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Weird Oddities on My ZWO ASI533MC Pro

Zak’s Astrophotography
in PixInsight
Hi Adam,

I have been using my ZWO ASI533MC Pro successfully for months now, but after some recent images I took of M106 and Sh2-308, I have noticed some oddities when stacking that aren't apparent when imaging. The two main issues I noticed are some small, coloured pixels in specific parts of the image, and the other is some faint red mottling which were very difficult to remove unless I used aggressive DBE settings (this mottling is more apparent with a starless version of the image).

I did drop my camera accidentally while trying to attach it to my telescope last week, but I am not sure if this would be the cause or not. I also tried cleaning the clear glass window in front of the sensor due to some stubborn dust spots.

From my testing, they aren't calibrating out with dark frames on un-dithered frames, but they mostly get removed with dithered frames calibrated with darks.

I'm thinking of another possibility where it could be the USB cable that came with the camera that is causing these issues. I have also emailed ZWO directly but I am not expecting a response from them yet as their office is closed until the 12th June due to the Dragon Boat Festival celebrations.

Attached are a couple of links to files that show the problem.

Comments

  • Zak’s Astrophotography
    Just an update, I went out and did some imaging last night and it was a success.

    I believe it might have been the USB cable causing issues, so I swapped it with another one, and I also believe it could have been my ZWO UV/IR Cut filter causing the red mottling, so I changed filters to my Antlia Triband RGB Ultra.
  • BlockHeadBlockHead
    Great.
    Sorry I was unable to reply to this. I was out of the country.
    -the Blockhead
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