Rustang

I looked at getting a 3x barlow to bring it up to f15 but when I put my set up details into astronomy tools sample calculator it was even more damaging to the sample rate so I cant really up the focal length

Sadly my sample rate is way out due to my camera/scope set up, with the x2 barlow I'm only at f10 so not great so I might not be able to get anymore details showing but worth ago.

Yeah the mount handled the scope fine, and considering the scope has sat around for over a year un-used it performed well to. I'm really excited to capture jupiter now 🙂

So I started my planetary imaging journey this year with a 100mm refractor, it went ok. This week I started to wonder if I could use my old Orion 8inch reflector instead. I thought it would be to big and heavy for my HEQ5 Pro but today I dug it out and realised it felt lighter than I thought. So long story short I gave it ago! It focused without issue with the standard 1.25 R&P focuser which was fine to use so off I went with no idea if it was in collimation or not! Orion 8 inch reflector, SW HEQ5 Pro ZWO 224mc with Celestron 2x barlow Firecapture, Autostakkert and Registax 3 min SER, 20% stacked of 18251 frames Really pleased with the result.

Is the restacking with different alignment points for the Mars issue?

Thanks guys, at least we have found the issue, anything I can do about it to help the colour? Any ideas what's causing the offset ring on mars ?

This is only the second time Ive imaged Jupiter, I had colour issues first time round but captured debayered in Firecapture. Tonight I believe I captured in raw (debayer un ticked) and de bayered in Autostakkert forced to RGGB. I then processed with auto RGB balance in Registax but the colour is still off, any ideas? ZWO 224mc, UV IR cut filter and 2x barlow. Tal 100mm refractor Mars seems to get this offset light ring, any ideas?

Not at all, your probably right, the log file says it was captured with out so should be good 👍

Good point, I haven't checked, I guess I assumed the preview software wouldnt debayer so my file is in colour! I'm still new to this type of imaging so will it be clear in the file as to whether or not it's captured in mono? It's say in the log file - Debayer (data) =no (raw)

I've turned off the de Bayering option in firecapture but my preview video is showing in colour and I'm not sure why. I would like to shoot in mono and de Bayer in Autostakkert later. Camera is the 224mc.

Perfect, nice a simple to set up still which is what I want 🙂

Thanks vlaiv, I appreciate your help again. I'm not guiding while planetary imaging like I do with DSO imaging because I can't be bothered to set it up, I'm just side rail tracking via my HEQ5 Pro. I'm guessing 5ms exposures over a 5min video I don't have to worry about things like star travel because I'm not tracking and as long as jupiter is still in frame I'm good to go without tracking!? I ask because I used to get travel over 2min exposures without tracking but as I hope its different because I'm taking ms exposures and not long exposures.

Lovely, your doing well! Not sure il be able to resolve that much detail with my little 100mm but one day il get a set up to suit. For now I'm happy to improve with what I've got.

Just to confirm what reducing exposure time is, it's choosing a quicker 'shutter' so 4 or 3ms? So shall I stay with having a small ROI, 5ms and a 3min video? Also I was devayering while capturing in firecapture but I've read its best to turn debayer off and capture in mono then debayer in Autostakkert later. I have read though that some people seem to struggle with getting the colour back later.

Its on 16 bit, so its on 640 x 480 so my FPS seem right if averaging at 127, Ive just done a test 3min video and not frame limited like before and got 22970 frames so I will do that next time plus going down to 300 x 300 ROI does boost the FPS to over 200

I think my limit was set to 3000 not 2000, the average FPS was 127. Ive got the camera plugged in at the moment, with gain at 375, shutter 5ms and high speed on its only getting up to around 138 FPS, ROI is 640 x 480. I think Ive been doing it wrong by setting a frame limit not a time limit!

Ok cool. Iin regards to gain and shutter, I had a look at the log at the gain was at 350, shutter 5.066ms so about right, it was a pretty noisy video, well looked noisy so would going any higher on the gain add to more noise losing the little detail that I managed to capture?

No problem, that's what Ive been using but the colour is still off, maybe its something in fire capture I need to look at

Thanks for the tip, I will give that ago, so a 3 min video would be ok then and not show any rotation with my setup? when you mentioned 'auto white balance' in Registax, did you mean auto RGB balance?

Thanks Vlaiv, sorry yes I used Autostakkert to stack, I will add it to the list! I dont think i can change the barlow to sensor distance so would a x1.5 or x1.8 barlow be better for sampling then?

Thanks What do you mean by alignment point on the moon? I forgot I could capture more frames, I believe as long as I can keep it under two minuets there shouldn't be any rotation?

No award winning image here but I had fun! I brought a 100mm f10 refractor earlier this year which I used for Solar white light imaging. Since I'm now doing Ha Solar with a different scope, Ive been contemplating selling the scope but before I do I thought I would have a bash at Jupiter. 100mm obviously is on the small side but its not a bad image I guess for my first go. Captured last night through high thin cloud and the bright moon not to far away. It was almost impossible to see if I was in focus, I'm used to at least seeing if what I'm capturing is at least pretty much there but planetary is a different ball game! so not sure if I'm 100% focused. Captured using a 224mc, and celestron x2 barlow, UV/IR cut filter through an f10 100mm refractor Software: Firecapture, Autostakkert, Registax and Photoshop. 35 percent of 2000 frames Any thoughts on how I could get a better result or am I flogging a dead horse with this set up? There's obviously not alot of detail, would it be possible to bring out anymore with 100mm? Am I under or over sampling to much?

Il see how I get on, thanks for your help 👍

The issue has gone now since clicking on the debayer icon but it looks I can only choose RG, GB, GR or BG!? But RG looks normal colour to me!

I'm still fairly new to Firecapture and I've been using a mono camera before so I'm still learning. I've just googled, it, I've ticked the Bayer tab and it's sorted it, just need to find out what the correct pattern is, it's currently on RG