Space Cowboy

I reckon there is more detail in those. Very nice!

Remarkable activity! I need to dig out my Coronado. Last time I imaged the sun it was like a snooker ball!

Very nice collection!

Very nice Kostas!

Cheers Kostas! Will be interesting to see how the ROI centering helps your manual tracking. Certainly a game changer for me especially when Jupiter comes around again to keep the ROI smaller and the frame rate higher.

Thanks Cozzy. The scope is the 250 auto tracking DOB in my signature. According to firecapture the fl was 5400mm at f21 which seems a bit high to me as the same setup normally produces f18 ish. Possibly the different focus adapter I'm using has changed things. Likewise I'd been away from planetary for a few years and hadn't been overly familiar with all firecaptures features. The auto centering is a huge help for keeping the ROI as small as possible. I was able to reduce from 300x300 to 200x200 very easily which reduces file size by almost half.

Set up in the snow for a quick session. Mainly to test the crayford focus adapter I'd stolen from my refractor which works great with the laser collimator and also to try out the firecapture auto planet ROI centering feature which I'd only just become aware of (works great!). Took a couple of Mars shots before the cold got to my feet. Seeing wasn't great. 20.09 ut and 20.27 ut:

They were certainly worth a punt at £30.

Good effort Kostas! Just been looking at Venus UV filter prices....even more expensive than I remember!

Those look very nice!

Great work Geof! You've blended the images in nicely. Very consistent detail!

Having a laptop with an OLED screen helps a lot! If you don't have that luxury I'd make sure your screen contrast is set properly. Might be worth using the dummy cam in firecapture which plays some live planetary footage and then fiddle with your screen settings to get the best view. I do increase zoom by 150% and have the image in colour while focusing to give the best contrast.Frame rate to max. I only raise gain if I'm imaging Jupiter and need to use a moon to focus with if seeing is not good enough for focusing on surface detail or it's the "boring side". Twerk focus every 10 mins or so.

Which model is my focuser or my crayford adapter?

Ah yes, same auto focuser as mine. There are lots of collimation tuts on YouTube. Unfortunately I only know about lasers 🙂 As long as the dents aren't on your optics you should be ok. 😉

A consistent routine is certainly vital. Obviously every image is slightly different data wise but getting a good foundation is important. Very easy to stray from one extreme to another.

Good detail on those! You can't be far out with the focusing this time.

Terrific images Kostas! Love the processing on that Mars shot! How on earth you've got Uranus on a windy night with manual tracking I'll never know! The manual magician strikes again! 😉

Yes I have the 10" Dob mounted Skywatcher. I've only ever used a laser to collimate. I think you'd probably find that easier giving a more definite result. My issue has been the quality of my eyepiece holder which was giving a defferent reading on the laser each time I collimated. I have the stock skywatcher focuser and have now replaced the 1.25" holder with a crayford 1.25" adapter which now gives a stable consistent laser reading each time. If you already have a crayford focuser then you will be fine as far as that goes. Do you focus manually or with an electric focuser?

Thanks! 🙂

Cheers Geof. Might have another go at a more polished animation. The data was incredibly consistent on this night.

Thanks Neil. I was surprised seeing was usable this night considering the weather we've been having.

Cheers Kostas! It would have been even better if the collimation had been on point. Suddenly dawned on me I'd got a crayford focuser on a refractor I'd used for DSO imaging a few years ago. Swapped the self centering antares eyepiece holder (unrealiable centering!) I'd been using on the Dob for the last couple of months with the crayford 1.25" adapter and now I finally have a reliable holder that doesn't show a different reading every time I insert the laser. Too late now for Mars but will be ready for Jupiter later in the year!

Finally put together a single image from this night. Ended up derotating two 10 min SERs and then combining the resulting stacks. 21.13 UT :

Thanks, just had a look at your data and it looks like either focus or collimation is out. The detail is there but its not sharp.

Good effort! Difficult to tell if its focusing, collimation or processing thats causing an issue. Would have to look at a raw stacked TIFF image straight out of autostakkert before any sharpening is used to get a better idea of where you are at. 🙂