Jupiter and a Moon

[Scorpius]

Greetings Fellow Stargazers,

Just checking in after another extended absence from SGL. There’s been a lot going on and not much good observing weather but captured some decent video of Jupiter the other night and was pleased with the results. Apparently, missed a double transit that night (Dec. 15) but one of Jupiter’s Galilean satellites is visible to the east just not sure which one but should be Io or Europa according to this webpage. http://www.space.com/28012-jupiter-moon-skywatching-tonight.html

There’s some noise along the planet’s edges that I can’t seem to get rid of. Might try splitting video into RGB using PIPP as most of it seems to be in the blue spectrum so hoping to get rid of some more noise that way. Anyhow, did manage to catch the GRS with my Celestron 8” OTA, Advanced VX mount and Neximage 5. Still no progress with DSO’s but rumor has it there’s an Explore Scientific 80 mm Essential ED Triplet Refractor, Orion thin OAG and Orion Starshoot Autoguider Pro on the way for Christmas which should help a lot with that pursuit.

Hope everyone has a great holiday season and hope to post some more pics soon...

[Atreta]

Hi, how many frames did you stack?

this is a very good Jupiter picture, did you use a barlow too or it was just the camera and scope?

[SnakeyJ]

I think that's the nest result I've seen from the Neximage5, and excellent resolution with an OSC. Well done Scorpius :-)

[toxic]

that is a good capture well done.

[Scorpius]

Hi, how many frames did you stack?

this is a very good Jupiter picture, did you use a barlow too or it was just the camera and scope?

Thanks - It was 1000 frames out of 1649. No barlow just Neximage 5 at native FL of 2032 mm. I'm finally realizing the difference seeing can make in your images as everyone here has be saying all along. The night before, I tried my usual method of pushing the magnification beyond what seeing could support and ended up with the large but blurry image below. Tried both the x2 barlow and the x 2.5 powermate but the videos looked like they were taken through a glass of boiling water. Anyway, dropped back to native focal length and the difference was dramatic. Although the first image I posted turned out much smaller in physical size, the added detail and stability I could see in the videos convinced me to stay at native FL and capture as much data as I could. Once I started processing, much of what I had needed to be tossed but there were a few videos that remained stable throughout and the first image I posted was from the best of the lot...

I really enjoy solar system imaging and know it's good practice but what I'm really interested in is getting some images of DSO's!!! I'm hoping the new equip. mentioned above will finally allow me to capture some true long exposure photographs instead of just stacking video frames. Also wanted to mention that I'm very pleased with the Advanced VX mount. I've been aligning with a polar scope and its tracking performance has been improving each time out. I'm hopeful the Orion OAG in combo with the sensitive Starshoot Autoguider Pro will allow me to finally capture some long exposure photos using my G3 Starshoot Monochrome (w/LRGB Filters). Once all that's connected to the new Explore Scientific 80 mm Apo Triplet that's on the way - atop the Advanced VX mount - I hope to be posting my first DSO image very soon...

Cheers,

Scorpius

Transit (2).tif

[Vox45]

Nice  crisp details and I like the contrast