First Astro Image!

[dawson]

Deano, I'm certainly no expert, I'm lucky to have reasonable kit which makes life much easier (any fool can get semi decent images with reasonable kit!), but I've picked up so much from the forums and from talking with people and reading, and experimenting. Even talking to, and reading stuff about deep sky objects gives you skills and ideas about solar system stuff too, so it's all useful. There will be plenty of more knowledgeable people out there who may well disagree with stuff I've said or my logic, but this is just my understanding / experience, and it's always good to be challenged and to learn how others do stuff.

 

I hope you don't mind, but I'm just done screen shots of your first, and subsequent images of Jupiter and pasted them next to each other in Paint (I use such high brow software). It's clear to see the size difference with using the Barlow:

 

 

It's good to hear about the tracking was pretty good. It's low on the priority list for planetary imaging, but having it bang on just makes life so much easier as it's one less thing to worry about (trying to keep the planet on the sensor); this is even more important as you make the focal length longer and longer and as the planet scoots off quicker and quicker in the field of view in a poorly tracking mount.

 

Looking at your image from last night, it looks a bit dimmer than the previous one. I'm not sure what the original data was like, but maybe if it's also gloomy try and brighten it up a bit (longer shutter speeds, more gain, altering the other "brightness" settings in sharpcap); the other thing to consider, is if you are making any brightness/contrast alterations to the final image in photoshop or the like, do it on a monitor which has appropriate brightness and contrast settings itself; I went through a phase of doing processing on my laptop which has a very bright screen, but when I looked at the image on another computer it was very dark. I since borrowed a friends device to standardise all my monitors so they are more like one another. This hobby has never ending things to adjust and buy!

 

Keep up the good work.

 

JD

[catman161]

Hey Deano, James is exaggerating my knowledge a little regarding focus and powermate knowledge. I just use the powermates and sometimes get good results. James is the one with the theoretical knowledge and I can't really add anything about powermates as he explained it very comprehensively above.

His advice regarding continuous experimenting with settings, powermates/Barlows and extension tubes is great advice. I have only been doing planetary imaging for a year now and am still learning myself. I would be happy to help you out at a meet and/or show you what I do. The processing side of things once you have honed your capture routine is what gets difficult as there is a lot you can do. I am still learning more and more about processing each day.