CraigT82

Very handy….Interested in your DIY laser cutter!

Very nice image Neil, do you submit any images to Mars section at the BAA?

Yes will get up to 17.2" at opposition so should be able to get some real surface detail on a disc that size, will be a while before we see the 22" disc of 2020 again though Nice image btw the wide FoV gives it a real planet-hanging-in-space feeling which I like

Very nice, image, well processed, looks to have a slightly green cast on my phone. I find it hard to get a colour balance I'm happy with between my phone, tablet, and monitor!

Thanks for posting your stacked tiff, I had a go with it in Astrosurface and Gimp - I'm a bit rusty as haven't done any imaging since last summer - really nice data you're doing superbly with a manual dob!

Nice images with plenty of detail though I dont think the neodymium filter is doing you any favours

Knowing Televue it’ll be some obscure imperial thread that’s incompatible with anything else. Why don’t they just put a T-thread there so you don’t have to fork out for an adaptor? Oh I know…. more money, more money, more money!

Another stunner Neil! What were the capture details for this one? I put the two images together to better compare and there is no difference as far as I can see. Apart from size obviously.

I would personally capture in RAW8 instead of RGB24. Id also use a longer exposure time of around 5ms, and lower gain if necessary. Try switching on high speed mode and see what frame rates you get. You’re using a USB3 camera but in a USB2 port, do you have any USB3 ports on your laptop?

I mean nightside Venus imaging: longer (1s) exposures at above 1 micron to detect surface features (as opposed to cloud features). Granted a very niche appplication. But yeah the read noise may still be too much for the faint night side signal

Might be good for Venus imaging

Depends on the scope too, the bigger the scope the more the dispersion will be visible in the final image, purely because the final image will be bigger itself. An ADC isn’t essential to produce images but if you want to produce the best images you possibly can then use one.

Here is a couple of citizen science projects I know of: https://hoys.space/ https://www.exoclock.space Bothe require capturing your own images and submitting to the projects so not sure if you have some kit?

Does anyone know exactly why the DR jumps when HGC switches on?

JWST observing Pluto and Charon, should be an interesting image…

Great sketch…. I wouldn’t know where to start with sketching a big glob like that. Would love an Astro holiday in Namibia

This is the thrust of Sony’s ‘Starvis 2’ (Clear HDR) technology. The sensor brackets an image simultaneously as you say in order to increase DR, but I’m not sure if that feature would be utilised at all by the Astro camera manufacturers? I wonder if the thing with ZWO having different HGC switch point to Player 1 is something to do with this Starvis 2 tech. The IMX662 and 678 also have the Starvis 2 tech and so will be interesting to compare how ZWO and other manufacturers use these chips too (once the other manufactures have caught up and released some cameras). The Starvis 2 chips also have a different, ‘vertical’ photo well architecture which allows a greater charge build up, explaining why the full well capacity of these chips are much greater then their non Starvis 2 predecessors. This is definitely something that the Astro cam producers can use!

Yes there is… in the ‘Adjust’ section click on the ‘W-Balance’ button, then hit the auto button on the pop up

You won’t use the full sensor size of any camera for planetary imaging, you cut it down using the RoI function (region of interest). So don’t worry about how large the overall black square is. Manual tracking your scope with a 4x barlow would be something I’d really not want to try! And don’t worry about the size of the planet in the field of view calculators, when viewed at 100% on a display screen the planet will always be the same size whatever the camera, assuming you sampled appropriately with each camera.

I’d recommend whatever camera has the smallest pixels. With a 14” dob your focal lengths are going to be long which on an undriven dob makes things very difficult. Going with smallest pixels means you can image with shorter focal lengths which should make things a bit easier. I’d be going with the 678mc with it’s 2um pixels, you would only need about 1.6x - 1.8x barlow power with that camera.

If it helps anyone, which it probably won’t, but it might…. Here is one I made using a very simple design and using 18mm plywood. That doesn’t sound too sturdy but it copes well with my 100kg backside. The rear leg (bit of 4x2 softwood) can be set so that the chair back can be anywhere from nearly vertical to nearly horizontal (good for meteor spotting or bino usage). Used a cheapo Titan router to make it.

Very nice with the gentle processing 👍🏼

Isn’t the Airy disk size related to the focal ratio only, rather than aperture size? Eg. 200mm f/10 scope will produce an airy disk the same size as a 100mm f/10 scope, and so the seeing blur relative to Airy disk diameter should be identical for both? Edit: Nope I’m talking rubbish. The diameter at the focal plane would be the same but the angular size subtended in the sky would be half for the larger scope.

Yeah it’s annoying, there’s a clunky way which is to hit object info, the more, then show DSS image. Works on some but not on others.

These are really very nice images, wide field but super sharp and showing tons of fine features, and I love the colour, well done 👍🏼