Jump to content
  • Join the online East Midlands astronomy club today!

    With active forums, two dark sites and a knowledgeable membership, East Midlands Stargazers has something for everyone.

First ever attempt at Jupiter


Guest sharpie78

Recommended Posts

Guest sharpie78

did you use registax to stack the images Jake, i`m sure the widgets at the end of the process can improve the sharpness of the pictures,


great first effort.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's very good considering the numerous things going against you, trees, tiredness, me yacking down your lugg hole, new mount that day etc. I have tried once and not done much better myself. Well done matey :)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sharpie78

Thanks guys. I had a little play about with the widgets in registax but without really knowing what I was doing it was mostly just fiddling and seeing what happened to the image. I think I need a little bit finer focus tbh. The electronic focuser I ordered from wex is now in so hopefully that will help a bit.


I'm at the bottom of a very steep learning curve I reckon. Time, patience and clear skies are the key for me now. 


:)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have a search on Youtube for a tutorial by Dion of Astronomyshed fame, he does a good tutorial on Registax that might help.


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Great first shot. It's all about the focus with the webcams. I normally focus by hand and down a good twenty minutes tweaking it little by little before I start capture. Keep going at it and you'll get some great images. Planetary is good fun. I'll be gettin the webcam out soon :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sharpie78

without forums like this I'd be spending ages just trying to find someone to point me in the right direction for tutorials etc let alone finding decent ones. Always nice to have a bit of encouragement too. cheers guys  :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just my opinion but I have tried using a Bahtinov mask to achieve focus when doing planetary imaging and have not found it useful. As you use a star to achieve focus you then have to slew to the planet and it is never in focus for me. I have had much better results, albeit more time consuming focusing by eye.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yup Felix is correct - the bhatinov is great for focusing on stars and deep sky imaging, but won't work for webcam and planets which are much closer and brighter and affected strongly by the atmosphere. Way better is visual focusing - preferably with a motor focuser. I wonder if anyone's invented the equivalent to a bhatinov mask for planets...... :)


Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sharpie78

cheers for the tips... was gonna get a dual speed focuser but they don't do one compatible with my small skywatcher 130 so have gone for an electronic focuser (not compatible either but I've rigged it so that it is).


I think APT has a bahtinov built in to the software........might be imagining that though. If it does I'll play with that before buying one. 


Got a new camera too. CCD CCTV camera, apparently some people I've been chatting to have had some decent results.......fingers x'd.


Checked out Dion for his tutorials. thanks Mike for making me aware of those


:D


Link to comment
Share on other sites

You have inspired me to try my web cam on my 130, I had heard that you couldn't get focus with the 130 and a camera without moving the mirror up a bit so haven't tried, maybe that's just dslr's. Nice photo by the way.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest sharpie78

someone told me that too but like you say it would appear it may only apply to dslr's. they also told me to try it with either extension tubes or a focal reducer, can't remember which one. been overloaded with info lately.


I did briefly try a quick image with my new cctv camera last night and managed to get focus on the moon (albeit with the focuser wound almost all the way in). in my very amateur opinion.......my cctv cam and a dslr are quite similar in that they are both a ccd attached to the end of the focuser so if I can get focus with my cam......a dslr should be able to achieve focus too (at least on the moon anyway). well maybe anyway. worth giving it a go I say


Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have done some web caming with a Microsoft lx 5000 but only CMOS using my old frac to good effect but recently up graded to a toucam pro so will have a play with both scopes when I get the chance. Jupiter 3 shadow pass should of been the test drive for the cam, darn clouds.

Edited by tuckstar
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.