Hit 3,000 stacked frames in one night and it finally clicked

I was going through some old time-lapse photos from a star party last summer and noticed I had 3,000 frames of the Milky Way stacked from just one night. Never realized I'd taken that many until I counted. Has anyone else hit a surprising number like that and saw something new in the image?

3 comments

3 Comments

king.val1mo agoMost Upvoted

I used to think stacking was more about reducing noise than actually revealing new detail. I mean, I knew it helped with signal but I figured you kind of knew what you were going to get already. Then a buddy of mine did a deep stack of the Orion Nebula with like 2,000 frames and the difference in the dust lanes was actually wild. It completely changed my mind on it. Now I try to push for as many frames as I can, even if it feels overkill at first. You really don't know what's hiding in the data until you throw a ton of subs at it.

aaron_mitchell1mo ago

2000 frames is a lot but @king.val you're right, the dust really pops with that many subs.

keith_bennett1mo ago

Totally agree. I did the same thing with the North America Nebula last fall. Pushed it to around 2,500 frames over two nights and suddenly the dark nebula in the Gulf of Mexico region just appeared. Stuff I couldn't see at all with 300 frames. It's like the gas and dust get this whole extra layer of texture you don't expect.