My First Ever Jupiter

[Mark Harper.]

Great job Felix.

[Orion]

That's a magnificent image Felix. I'm so impressed.

[Guest Wayne]

That's gorgeous.

[catman161]

Thanks Orion & Wayne

[Stephen]

  Thats a very nice Image

 

   Stephen

[Allan the Plumber]

Hey guys,

 

After failing to get anything lookng good on the live screen on laptop Stephen and Phil saved the day and advised what I was doing wrong and I managed to get a good few avis before the clouds rolled in. The below image is best 95% of a shorter avi (742 frames) and was taken with an SPC900NC with Sharpcap. Equipment was 200P on NEQ6 Pro and 2x 2 inch Televue Powermate. No processing other than registax as I don't really know how!

 

Hope you like, advice welcomed  As I said I have a few more avis to sort through and process so will post more when I get a chance.

 

17_02_2013 First Ever Jupiter.png

Hi Felix

 

Can I pick your brains about imaging Jupiter

 

For all intense and purpose we have the same set up scope, mount, web cam filters etc and are using the same capture and processing software only difference I have is I have a Celestron 2x Barlow and you have a 2x Televue  powermate.

 

Is this much better than a barlow as the images i'm getting don't have half the detail or magnification of yours will add one to show

 

Sorry to ask but you've seemed to hit the planetary imaging on the nail

 

Thanks

 

Allan

[Allan the Plumber]

Hi Felix

 

here's a link to photo

cheers

Allan

<a href="http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/AllanthePlumber/media/Capture20_04_201321_57_42_zps2fba7216.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r782/AllanthePlumber/Capture20_04_201321_57_42_zps2fba7216.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Capture20_04_201321_57_42_zps2fba7216.jpg"/></a>

[catman161]

Hi Allan,

Thanks for the compliment but I don't think I have really nailed the planetary imaging at all! Thanks for the compliment though

Regarding your image I think the brightness can be dealt with by using the correct settings in sharpcap and also further enhanced when processing in Registax. However I do think the Powermate is far superior to any Barlow.

Have a look at this video for the processing side of things-it's very helpful.

http://youtu.be/daXevwCNi4k

And this one for the sharpcap settings

http://youtu.be/4UC0KmPkuy4

I basically followed the advice on these videos. The only thing I will add is that I made sure my polar alignment was as good as I can get it and I focused by eye using Jupiter's moons as an indicator of when I was in focus. For this you have to turn the gain up quite high and if you can get away with keeping high for the captures then you will get the moons in the end picture but this isn't always possible. Then it's just a question of the seeing conditions and wind etc.

sorry if that's not helped-as I said I am no imaging guru! Maybe some if the more experienced images can contribute with any thoughts. Hope it helps in some way

[Allan the Plumber]

Thanks for that Felix have been advised that the planets location in the sky and light pollution can play their part

Going to invest in a Baader Neodymium Filter instead of the ir filter on the spc900 that may assist in clarity

Also have sorted an auto focuser along with the Bahtinov mask should help get the planet pin sharp ( have to run upand down the garden tweaking the focus and checking on the laptop

With the autofocus I should be able to stay at the computer and sort the focus there happy days lol

Again thanks for the link to using the software wish the guy from Astromony shed ( sorry can't remember his name ) would get to the point

He's exstremley knowledgeable and I don't think I would of got to where I am now with him but please get to the information bit lol

Speak soon

Allan

[catman161]

No problem Alan.

A couple of points. Firstly having used the bahtinov mask approach myself I (personally) have got much better results focusing in the way I described above.

Secondly having used the Baader Neodymium IR cut filter and the regular IR filter that came with Webcam I would not recommend the Baader for webcam work. The resulting images in a side by side (same processing, same capture settings, avis taken one after the other on same night and on same equipment) comparison were a lot darker with the Baader. I do use the Baader filter visually though and I very much like it.

[Orion]

Hi Felix

 

here's a link to photo

cheers

Allan

<a href="http://s1367.photobucket.com/user/AllanthePlumber/media/Capture20_04_201321_57_42_zps2fba7216.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1367.photobucket.com/albums/r782/AllanthePlumber/Capture20_04_201321_57_42_zps2fba7216.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo Capture20_04_201321_57_42_zps2fba7216.jpg"/></a>

Nice images Allan.  Does the pricipal of the Bat mask assume point sources of light i.e. stars only?  If so, planetary and lunar wouldn't focus well.  I don't know myself, hence the question.  As I'm trying to get back into this hobby, the light nights are setting in, so there will be nothing to look at except Saturn and the moon, except for a brief period of darkness in June/July.  Derek

[catman161]

Hi Derek, yeah you're right the bat masks work with point sources of light i.e. stars

[dawson]

Derek

 

Yes, the Bahtinov masks are used to focus on a near by star, then re-slew the scope back to the planet. I assume a near by star is used so the light is travelling through the same amount of atmosphere and heat and other stray interference.

 

Felix's approach at focusing on a moon is good if you've got enough aperture to see the moons clearly, I never had that with the 127mm Mak, but might have with the 180 Mak.

 

The other thing, is focusing with an eye piece is dead easy. Focusing with a half baked webcam via a laptop and a moving image is another issue altogether. The images I get on a laptop are fuzzy even when seeing is good and the planet is quite high (for Jupiter I'm talking about now), so it's a case of doing a run and seeing. This is why I have found the Bahtinov has been useful.

 

Also, with the 127 Mak I only had the course focus know and the unsteady mount. Again with the 180 Mak I've got a dual speed focuser (not standard fitting) and the new mount so I'm hopeful I can achieve better focus.

 

Maybe with the posher CCD cameras it is possible to see how the focus looks on screen more easily, I don't know. I'm still investigating them.

 

You are more than welcome to come up to West Bridgford sometime I'm in the back garden and have a play with my kit.

 

James

[catman161]

Hey Derek,

Focusing by eye takes longer because you have to watch the planet for at least 10 minutes to catch that one moment where the seeing settles and the planet is in focus. I have not got on with bat masks as when in perfect focus on a star I have not yet ever slewed to the planet and it be in focus. On chatting with some about it somebody posited the theory that it may be because even though the star is "nearby" by our judgement, in astronomical terms it is most likely light years further away an that may factor?? I dunno-I mostly just keep tweaking knobs until it looks right-no comments James

Edited May 8, 2013 by catman161

[dawson]

I wondered what the heavy breathing was in the dark the other week at wymeswold!

[+Ibbo]

i use the moons and wack the gain up so i can see them and on nghts of poor seeing ie most of them in this country that sweet spot can be so elusive I then tweak the focus between each run just a tad and try to stack the bad ones out

 

Steve

[Stephen]

 Thats a very nice image Felix

 

 

   Stephen

[catman161]

Thats a very nice image Felix

Stephen

Thanks again Stephen-you wrote the very same comment on 18th April