MarkRadice

Wow - I have long admired a StarChair although I’m sure I would inevitably nod off in the small hours. 
 

Where (and when) will it appear?

Wonderful! Thank you for posting.

Looks really interesting, well done. 

Thank you all for your kind words. Yes, shame to say goodbye to our old friend but we look forward to more views later in 2024 - I just hope the skies clear by then!  

Isn’t Mars the most fascinating sight? It is such a thrill to explore another world and see the desert markings, polar features and clouds come and go.

With Mars now disappearing behind the sun for another 18 months, I went through my Mars images from the last opposition. Needless to say, many are rubbish due to atmospheric seeing but there are a few sharp images worthy of presentation. Here are the best in chronological order to show Mars growing in size to opposition in December and then receding.

In fact, I put together a short video showing the set up and image gathering:  https://youtube.com/shorts/DXtgkPoCzMY?feature=share.

Looks beautiful Geof. What a fantastic set of images. Well done! Not long until our next opposition in 2025 😞

Sequel uploaded showing the process techniques to bring out all the fine details on Jupiter - hidden in the data. 

Having recorded thousands of frames of video of Jupiter, we then use freeware (AutoStakkert) to sort through the frames, reject those blurred by the atmosphere and then stack the sharpest frames.

The stack is then passed through to Registax where we use the sharpening tool to reveal all the hidden details on the Jovian surface. 

As always, let me know if you have any questions or comments.

I put together a short video here showing the set up and some of the raw footage: 

Still buzzing (if a little sleepy!) after the Mars occultation. Amazing to watch celestial dynamics in realtime.  A rather beautiful view despite the horrors of the 0400 alarm! A rather beautiful view this morning - despite the 0400 alarm clock! Not often you get to see Mars disappear behind the Moon - this is just before first contact.

Celestron C11 at f20 on an EQ6 with ASI224MC + IR filter

I've just published a video on YouTube capturing a Jupiter imaging run, step by step.

Click here to watch the video: 

 

We set up the telescope, run through the equipment & software and then capture some imagery ready to process.

It’s worth noting that we use a high speed camera to capture thousands of frames and then use freeware to reject those blurred by the atmosphere; stack the sharp frames; and then process them to reveal high resolution details despite poor seeing.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments!

Beautiful images, Geof - and I was interested to note the 2122 image is included in the latest Jupiter section report from the BAA . 

Beautiful images,. You must have been up early / stayed up late.

Really enjoyed this and looking forward to seeing more as we approach opposition (subject to better weather of course!). 

Beautiful image Dave, love the composition. Seems to sum up the skies for this year’s star party. 

Having just passed opposition and with the nights drawing in, Saturn is well placed in the evening sky for the coming months. 

While better placed from southern climes, Saturn is still somewhat of a challenge for those of us at UK latitudes. 

I gave Saturn a go with my high speed camera and then used freeware to reject the frames blurred by the atmosphere before sharpening it in Registax. 

If you would like to see the workflow there is a video here: How to Image Saturn.

If you have any questions or comments then let me know. 

That makes us (nearly) a doublet! 
 

wishing you many happy returns. 

What an image to celebrate my birthday, Neil. Thank you - I enjoyed your beautifully processed Jupiter. 

Gosh well done with a manual dob. That’s some effort and nicely processed.  

We went on a club trip and stayed at the Parador in the caldera, it was a truly stupendous sky that made returning to my home observatory somewhat of an anti-climax. The hotel had sky tours on a Friday night although I did not attend.  You'll really enjoy the views there - not only are you much further south, the skies are pretty dark. 

Gosh you had some good seeing. Have you derotated each frame in winjupos and put some more sharpening in? 

Thank you all for your kind comments and likes - really appreciated.  

5 hours ago, johnturley said:

I assume that you use a 2x Barlow

That's the badger! I unscrewed the barlow element from its body and put it on the flip mirror making, by guestimation f20 (perhaps a smidge more). 

Doh - slight copy and paste error! 

Gosh, it is not normal to be recording high resolution images early in the season – I normally require a good few months of practice and tweakery to get on track.  With the recent hot and stable weather, I am already getting (for 51N) some lovely views and really looking forward to the coming months of Mars and Jupiter. Alas, Saturn remains stubbornly behind the tree line so I may have to take the C11 mobile. Well worth the horrors of an 0330 alarm!

The details are in the pictures but let me know if you have any points or tips.

Jupiter showing details around the shrinking Great Red Spot. North up for BAA submission to allow comparison with professional imagery. 

Mars showing a detached feature to the south of Hellas. Wonderful to think, somewhere in the field of view, is Perseverance and Ingenuity. South up for BAA submission - good to see the Mars section still stuck in the past! 

Beautiful Neil, I concur the second is the best - it looks much sharper. 

I don’t know how you guys do it so easily! I find it a breeze with a flip mirror but so frustrating without - that’s with a 224mc on C11 at f20. 
 

I also unscrewed my Barlow lens and screwed it onto the flip mirror negating the huge increase in magnification that would otherwise entail. 
 

One other thing I noticed, make sure the ADC arms are aligned. If they are set for altitude, the planet is now not aligned with the optical axis. I hope that makes sense! In summary, if you twiddle the ADC the planet wanders off! 

Can’t argue with that! Expanding your first point, I'd break it down into 

i) imaging near the meridian 

ii) keeping an eye on the jet stream 

iii) moving to the tropics where the planets are higher 

10 hours ago, Dragon_Astro said:

Any tips on getting a planet on a small camera chip? It drives me insane lol

I suggest a flip mirror like this one - few choices on the market. https://www.rothervalleyoptics.co.uk/rvo-125-flip-mirror-system-with-micro-focuser.html