Shooting Jupiter

[Guest B00mdr1ve8y]

Hey,

I would like to know how to image Jupiter correctly and subtly. I am working with limited equipment, and I am open to suggestions, hints and tips on how to make my images a little better?

My setup for the process includes: CELESTRON Powerseeker 114EQ Telescope

NExImage CCD Webcam

AM Cap - Capture software

Registax 1-6

GIMP/Photoshop

Jupiter is highest in the sky at around 4am for me currently, I waited out last night and got plenty of footage. However, I was slightly disappointed with the finished product. To get a nice clean "disc" of Jupiter I have to turn up the brightness ect when recording, which is leaving me with over-exposed images? I'm not sure how to keep the image dark whilst recording AND still get a nice clean disc of jupiter without it fading into an "un-round blob"? I've attached some of my efforts so far, all with different settings.

It would be helpful on what sort of "pallete" I should be using when bringing out the colours in Registax?

Cheers, I look forward to hearing your responses and knowledge

Edited September 22, 2012 by B00mdr1ve8y

[Brantuk]

What you are aiming at is catching the odd fleeting moments of clarity in the seeing by rapidly shooting as many frames as possible. The rest of the bad frames can be binned. In several mins of recording you may only get half a dozen good frames.

How are you achieving focus? I would use a bhatinov mask (if you aren't allready). Its a bright object and I think the technique is to turn down brightness and increase gain. But do check that one out.

Do a search on SGL for "Jupiter Webcam Clinic" - that thread is very long and detailed and includes a whole bunch of settings for capturing both the planet and the moons - each of which requires different settings and masking and layering. I've not done this myself yet but have read a lot about it. I like your first pics though - very good attempts - hope that helps

[+Graham]

Hi Kyle

I think the first thing I would do is ditch the Am cap and use Sharpcap, it is a free program and is very user friendly.

Don't now anything about your camera, most folks use the phillips spc 800.Shooting on y2u2 format

The main point to remember is to make sure you have the Gamma turned as low as it will go.

By doing this you will see an amazing increase in detail.

You also want to be shooting so the image you see on the computer screen is pretty dim as far as the brightness/exposure goes.

You will be able to bring the image back up in Registax using the wavelettes.

[Daz Type-R]

Not an imager myself, I prefer visual so no idea how to help, but I do like your first picture, love the different zoom levels in one picture.

[red dwalf]

to be honest the pictures are not that bad with the scope you are using, is yours f5 ? what you need is to increase the focal ratio, ideally looking at f20 ish which has problems then trying to get the image onto the chip so i use a flip mirror to help with this.

if your scope is f5 then a 3 or 4x barlow might help ut it makes it hard, start with a 2 x first,

you should be looking at capturing a 5 or 10 frames per second max otherwise using your neximage camera it will compress the avi`s lossing data, your camera is the same as the philips webcams alot of people use.

also as Jupiter turns so fast don`t go for more than 2 minutes maximum.

to capture i use wx astrocapture or sharpcap, i think sharpcap is alittle better, also when processing with registax, one of the most important things to do is the rgb align.

p.s. when using regisatax don`t forget to tell it to only use the best 50 or 60% of images to stack, you can delete the worst ones manually but going through a couple of thousand avi`s one at a time takes forever but some people do it.

also as mentioned above focus using a mask is the upmost of importance, if your not in focus then you have no chance.

Edited September 23, 2012 by red dwalf

[Guest B00mdr1ve8y]

What you are aiming at is catching the odd fleeting moments of clarity in the seeing by rapidly shooting as many frames as possible. The rest of the bad frames can be binned. In several mins of recording you may only get half a dozen good frames.

How are you achieving focus? I would use a bhatinov mask (if you aren't allready). Its a bright object and I think the technique is to turn down brightness and increase gain. But do check that one out.

Do a search on SGL for "Jupiter Webcam Clinic" - that thread is very long and detailed and includes a whole bunch of settings for capturing both the planet and the moons - each of which requires different settings and masking and layering. I've not done this myself yet but have read a lot about it. I like your first pics though - very good attempts - hope that helps

Ahh this is great! Thankyou for your advice. I had no idea what a bhatinov mask even was. I googled it, and will seek one immediatley Thanks alot! I've been focussing manually with the scope up till now.

[Guest B00mdr1ve8y]

to be honest the pictures are not that bad with the scope you are using, is yours f5 ? what you need is to increase the focal ratio, ideally looking at f20 ish which has problems then trying to get the image onto the chip so i use a flip mirror to help with this.

if your scope is f5 then a 3 or 4x barlow might help ut it makes it hard, start with a 2 x first,

you should be looking at capturing a 5 or 10 frames per second max otherwise using your neximage camera it will compress the avi`s lossing data, your camera is the same as the philips webcams alot of people use.

also as Jupiter turns so fast don`t go for more than 2 minutes maximum.

to capture i use wx astrocapture or sharpcap, i think sharpcap is alittle better, also when processing with registax, one of the most important things to do is the rgb align.

p.s. when using regisatax don`t forget to tell it to only use the best 50 or 60% of images to stack, you can delete the worst ones manually but going through a couple of thousand avi`s one at a time takes forever but some people do it.

also as mentioned above focus using a mask is the upmost of importance, if your not in focus then you have no chance.

Brill thankyou, I've been using a 2x Barlow up till now. I have a cheap 3x, but it doesn't yield good results. Thankyou for your advice with regards to Registax, I had no idea about the "50 or 60% of images to stack" I had seen those settings but didn't fully understand them at first, so thats a great help thanks!

[Guest B00mdr1ve8y]

Hi Kyle

I think the first thing I would do is ditch the Am cap and use Sharpcap, it is a free program and is very user friendly.

Don't now anything about your camera, most folks use the phillips spc 800.Shooting on y2u2 format

The main point to remember is to make sure you have the Gamma turned as low as it will go.

By doing this you will see an amazing increase in detail.

You also want to be shooting so the image you see on the computer screen is pretty dim as far as the brightness/exposure goes.

You will be able to bring the image back up in Registax using the wavelettes.

Cheers for the "Sharpcap" advice. I downloaded it immediately. I had no idea it existed so its great! My camera is the same as the Phillips one you describe. I'll be sure to keep the Gamma down on the next shoot. As for the brightness, I knew i had to keep the AVI nice and dark, but when I do turn down the brightness etc the disc loses its shape and instead of a nice circle, it just shows some of the main cloud bands and loses all form of looking like a planet? Maybe I'll have better luck with the settings in Sharpcap instead? Cheers!

[+Graham]

Hi again Kyle

When you use sharpcap instead of adjusting the brightness you can adjust the 'gain'

A bit of trial and error you will soon get the hang of it.