San Diego its very often that fog comes in early morning late night - probably the issue. I appreciate all of y'alls help so far though! Going to be testing all the things tonight. I did clean everything as well.

Next time you go out imaging, after a couple hours or so run the images you have through a program where you can rapidly look through each frame!! Leave the camera running

Pixinisght has Blink, not sure about Siril, pretty sure if you load the lights in to DeepSkyStacker you can do the same thing then you should be able to see small gradient changes move across the sensor over multiple images!! That should confirm if it’s fog or not, they will be subtle changes btw

You can live stack in Siril but the best way I’ve found to detect thin cloud is to bring up PHD2 and watch that image for a while. The fast frame rate makes the moving clouds very easy to see.

Well Written Concise

Topic starter

6 days ago

There's a much simpler answer to OP's problem: the camera needs a UV/IR cut filter. The 585 doesn't have a built in window to cut out those wavelengths, resulting in massive halos if no additional filters are used. Since the OP said they didn't use any filters, that's likely the issue.

If the problem is the lack of the UV/IR filter, then it's an easy fix - even the cheapest filters like those from ZWO are good enough for most people.

Edit: Everyone else's suggestions about dew heaters and checking for fog are also good, even if they aren't directly involved in the problem in this case

Edit 2: Just noticed OP is using a doublet telescope - for the record, for these scopes, I know some people get better results with more restrictive UV/IR cut filters like the Astronomik L-3. These reduce the blue bloat and/or mild CA inherent to most doublets.

This is what I am exploring. Live in the middle of the suburbs so I only assume this was an issue. I did not know that about the 585 however; definitely something to note! Appreciate it!

Bob Lockwood

6 days ago

In addition to the to what Adam Block said, where in San Diego are you imaging from. The overcast has been a nightmare this summer, if you are like within 5 miles from the coast, you may be fighting a losing battle. Head out to the desert somewhere. Great Bortle 3/4 seeing out there.

Concise

Topic starter

6 days ago

Bob Lockwood:
In addition to the to what Adam Block said, where in San Diego are you imaging from. The overcast has been a nightmare this summer, if you are like within 5 miles from the coast, you may be fighting a losing battle. Head out to the desert somewhere. Great Bortle 3/4 seeing out there.

Down off the 5 in Chula Vista - I have had the pleasure of deleting too many nights of data due to setting up, watching a clear sky for an hour going inside hang out with my wife and then i look down at my IPAD to see nothing but clouds overhead. lol. But In the past few weeks, I have been lucky where I am at. Looking to get out east here during the next new moon.

Bob Lockwood

6 days ago

Duncan Hathaway:
Down off the 5 in Chula Vista - I have had the pleasure of deleting too many nights of data due to setting up, watching a clear sky for an hour going inside hang out with my wife and then i look down at my IPAD to see nothing but clouds overhead. lol. But In the past few weeks, I have been lucky where I am at. Looking to get out east here during the next new moon.

Not the greatest place to image from, probably a soled Bortle 8/9. If you do head out east, be safe as the deserts have been well into the 100's

Bob Lockwood

6 days ago · Edited: 6 days ago

Bob Lockwood:
Duncan Hathaway:
Down off the 5 in Chula Vista - I have had the pleasure of deleting too many nights of data due to setting up, watching a clear sky for an hour going inside hang out with my wife and then i look down at my IPAD to see nothing but clouds overhead. lol. But In the past few weeks, I have been lucky where I am at. Looking to get out east here during the next new moon.

Not the greatest place to image from, probably a solid Bortle 8/9. If you do head out east, be safe as the deserts have been well into the 100's

If you're familiar with the area and don't want to go all the way out to the desert and can do some camping, Cuyamaca Lake could be something to think about. Cooler, lake-side camping, food, 4600ft, and very dark sky's. Just an idea.

Helpful