MarkRadice

Sorry for slow reply. I have been building and finessing a concrete pier in the obsy and am slowly catching up with my admin (and resting my shoulders!). I think you are right, Craig and Craney. WinJupos is such a powerful piece of software that in addition to derotation, can also map and measure planetary images. Its UI, though, is a bit off-putting as it assumes a lot of prior knowledge. That being said, for the price, we cannot really complain. And, yes good point Alan re alt-az scopes. I am used to my EQ so did not think of field rotation limiting exposure length.

As you know, stacking images reduced noise while boosting signal. But what happens if your target, in this case Jupiter, rotates so fast you can only take 2 minute captures before Jupiter’s own rotation blues the image? Derotate a series of captures in WinJupos that takes into account Jupiter’s own rotation. By inspection, WinJupos must be using, I guess, clever spherical trigonometry maths to do this. I found this surprisingly effective using some captures I took on 21 July and put together a short video that, I hope, is useful for planetary imagers.

Gosh, derotating the largest planet in the solar system is quite effective! In the absence of clear skies, I have reworked captures from 21 July using WinJupos. As before this is with a C11 on an EQ6 with x2 barlow and Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector from a Salisbury garden. I also put together a short video describing my winjupos methodology for interest: https://youtu.be/kUxF6e_glUs

My homemade PLA dust cover distorted after I left it in a hot car on a sunny day so I now always print observing equipment in PETG. It’s higher temperature tolerance means I no longer worry about the heat - and it’s easily printed on my CR10.

Hi Barry, gosh the price for a new one is truly astronomical. As you say, this is a much more affordable approach, especially using scraps and off cuts.

Old Eyes - I know what you mean. It is nice to just look up isn't it? I have a sky mirror and, although the logistical footprint is much reduced and the observing position is sooo comfortable it really loves dew and is quite a challenge to star hop! Hmmmm! Decisions, decisions.

I spent the past few evenings knocking together a homemade parallelogram mount to sit on top of a second hand ali tripod. Nothing fancy, just made from scraps and odds and ends in the garage. So easy to make (apart from the cock ups) and surprisingly effective. A build video is here: The long and short arms are made from slats from an old bed I took apart. The upper sections have holes drilled in to reduce the weight and therefore the necessary counterweight. I ripped a cut in the centre with the table saw and then glued a piece back in to provide a channel for the counterweights to slide up and down. The tripod pier and upper part is made from a piece of 2.5x1.5” pine (approx. 60x40mm) from some old garden furniture that was being chucked out. The lower part pivots about an M10 carriage bolt sitting on furniture sliders and a CD. The upper section has a 3/8 tripod nut epoxied in that carries a pan-tilt camera head. This will be replaced with a homemade binocular head in due course. The arms pivot about nylon washers and carriage bolts. 3 pivots are held in place with nyloc nuts while one is a thumbscrew to fine tune the tension. So all in all, odds and ends from the off-cuts bin and a few things from B&Q. Comfortable binocular observing with no more pain in the neck! That being said, the pleasure of binoculars is their simplicity. The need for a tripod, mount and counterweights does change this somewhat! I look forward to testing it once summer arrives (he says in August!).

Great image, surface markings visible in the bands. I wish my first image was that clear! An IR-cut filter will also make a difference as it reduces the bleed onto the image. So glad you found the video useful. Shout if you have any questions.

Love the dynamic image you’ve caught there. Real celestial dynamics in action with the moon, shadow transit and GRS. Gosh I wish my Jupiter images were that far from ideal. Wonderful details there, @astroavani

Ah cheers @orion25-Reggie, much appreciated. Alas not much chance to put it into practice with the current weather!

Me or the trolley :-)? You’re right! It doesn’t have to look good just safely carry a heavy load a short distance and back in the dark.

Here’s my home made version cut from old 2x4 and scrap boards. Not going to win any prizes but it carries a C11 and EQ6 from garage and back when the weather allows. The ratchet strap holds the scope down and the tripod feet are in predrilled holes above each wheel. I sometimes think I’ll make a more-gooder version but then it works fine so I don’t bother!

Hi Reggie, I took the liberty of hitting the auto-balance button in registax which, I hope you agree, has balanced the colours somewhat. Hope that helps!

You can always make one from 2x4 and castors and a tie-down strap. I use a homemade trolley to wheel C11 on an EQ6 from garage to driveway so I can catch low-down Jupiter in the morning sky.

That looks great. It's an amazing view isn't it? And I like the way you've shown the (surprisingly striking) difference between the north and south equatorial bands.

Interesting reading, chaps. I will have to keep an eye out for these Russian binos when I am next in the charity shops.

Ah thanks Andy. I’m glad you like it. There’s some great images in the planetary imaging section to pour over. I’m admiring the amazing shots of surface details on Ganymede - something I’m still aspiring to.

Ah cheers chaps. I hate the timelapse, it looks awful at that size! It has defaulted to fill the screen rather than remain at its original size. Amusingly, I had looked up the times of the shadow and subsequent moon transit. Having watched the shadow egress, I was astonished to see a bright spot on the equatorial region. My heart raced! I had captured a Jupiter impact. The scientific and popular press would be beating a path to my door and I could dine out on the story for years to come. Then my befuddled brain remembered that it was Io, keeping to its preordained schedule!

A shot of the far side of the moon - Mare Orientale at 95W. A mosaic of ~20 shots each the best 1,000 frames from 10,000 frames. I had to stop part of the way through to get a memory drive as the laptop was full to bursting and then had a cuppa while transferring ~100GB from the laptop to clear space for more!

Jupiter and Io on 21 July with C11 from Salisbury

Fantastic Saturn, Neil.

That's strange my timelapse isn't uploading. Second attempt ... 20210721 Jupiter and Io 4fps.mp4

Just watching a solar eclipse on another planet !! I am still buzzing from watching Jupiter’s moon Io pass over the cloud tops despite getting up at 0200. The shadow is clearly visible followed by the moon itself while the planet rotates underneath. Sure beats watching TV! Details of the techniques are in this video: https://youtu.be/QesmmxCb_h0 20210721 Jupiter and Io 4fps movie.mov

Oops, forgot to attached the timelapse! Here it is - small image scale due to poor seeing. 20210718 Jupiter and Ganymede full frame.mp4

As the sun beats down I have enjoyed a few early morning starts on distant Jupiter. Despite the horrors of the early hour, it is rather pleasant to be cool if only for a few hours! The highlight has to be watching Ganymede’s shadow transit along with the Great Red Spot on Sunday morning. Alas, the seeing was not the best but a glorious sight anyway! I have put together another video showing my process and techniques for Jupiter which you are welcome to use, adapt or point out my shortcomings!