CraigT82

Jupiter from Taunton UK on 8th October (I’m at exactly 51 degrees latitude, and I do mean exactly… my observing spot is 51 00’ 00”) SW300p on AZEQ6. ASI485mc. Baader Q barlow and ZWO ADC. 18x 90sec captures.

I’d be surprise if you got a dud mirror from either Synta or GSO these days, those guys have got their optical production and QA pretty fine tuned I think. More likely that the cell it is in is either poorly designed or poorly executed. The cell on my 300p was not working properly when I got it but a bit of fettling sorted it. I have seen some superb images for people using tracking dobs so one of those would be a great place to go I think, having motors on both axis with variable speed is a real boon compared to and EQ platform where only the RA is driven and is just either on or off.

Thanks Neil, yes the seeing was good and steady at the start of the session at about 10.45pm so I rattled off 30 mins worth of vids and then went back in for a nap. Came back out at 2am to get a shot with GRS and Europa but I couldn’t get focus at all and the image was dancing all over the place so packed up and went to bed. I’m using the Astronomik L2 as my UV/IR cut, purely because that was the only filter in stock when I was shopping for one, literally the only one! Usually use a Baader but not fussed about the brand really so pretty happy with this. Yes I do like a slightly warmer tone to your ultra white/ bluish preference, we’re all different beasts ain’t we?! I think the extra aperture was really put to use last night not often it does get the chance here in the UK but the old girl really stretched her legs. Not bad for a 300 quid scope.

KIT: SW 300p on AZ-EQ6 (in AltAz mode). ASI485mc. ZWO ADC. Baader Q barlow 2.25x (working at 3.4x). Astronomik L2 filter CAPTURE & PROCESS: 18x90sec captures in FC. Best 40% stacked in AS3. Image derotation. Sharpening in Astrosurface. Finishing in Gimp. DETAILS: Image scale 0.12"pp/5200mmF/17. Planet at 36 deg. Derotated to 22:03 UTC. Seeing varied 3/5 to 4/5. Transparency 8/10. Captured from Taunton, UK Thanks for looking & Clear Skies!

That’s very nice, excellent work with the C8

Nice image looking forward to seeing the full process. Seeing was ok for me early on but deteriorated by the time GRS rolled around.

Nice work, tons of detail especially as only 8”

@neil phillips @Pete PreslandDefinitely a dust storm, as mentioned in this article it’s “continent” sized! https://mars.nasa.gov/news/9275/nasas-insight-waits-out-dust-storm/

Yes for sure, it’s huge if it is definitely a dust storm

Just seen @geoflewis post in the other thread, definitely a dust storm then and a major one at that. Let’s hope it doesn’t go global 🤞

Excellent image Neil! Definitely cloud over the north polar region. Nice view of the Tharsis Montes and the Xanthe/ Valles Marineris regions, and I think possible the shadow of Olympus Mons. Looks increasingly likely to me to be large dust storm over the Argyre region as I can’t remember it being that sandy/yellow coloured last opposition (see circled area below)

Nice one Pete

Thanks Neil I do see what you’re seeing on my phone but can’t see it on my monitor, but then it is a budget work monitor so no surprise there! I can thoroughly recommend an AZ-EQ6 if you go down that route, I’m really impressed with it handles my 300p nicely and the tracking knocks my old black EQ6 into a cocked hat. Probably not much more expensive than a decent EQ platform unless you make your own

Really nice shots!

Nice work, seeing wasn’t great here too early on, May have improved later but I’d packed up by 11.30pm. Good idea to reduce image size always makes it worth while when the seeing is poor. Better than looking at a big blurry image!

Looking good Pete, seeing here on the 2nd was abysmal, was better last night though. It is just nice to be out isnt it. I saw you replying to that C14 ad did anything come of that?!

Nice shots Neil amazing what can be done with that size of scope and no barlow. Good Mars too looks like maybe a very large dust storm over Argyre Planitia, 1 o’clock in your pic

Nice shots, the IR Saturn looks great.

Very nice Geof, you were up later than me I was fast asleep but the time the GRS hit the meridian

Nice image, think it might have been APs too close to the limb?

With a DSLR, yes… use 2” accessories if you can. 1.25” accessories will likely lead to vignetting, also the physical connection tends to be more secure with the 2” size.

After a hasty testing session of new kit the other night got out for a little while last night with the intent of actually producing an image, first one in over a year. Need to check my primary I think it got knocked about during house move and isn't sat right in the cell, stellar test image had definite astigmatism. Also couldn't get the bloomin ADC to completely correct the dispersion either no matter how I adjusted it. KIT: SW 300p on AZ-EQ6 (in AltAz mode). ASI485mc. ZWO ADC. Baader Q barlow 2.25x (working at 3.4x). Astronomik L2 filter CAPTURE & PROCESS: 10x90sec captures in FC. Best 25% stacked in AS3. Image derotation. Sharpening in Astrosurface. Finishing in Gimp. DETAILS: Image scale 0.12"pp/5200mmF/17. Planet at 36 deg. Derotated to 22:16 UTC. Seeing varied 2/5 to 3/5 at times (strong but consistent jetstream) transparency varied 4/10 to 8/10 (some scudding high cloud). Captured from Taunton, UK Thanks for looking & Clear Skies!

Old blue tube SW 300p on and nice new AZEQ6. Can’t believe how well this thing tracks in AZ mode, look how tight the RoI is around Jupiter!

The 462 is more sensitive than the 120, though if you take the pixel size difference into account probably not that much of a gap. Maybe transparency was poor for that capture?

Do the sorting/registration/stacking in AS3 rather than Pixinsight… might help a bit? Would still take a while though with the full sensor size of the 585.