First shot at Jupiter

[Blazar]

Gents,

Was doing some Lunar imaging the other night (12/11), and it just so happened that Jupiter was rising, so thought I would have a pop at it (not having used my 120MM-s on a planet before). In my excitement I did not use a focus mask (doh!)...that and the seeing was not that great (plus winds of 11knots)....so enough of the excuses. These were the best couple I could muster. Think I will wait until it rises further into the sky, and try not to get over excited and miss focusing properly! Thanks for looking. Any pointers greatly welcomed!

[red dwalf]

indeed focus is very crucial,

what software are you using for processing ? i would recommend running it through PIPP first then AUTOSTAKET 2 with a final wavelets in registax 6, all freely available.

[Blazar]

Yep thats what I use for the lunar images I take. and OAcapture to obtain the avi's.

[Virgoman]

That`s a good effort Steve. Not a lot you can do about awful seeing coupled with Jupiter being so low at the time. That is a first rate camera you have there and will give excellent results with your C800HD. I have only the stock focuser on my C8 SCT and just focus by eye in tiny amounts once I am in the ballpark! Crappy seeing of course makes this awkward at times and I would love an electric focuser but Mrs Ralph would probably skin me alive!! Let`s hope for a great season what with the GRS shrinking quite spectacularly and certainly with Jupiter you are never bored!  Would hate it if the GRS disappeared completely

                                           Best regards,

                                                                   Ralph        

[knobby]

Good effort Steve ( you really are far too committed

[Blazar]

Thanks Gary & Ralph.....this was after going out to a dark site (but 5 miles from home forgetting I had not packed the mount tripod!!!!). Go home pick up tripod...drive 35-40 minutes away...get to dark site... find a lorry parked in the middle of the hard standing (with someone moving about inside the cab) and mud everywhere! clouds roll in....Spoke to Daniel....got back in the car drove home waited an hour...set up out on the driveway and stayed there to 1:30 am. So did really want to make the most of the evening. was doing Lunar and then noticed Jupiter was up so tried for it!

[Pete Presland]

the joys of astronomy! that is a nice 1st Jupiter, you have captured some nice detail. what were the capture details?

[Blazar]

Thanks Peter....yes I like to try and get out at ever opportunity!

The capture details were:

Frames captured 7093

oaCapture 0.0.8 beta

camera: ZWO ASI120MM-S

time: 2014-11-13 00:59:31

Brightness: 8

Gamma: 50

Auto Gain: on

Gain: 50

Horizontal Flip: off

Vertical Flip: off

Auto Exposure: off

Exposure (ms): 10

USB Traffic: 40

Bit Depth: not recorded

Binning: not recorded

Auto USB Traffic: off

Temp ©: 15.5

Dropped Frames: not recorded

image size: 640x480

filter: L

[Pete Presland]

thats a good amout of frames. i think you can definitely get better images depending on the seeing condirions. are you using an I/R filter for your L channel ?

[Space Cowboy]

Nice start! I wouldn't worry about a b-mask as most planetary imagers don't use one. Better to increase the focal length and focus on the detail of Jupiter or its moons if the are in shot. Changes in temperature at this fl mean focus needs tweaking every 10-15 mins.

[Blazar]

thats a good amout of frames. i think you can definitely get better images depending on the seeing condirions. are you using an I/R filter for your L channel ?

Yes Peter. A Baader IR pass filter. I don't have a filter wheel so cannot undertake RGB for now. This attempt was not really planned, so I did not confirm the maximum exposure time. For the next try I will plan it a little better (if we can get rid of these clouds!).

Thanks Stuart, I do have a x2 and x3 barlow, but think I only really need a x1.5. if I can get a filter wheel, then I can mount the lens from the Tal x2 into the camera barrel. Thanks for the advice re focus!