Mark2022

Don't worry. When the countryside is totally off limits to us 'plebs', nobody will have the pleasure of any dark skies whatsoever (except those caused by geoengineering).

Not boring. Looks 'windswept and interesting'. Nice shot.

Sorry Kon, I'm not following. A stack of 120 seconds or 120 subs? If seconds, a single stack from a single 120 second video? If subs (i.e. frames from the original video) how many frames in total were taken? i.e. What percentage is 120? So derotation isn't all it's cracked up to be? What was the gain and exposure you used and how high was Jupiter at the time? Regain and exposure: I guess you use firecapture or sharpcap whereas I'm using AstroDMx for the moment so my guess is that gain, at least, may not be measured precisely the same in each software. I've been reading up on pixels and well depth, QE etc as well as gain and exposure and how they interact so I'm beginning to wonder if I'm just not 'filling the well' enough or filling too much with my gain/exp settings. I noted a very calm, clear night last night at about 2am. If I'd known earlier it was clear,I'd have been out but, at 2am (and the moon and Jupiter were about 60 degrees I estimate) I was flailing having been up at about 7am. Also, within the hour, I'd lose Jupiter behind my house wall/roof.

The new one is definitely improved. So what did you do differently, Kon? I see a touch more detail in the Southern Polar hood and a little more saturation overall.

Does anyone have a good handle on the costs of getting couriers to deliver things like scopes and mounts (i.e. the heavier stuff) up and down the country? I've just been quoted 2 vastly different sums from a courier for a £350 second hand scope (OTA only) with estimated box dimensions of 50x50x50cm = £138!!! Not even including insurance!!

So what do you use now? I was thinking how I might build one but I don't have the tools and skills but I'd give it a try. It doesn't look that bulky. I'll give you a laugh: I was even looking at how big you can buy "Lazy Susans" because I've just built (built isn't the word really - it's just laying one brick on top of another) a "Todmorden" pier in a flip top roof 'shed' I built and I thought "Wouldn't it be fun to have an observing chair on top of a Lazy Susan so, when you slewed to a different object, you don't have to move your bum an inch!"

Is that a dIY chair I see there?

Beautiful!

Big difference Nigella. Love that crisp detail on the good seeing one though it does have that slight look of the pencil drawing effect I mentioned to Mandy earlier. I'd be mighty pleased with that however.

John, do you have a pic of your Astro Systems 14 inch? I bought an 8.5 inch way back when when i was just out of uni at about 21. The wife was so happy when i sold it! I won't curse! I won an Astro Systems caption contest soon after and had a choice of a Celestron SCT and £1000. I took the £1000 because it would pay for the honeymoon and I'd already bought the Reflector. Patrick Moore handed me the cheque when he was in Edinburgh! Good times!

Is ELP an Emerson Lake and Palmer fan? For all you proggers out there (me too), the "Lunar Musick Suite" for your enjoyment and thanks for the help (not) - Only joking! 👍

Yes I just had calculator on that. Well, damned good result for being so oversampled(?).

The scope has been out there for about 2 hours so far waiting on me. I already have a UV/IR filter screwed to the camera so I don't think I can screw the barlow to the UV/IR filter. I'll see what I can do about that.

Ok I hear you! Can I leave the naughty step now?

Yes, I've recently been checking out the jet stream and the crap that came over from Canada with Storm Agnes. I lived in SE Asia for 10 years - wish I was back. They don't live under a jet stream! You say (as Mandy does) that F15 is the right focal ratio and that could be correct but I don't have a 1.5x barlow and my best results are with the 2x. Then again, if that were the case, how does the 14 year old achieve what he does with a 3x barlow? 3.75 microns with an ASi 224 rather than 2.9 with the SVBony?

Yes, I tend to do the 10% level. Sometimes trying more but, seeing no real difference or perhaps a little better with 10% or so, I tend to stick there.

Mandy, I am getting FAR more detail with the 2x barlow than what I get at prime focus F10 so I simply can't agree.

I didn't say it didn't make a difference, ELP. I'm just not convinced it makes ALL the difference. I'm blaming my own lack of skills here and all you are doing is piling on and depressing me! 😮‍💨 What kind of man are you?! 😂 I tend to try various rejection percentages. I'll try stacking 10% then perhaps 30% or 50% then 70 or 80%. They all generally come out the same after processing. Of course, using wavelets and deconv but, again, unsure as to how best to use them and in which order. Everything seems to 'sharpen' and denoise and which to use first? Which not to use if you use one or the other? I stab around experimenting all the time. The one biggest difference to the results I'vebeen getting recently, is to move from prime focus to 2x barlow. With the latter, I get much better results/detail.

I DO listen. I dream at night and I hear you all whispering in my ear "It's all seeing, Mark". You're all little green men however and I wake up in a sweat repeating "Seeing, seeing seeing'. As for exposure time: 4ms to 6 ms. FPS: Well, I'm getting close to 10000 (none dropped) within 2 minutes.Fratio: I'm achieving my best images (as above) with F10/2xbarlow/ 2.9 micron pixels - I have no idea what effective F ratio that is. It's quite clear tonight so I might try with a 3x barlow to see if that produces even better results. Focusing: I've mentioned before: I have stock Meade focuser (sloppy) but when I get it close, I turn to my SVBony helical in line focuser which, when I'm "dead on" I just need to twist ever so slightly - a fraction of a turn - one way or the other and I go out of focus so I know I'm in focus. Processing: It's just a hunch but I think my processing could improve because, when I'musing wavelets and then sharpening, I'm unsure how strongly to adjust the wavelets themselves before sharpening and I just jump around. I've even used the Lucy Richardson deconvolution in Astrosurface before I do any wavelets or sharpening because, when I do, it has a very beneficial effect on the 'resolution' of the image even before I start to use the others.

My "competitor". LOL I'm just having fun with my own frustrations! 😁 Yes, I noticed a little "ringing" in his on the left limb but it was minimal and the overall resolution was great. Again, people have said "You won't achieve 'this sort of resolution with an 8 inch" as if to say "that's about what you can expect with an 8 inch" then some little 14 year old dude from Indiana comes along and displays a far higher resolution from a 6 inch! I was thinking of getting me a 9.25 inch if an 8 inch can't achieve what I want it to (and I'd bet a lot of people who buy scopes do such thinking they'll get so much better resolution upgrade when, in fact, they don't have to). If it's ALL "seeing" then I'm not going to buy a 9.25 inch to achieve what a 6 inch can achieve. See my issue?

Kon, you're just annoying me now! 😉 Even your "bad seeing" one is good! Let me play devil's advocate here. According to you, it's all "seeing" while you sit there with your "Imaging challenge winner -2nd place - "Pick a planet" and what you're consistently stating suggests that you got that little trophy due to nothing more than being lucky enough to live in Wiltshire and get some good 'seeing'. Everything is down to 'seeing'. So did you win that or did Swindon? LOL 🤣

I know this will sound odd Mandy but I'm unsure which I prefer because with the extra Gimp processing, I feel it looks more and more like a coloured pencil drawing, if you see what I mean? Yes, there appears to be more "clarity" but I can achieve that with the wavelets and sharpening in Astrosurface or Registax but, again, it looks noisy and like a drawing. Compared to Kon's shots above (even with "bad seeing") it doesn't come close.

I see you're all ganging up on me! I'm going to complain to the moderators! And I'm moving to Indiana!

I refuse to "buy" that until I see the reality of it. I don't dispute it does have an effect but I don't "buy into" that much of an effect. I will be more than happy when I am proven wrong in my thinking.

A young 14 year old whippersnapper from Indiana produces a fantastic shot with a 6 inch Celestron SE. He used: 3x barlow 9750 frames 80% stacked Celestron Nexstar 6se ZWO ASI224 Me: 60 years old Meade LX10 8 inch Similar number of frames 2x Meade Telenegative barlow SVBony SV305c camera (2.9 micron pixels) The lad lives in Indiana so he's around 40 deg north whereas I'm 55 deg north so that COULD account for something of a difference. However, this lad is a beginner, he's using no ADC, a bog standard scope - no fancy motorise focus etc. He's basically pointing and shooting and, like me, uses Astrosurface to process. He was even kind enough to offer to process mine for me to see if it could be due to my (lack of) processing skills but - due to the fact we l live in this somewhat depraved society we do today - his parents put a stop to him giving me his email address (which I totally support - good for them, I suppose). The photos were taken same day (29th). Before I started capturing, I rechecked my collimation and did a little adjusting. Just out of focus Polaris had a perfect disk with the point in the middle at high magnification so, unless there is some other issue with the optics, it isn't collimation. Granted, captured this at approx 23.30 when Jupiter was probably around 45 deg above the horizon but I've taken other captures when it's been almost 60 deg and I still can't get this lad's level of detail. Frustrated! 😂 There are people on this forum saying "You won't achieve the detail of an 11 inch or 14 inch with an 8 inch" and then this little dude comes along and says "Check this out: 6 inch!". I know there are guys on here who know the secrets of achieving this sort of result but it always seems to be "seeing" and ADCs and this and that. This 14 year old just points and shoots!