wornish

Thanks. Its great software.

You can use PIPP to debayer your images from Sharpcap if you had SharpCap set to use RAW 8 or RAW16.

https://sites.google.com/site/astropipp/example-uasge/example1A

Well I seem to have started some discussion that's for sure.  

All I did was say a new release was available😀

Blimey, quoting issues from 2017 kind of suggests to me that perhaps a new look might be needed. 

Today, KStars and Ekos are certainly not experimental! and both work natively perfectly well on Windows 7, 8 and 10!  As well as Mac and Linux boxes.

OK, not sure about XP, but that came out in 2001 and EOL'd in 2019. Tech moves on and we now have many new features to choose from.

KStars has worked perfectly on my Windows 10 laptop for the last 3+ years.  Of course Ascom also works but is old tech that has not changed for a long long time and has many networking issues. Luckily it's not the only solution to controlling astro devices.

The comments about pauses in connections etc are almost always down to WiFi issues and are NOT simply due to KStars/Ekos as an app.

I know many people are happy to pay multiple £100's for old "proven" software that only works on Windows and that's fine.

But, don't expect to get support when new cameras are released , or new improved guiding  and plate-solving techniques are developed.

Did I mention that I like KStars😀

And, no I have no connection with the development team I just appreciate great FREE software that keeps evolving and getting better.

+1 for APP it works extremely well and is fiddle free:)

Well worth another look, it has evolved considerably over the last few years.

Now it is probably the most complete astro package available.   It doesn't use ascom but INDi to control all the devices.

Works on Windows/ Mac/ and Linux systems.

Kstars 3.5.5 has just been released. Lots of new features.

https://edu.kde.org/kstars/#download

All the apps named are FREE

For taking images and controlling all your astro gear including platesolving and guiding then KStars/Ekos is excellent.

For post processing your images Autostakkert3 and Registax6 both work on Mac if you use Wine Bottler. 

For fine tuning images then GIMP is as good as PS.

Superb images.  I too struggle to see the difference though between the 10 and 18hours versions TBH.

I managed to go for around 2 hours last week and I  am embarrassed to compare it with your 10 hour one. 

Very nice.  It is a lot better than my first go well done.

Think I am a butterfly astronomer.  Been struggling with planetary imaging for over a year and finally getting to grips with it.   Last night went back to deep sky but forgot how l-o-n-g  it takes.   It doesn't take much to put me off going outside these days.  Keep looking at new kit but so far have kept my wallet closed.

Been practicing Planetary and not done any Deep Sky for over a year. Decided to make the most of the good weather and get out my Esprit 100 last night.

This is a LHaRGB narrowband 5 x 180sec frames for each channel.

I am certainly out of practice in the processing dept but at least I got something.

Think this is my best to date.  First where I got the GRS.

Stack of the best 42% of 25000 frames.

Second Run. Stack of best 44% of 25000 frames.

I also want to thank @vlaiv on here for his help in getting me on the right track for this planetary imaging challenge.

Warm night didn't expect good viewing.

Pleased with this.

17 hours ago, Pete Presland said:

The first image is a good image, especially if the seeing is poor. Its a nice example and you will see many similar to it. 50 frames is not many to stack though, also 1000 is not many to capture on a single run.  How long was the capture video in seconds?

Yes the second image has been pushed a bit too far.

I did a few separate runs this one was 1000 frames at 8.7ms. so under 10secs.  I had tried longer runs of up to 3 mins with 30,000 frames but didn't get the exposure right.  This one was a quick test and ended up giving the best results.  The clouds moved in so I couldn't go longer.

I think I have found the sweet spot in terms of exposure and gain so next time will try long runs.

Think we need a bit more info before suggesting help.

What happened when and what you have done since ?

On 29/08/2021 at 20:33, PeterW said:

We it’s not on his website then still waiting. That video was super helpful even for an old hand like myself.

Peter

Totally agree. I learnt a lot.

Amazing detail in the close ups.

Same image is this OTT ?

Just watched a YouTube video on Autostakkert where Emil Kraaikamp (The software author) said he was working on Autostakkert-4 and it would be released soon.

The video was recorded back last August 8th 2020.  Just been to the site and its not there the latest version is still 3.1.4.

Does anyone know the status?

Best I could get.  Tried a new wavelet setting which seems to bring out more detail.

50 frames out of 1000 each 8.7ms.  using ASI290MC through ADC on HD925

5 minutes ago, CaptainKingsmill said:

You can say that again, I'm close to you in Staffordshire, and it was particularly bad last night.

Glad it wasn't just me then.

14 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Why do you think that?

Let's do a bit of math to see, shall we?

Jupiter's circumference is about 440,000Km, and it rotates in 9h and 56m - or 35,760s - from that it leads that point on equator that rotates the fastest moves at speed of 440,000Km / 35,760s = ~12.3km/s.

With 9.25" scope being ~235mm has critical sampling rate of 0.22"/px. Single pixel covers 0.22".

Distance to Jupiter is about 600 million kilometers now (or 588 at closest point, but let's go with 600 - nice round number). At that distance 0.22" is equal to 640Km of length.

At above speed, it takes 52s for planet to rotate single pixel at fastest moving point (center of the planet). If we had perfect conditions without atmosphere, any motion blur would be less than single pixel (thus not really visible) even if we did not do alignment points in this time.

Software used for stacking uses alignment points and these alignment points have no trouble aligning features that are even 1-2 arc seconds displaced between subs due to seeing wavefront disturbance (tilt component). This alone can easily compensate for multi minute video - there is no need to derotate even with videos lasting 5-6 minutes (where fastest moving point would move by about 1.3" at most).

To be conservative I recommended half of that, but I happily image for 5 minutes with smaller scopes (0.5"/px resolution for example).

Thanks for your help.

It is very useful to understand the maths behind planetary imaging.

Can you explain what is meant by critical sampling rate, where does the 0.22"/px figure come from in you post above?

Had a go again last night  but the seeing was terrible.  Couldn't get anything decent out of two runs of 3 mins.

Managed to get three moons in a short 1000 frame, 5ms exposure wide field run.

Below is the best 50 stacked.

Forecast is clear again tonight so not giving in.

Terrible seeing last night, wasted a couple of hours.

Anyway this is the best I could get