PixInsight Intensive Workshop
By Vicent Peris
November 29 – December 5 2015, Paterna, Valencia, Spain
This workshop aims at giving a comprehensive operational/technical understanding of PixInsight to a small group of participants (5–12) over the course of 7 concentrated working days.
Participants will bring all their own unprocessed data sets which will be processed during the week. The structure of the seminar will allow participants an in-depth view of PixInsight, with the goal of having a total immersion in the process of the image creation.
Workshop language will be English.
Workshop Dates and Venue
The workshop will take place in a meeting room of the Scientific Park of the University of Valencia. The workshop will start on Sunday, November 29th, and will run through Saturday, December 5th. We suggest arriving in the area on Saturday, November 28th, and departing on Sunday, December 6th.
On this map you'll find the location of the entrance door to the University building.
Please contact Vicent Peris (vicent(dot)peris(at)pixinsight(dot)com) for further details.
Number of Participants
The aim of this workshop is to have a close encounter with the PixInsight platform and the teacher, so a maximum of 12 participants will be allowed for the full week. Each participant should bring his/her laptop and portable drive to share the data to be processed.
Rates and Registration
With a total duration of 45 hours, the registration price is 800 Euros. Click the button below to register through PayPal.
Lodging Options
You need to make your own boarding/meals arrangements. The workshop meeting room is near from Valencia city center, and can be accessed easily by public transportation. We recommend to contact Viajes Meripla (miguel(at)meripla(dot)com) saying you're attending the PixInsight workshop at the University of Valencia; they will be offering discounts (depending on group size) in hotels near the city center.
For any other logistic need, please contact Vicent Peris (vicent(dot)peris(at)pixinsight(dot)com).
Workshop Sponsors
Workshop Methodology
The aim of this workshop is to get everybody in the class up to speed using PixInsight. The small size of the classroom will ensure that the class moves together at a steady pace, learning by doing. The first day will be dedicated to understand the graphical interface and general methodology of PixInsight.
From day two to six the workshop is divided in common and individual processing sessions. The common sessions will describe key techniques and entire processing examples. Therefore, starting from completely raw data sets, each participant will learn to assemble / generate unprocessed data into respective master files while gaining an understanding of how to pre-process the raw data for optimal signal-to-noise levels. The post-processing will be focused on singular techniques that will cover the main imaging needs of the participants.
Workshop Documentation
Each person attending the intensive workshop will be provided with a workshop manual. This manual will have detailed articles on start-to-finish examples. The manual will be delivered as a PDF document.
Workflow Charts
Each participant will be given a full set of PixInsight workflow charts describing the techniques reviewed during the workshop. Covering the main concepts in a visual style, these charts will help you to carry out your own work at home.
Intensive PixInsight Manual
Each person attending the intensive workshop will be provided with a workshop manual. This manual will have detailed articles on start to finish examples. The manual is delivered as a PDF document.
Workshop Program
Learning to Navigate the PixInsight Platform
An introduction to the PixInsight platform and its graphical user interface.
LRGB Composition Techniques
We'll review the most basic image processing techniques for astrophotography. It's strongly recommended that participants watch Vicent's videotutorials about color calibration and LRGB techniques prior to attending the workshop.
Dynamic Range Management Techniques
PixInsight has a highly automated workflow for the dynamic range management of the image. We'll review the use of HDRComposition and HDRMultiscaleTransform tools as well as basic masking techniques for local contrast enhancement.
The Hubble's Palette
Building a Hubble's palette composite in PixInsight is extremely easy. We'll review an effective workflow composed of only four steps that gives a good tonal representation in these narrowband images.
HaLRGB Composition Techniques
A review of the effective methods designed by Vicent Peris to enhance line emission objects in your broadband images.
Start-to-Finish Examples
In this workshop we'll review the following examples:
Click on the images for full-size versions.
Start-to-Finish Example — M31
Data provided by Adrien Richardson (click on the image to see a full-size version. This example will cover mainly these topics:
- Data set inspection with Blink and SubframeSelector.
- Multiple exposure set management in the BatchPreprocessing script.
- HDR image assembling with HDRComposition. LRGB with high dynamic range L component and low dynamic range RGB components.
- H-alpha enhancement in linear images.
- Denoising and masking techniques.
DSLR data set — Widefield Milky Way
Data provided by Georg Viehoever (click on the image to see a full-size version. This example will cover mainly these topics:
- DSLR data preprocessing.
- Image integration optimization.
- Contrast enhancement through lightness masks.
- Large-scale noise reduction.
Workshop Agenda
| Sunday November 29th | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | PixInsight's graphical user interface |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 13:00 | PixInsight's graphical user interface |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Lunch |
| 14:30 — 16:00 | RGB composition techniques |
| 16:00 — 16:15 | Coffee break |
| 16:15 — 18:00 | RGB composition techniques |
| Monday November 30th | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | LRGB composition techniques |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 13:00 | LRGB composition techniques |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Lunch |
| 14:30 — 16:00 | Work on your own images |
| 16:00 — 16:15 | Coffee break |
| 16:15 — 18:00 | Work on your own images |
| Tuesday December 1st | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | Work on your own images |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 13:00 | Work on your own images |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Lunch |
| 14:30 — 16:00 | The Hubble's palette |
| 16:00 — 16:15 | Coffee break |
| 16:15 — 18:00 | Dynamic range management techniques |
| Wednesday December 2nd | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | HaLRGB composition techniques |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 12:00 | HaLRGB composition techniques |
| 12:00 — 13:00 | Fernando Ballestero's talk |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Lunch |
| Thursday December 3rd | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | Start-to-finish example: Milky Way DSLR |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 13:00 | Start-to-finish example: Milky Way DSLR |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Coffee break |
| 14:30 — 16:00 | Work on your own images |
| 16:00 — 16:15 | Coffee break |
| 16:15 — 18:00 | Work on your own images |
| Friday December 4th | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | Start-to-finish example: M31 |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 13:00 | Start-to-finish example: M31 |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Coffee break |
| 14:30 — 16:00 | Start-to-finish example: M31 |
| 16:00 — 16:15 | Coffee break |
| 16:15 — 18:00 | Start-to-finish example: M31 |
| Saturday December 5th | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 — 11:00 | Work on your own images |
| 11:00 — 11:15 | Coffee break |
| 11:15 — 13:00 | Work on your own images |
| 13:00 — 14:30 | Lunch |
| 14:30 — 16:00 | Work on your own images |
| 16:00 — 16:15 | Coffee break |
| 16:15 — 18:00 | Work on your own images |
Sample Images Processed by Students of Previous Intensive Workshops
Click on the images for full-size versions.
Messier 17 (SHO) – Colin Cooper
Comet Lovejoy (RGB) – Jeff Haynes
NGC 2403 (RGB) – Steven Crider
Helix Nebula (HaLRGB) – Mark De Regt
M81/M82 (LRGB) – Bob Rieger
NGC253 (LRGB) – Konstantin Buchhold
Additional Activities
On Wednesday morning Dr. Fernando Ballesteros (Astronomical Observatory, University of Valencia) will give us a talk about his book E.T. Talk.
Although we have done extensive studies of the Solar System and thus far found over 2000 extrasolar planets—planets outside our Solar System—we have not yet found life, even primitive life, on any planet other than Earth. Might there be life on some of these newly discovered extrasolar planets? Not likely, as most are gas giants or are too close or too far from their sun. However, of late we are finding more and more Earthlike planets. It is now estimated that about 15 percent of the planets in the galaxy are Earthlike, and many of these will likely orbit their suns at the right distance to support life as we know it. No one knows yet if radio searches or other means of detection will reveal that we are not alone in the universe. But if we do discover intelligent life elsewhere, how will we communicate with it? Are there some “universal” methods of communication we can use? Is mathematics a universal language? Are there "alien" intelligences right here on Earth we can use to help us figure out ways of communicating? The answers may surprise you. This talk will actually teach you how to talk to aliens!
On Wednesday afternoon we will take a tour to the historical astronomical observatory of the University of Valencia, near the center of the city.
About Vicent Peris
With more than a 15-year career as an astrophotographer, Vicent Peris (Valencia, Spain, 1980) has been working for the last 7 years at the Astronomical Observatory of the University of Valencia (OAUV). He is now leading the world-renowned astrophotographic programs at Calar Alto Observatory (CAHA) with the 3.5 meter and 1.23 meter Zeiss telescopes, the latter in collaboration with the Documentary School of Astrophotography (DSA), applying innovative image processing techniques and software tools. This is the first astrophotography project in the world with access to the observational time of professional telescopes.
You can see some of the published images of the Calar Alto project on the Gallery section of PixInsight's website, as well as some of Vicent's articles about his image processing techniques on the Processing Examples section.
His works have been published and awarded by some of the most reputed publications worldwide, such as APOD, Scientific American, National Geographic, Bad Astronomy Blog, and Sterne und Weltraum.
Vicent is also the official astrophotographer of the ALHAMBRA Survey, a deep cosmological survey conducted by an international scientific collaboration, acquired from Calar Alto Observatory using the 3.5 meter Zeiss telescope. This survey is the first in the world to use a new instrumental technique known as photometric redshifts, in which low-resolution spectra for each object in an image are obtained by using a large, 23 narrow-filter set covering the 3500 – 9500 angstrom light band. You can see some image samples at Vicent's website.
Vicent has also successful experience in forensics and is currently working as an image processing specialist for the Spanish National Police department since two years.
For more information about Vicent's works, please download his portfolio.