Jupiter too bright for contrast

[Astromaster130]

Hey guys

Im hoping someone can help me, Im trying to record jupiter with my webcam in my telescope but cannot get any details from the planet.

It is just a white ball.

How can i solve this?

Im using astromaster 130 with prime focus and have yet to try a barlow with it yet.

Any help is greatly appreciated

[Astromaster130]

Hey guys

Im hoping someone can help me, Im trying to record jupiter with my webcam in my telescope but cannot get any details from the planet.

It is just a white ball.

How can i solve this?

Im using astromaster 130 with prime focus and have yet to try a barlow with it yet.

Any help is greatly appreciated [emoji93]

I forgot to mention im using sharpcap and registax for capturing and processing.[emoji93]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ronin]

Suspect that you need to increase the size of the image.

You do not give details but if you are imaging direct to tye webcam the image will be small and so bright.

"normal" scope for planetary imaging is a SCT/Mak so f/10 up to f/15 then they add a barlow of say 3x so the image size is increased quite a lot.

Do not know what you have in the optical path, but that is my guess.

If you have a barlow then drop it in and tey that, even if it is 2x and you need a 3x or more then it should show some improvement.

Is there tracking on the 130 ?

[Astromaster130]

Hey, yeah it is direct to the webcam, i need to do a bit of experimenting as i have not tried a barlow with it yet. I have the astromaster with motor drive but I'm still trying to perfect that lol[emoji16]

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[ronin]

I would say that the small image size is the problem, the gathered light is squeezed into a small image and the result is just too bright.

If the kit came with a 2x barlow give it a go, it should at least indicate if there is improvement, I could however see you needing a 3x.

The next problem being that as you increase the apparent focal length then Jupiter wanders across faster if the tracking is not good.

You just cannot win at times.

May sound odd but do the moons come out OK with the present setup?

Usually it is a case of Jupiter too bright and moons OK, or, Jupiter OK and moons too dim to be apparent.

[Freddie]

I assume you have adjusted the exposure/gain down to ensure it is ~2/3 on the histogram and therefore not over exposed?

[Astromaster130]

I would say that the small image size is the problem, the gathered light is squeezed into a small image and the result is just too bright.

If the kit came with a 2x barlow give it a go, it should at least indicate if there is improvement, I could however see you needing a 3x.

The next problem being that as you increase the apparent focal length then Jupiter wanders across faster if the tracking is not good.

You just cannot win at times.

May sound odd but do the moons come out OK with the present setup?

Usually it is a case of Jupiter too bright and moons OK, or, Jupiter OK and moons too dim to be apparent.

Hey, no the moons are not present at the moment.

The best results I've had so far are with off axis viewing but i don't want to lose any detail by restricting the light to the mirror.

Would this affect my overall detail of jupiter? I still need to have a play with whats best as I've only just started with the webcam. This is my result from the off axis, still getting to grips with registax but its my best result so far. [emoji93]

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[Astromaster130]

I assume you have adjusted the exposure/gain down to ensure it is ~2/3 on the histogram and therefore not over exposed?

I don't think i did anything with the histogram, I will have another go at it tonight as Im starting to get used to it now[emoji93]

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[Freddie]

Given the image you have posted it isn't an image scale issue (though that may help a little) but the white was caused by over exposure so you need to look at gain and exposure as suggested. The histogram is your friend there!!

[Astromaster130]

Given the image you have posted it isn't an image scale issue (though that may help a little) but the white was caused by over exposure so you need to look at gain and exposure as suggested. The histogram is your friend there!!

Ok, thanks for the help[emoji93]

Astromaster130