Space Cowboy

Nice mod 😉 Btw 1 min capture are a bit mean for Jupiter. You could take at least 3 min runs. The more frames the better.

Well done! I use a zoom eyepiece to align a planet on the sensor. Makes it a lot easier.

Very good! Love the animation!

2 minutes ago, Pete Presland said:

I try to do a star test as often as possible, the collimation on my SCT does seem to be pretty solid. i guess with the only time i move it is from observatory to the mobile mount in garden must help.

I'm looking at using an artificial star in the future. Always been too much in a rush to image before the clouds roll in.

11 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

Excellent looking image Stuart, a very nice natural end result has been achieved i think.

Thanks Pete. Could have been better if I'd had proper collimation. Checked with a cap after this and secondary was out. I've been too dependent on a laser and it's caught me out. 🙄

Very nicely done!

Terrific set of animations and images! 

Nicely presented Kostas.  

4 hours ago, Spile said:

I tried to overlay circles on the second image but the edge of the focus tube was too undefined. Place a piece of paper (as per the link above) behind the focuser and take the photo through the cap again.

Meanwhile, this shows the secondary error from the first image...

Thanks, that's clearly defined. I've been looking for an overlay reticle/circle.  I'll do the primary shot again. 

11 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Stuart, much appreciated. I like the simplicity of manual but as my wife says 'way too much patience '. I hope you sort your collimation soon as tonight and this weekend is looking promising.

I haven't even got the patience to collimate my scope properly 😉

Look forward to seeing what you get over the weekend but not sure my forecast is as good 😜

43 minutes ago, Spile said:

The most obvious error is c≠d which indicates tilt/rotation errors (https://astro.catshill.com/collimation-guide/) 

I would also expose the primary mirror as the reflection will give an indication of the error. See step 2 of the primary check.

Thanks for that link, just what I was looking for!

This is the primary Image through the cap:

Terrific amount of detail Kostas. Look forward to seeing what you can achieve when Jupiter is at opposition. Easy to forget you are doing this without auto tracking.

1 hour ago, skybadger said:

I'll stick my neck out...

First I assume the sky is to the left and primary to the right. 

I would rotate the secondary long axis about 15 degs CCW to align with the tube direction unless it's the picture being taken at this angle...

Then I would increase the distance from the spider to move the centre of the 2ndary mirror towards the centre of the focuser view, along the tube axis.

Thanks, yes the scope is pointing left.

As you can see from the image taken through a collimation cap the secondary mirror on my 10" DOB is not central with the focuser. The question is which way do I move the secondary to align it central with the focuser?

Super images Martyn!

Lovely fine detail as Kostas & Simon have said.

Nice captures Simon. Always good to see a transit shadow and GRS in the same shot.

49 minutes ago, si@nite said:

Very nice stuart conditions were better for Saturn than Jupiter this morning, some very nice detail on thoes well captured!

Thanks Simon. Saturn is my intended target next time for sure.

Here is a widefield shot.  Alas my laptop runs out of buffer after 1 min of full frame vids with the QHY585.

2 hours ago, Kon said:

I think it has more depth to it.

The animation came out nicely too.

Thanks Kostas, yes, I can see now I;ve got them up on my big monitor that there is more definition. Pleased with the noise level especially on these though after checking the capture details gain was only 3% less than last time. Animation images are straight out of registax wavelets so might do them a bit more in analyser.

4 hours ago, orion25 said:

Great image, Stuart! Lots of detail; loving the GRS. Brilliant animation

Cheers Reggie! Animations are always good at bringing moon transits to life.

26 minutes ago, GordonD said:

Your images are always wonderful - so detailed and lifelike. You have great skill. I always enjoy looking at them so thanks for posting them.

Thanks Gordon that means a lot. Its a tough hobby to master and sometimes very frustrating but being able to share the results with other enthusiasts always makes it worth while.

A whopping 7 min animation.

1 hour ago, Kon said:

Still a very nice result; I assume you will be derotating a few later. I find early mornings more prone to silly errors; the other day I forgot to remove the front cover and I could not work out why I could not see Jupiter on my capture screen 🤣.

I soon get frustrated if I know something is taking longer than expected and collimation gets my blood up more than anything. At least I know i'm not alone in the error stakes 🙃

This is three 2 min runs combined in winjup. Not sure if its made much difference. I stacked 30% on each so maybe try less as noise wasn't too bad as I had gain slightly lower.

1 hour ago, morimarty said:

Great capture Stuart. for a quick process you've done a brilliant job with loads of subtle detail on offer.

Cheers Martyn! Always nice to capture the GRS even if seeing wasn't quite as good.

42 minutes ago, Kon said:

Very nice Stuart. Did you manage some of the transit?

Not the shadow. Just Io sitting next to the GRS. It's pretty blurry. I was rushing and forgot to reconnect the primary fan after collimation. Used a Barlow with the laser and ended up running out of time before daylight.