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Mars April 16th


johnh

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SPX350 F39.1, PGRFlea3, Baader RGB filters.  1138hrs UT.

Very avg seeing and variable with the boring side of Mars, some steadier periods allowed a decent image.  Mars now very large at 15.16".  A breezy night which is so annoying but Mars stayed on frame.

Thanks, John.

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I can't imagine how tricky it is to even get this on the chip at over 13,500mm FL :eek: - I struggle with with my MN190 and Toucam... and the result is only a red blob!  I don't think I've ever seen a Mars image taken at such FL - You have my greatest respect :icon_salut:

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Great image John and certainly not boring :smiley: Love the cloud capture.

                      Best regards,

                                             Ralph

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Thanks for the comments.

I can't imagine how tricky it is to even get this on the chip at over 13,500mm FL :eek: - I struggle with with my MN190 and Toucam... and the result is only a red blob!  I don't think I've ever seen a Mars image taken at such FL - You have my greatest respect :icon_salut:

It takes practice.  It used to take half an hour of blumming minded persistence with me cursing every step of the way, but now it takes less than 5mins and once I got it on chip without trying after centreing on the viewfinder 8x50mm.  EQMOD has a spiral button that takes you round the object in progressive steps so you just wait for it to flick past.

Regards, John.

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Cheers John - I wasn't using EQMOD the last time I tried planetary imaging, but that does sound as though it could take some of the pain away if you can get reasonably close to begin with.  I may give this another go one day (nowhere near 13500mm though!), as it seems that what relatively few clear skies we get here in the UK have decided to coincide with a full moon...

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Yes Andy, you need to try getting the Spiral value down from default 2000 to say 500 and experiment.  I use a torch to shine down the viewfinder to highlight the black crosshairs and centre the bright star I wish to collimate on exactly in the middle NO ERROR - so it is in the middle of the eyepiece field and the crosshairs - then I insert the CCD.  Then recentre the star with controls as the CCD is heavy and will move things a little.  Then I find the star in the CCD with spiral and collimate primary the recalibrate finder as it would have decentred a little NO ERROR.  Then slew to the planet and centre in the viewfinder - you are now very close indeed - just need a little spiral search help.  Spend time calibrating the viewfinder and recheck the star is still centred in the eyepiece - this is the most important thing getting the finder/star dead centre every time in eyepiece/CCD and finder - NO ERROR.  If I could get a higher mag finder this would help but I am stuck with the 8x50.  I have found Mars at 19,000mm so my method is working but take time centring, if I rush I fail and have to redo.

Happy finding.

John.

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I should have said each time you calibrate you need to also calibrate your planetarium too, after all that is the whole point scope and planetarium in perfect step with each other.

I have just now found my star to collimate on in under 30 secs.

Regards, John.

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