Kon

13 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

The big gun is starting to bear fruit!

Thanks. Absolutely. It took me 30min of capture with my 8" to get it last year. I am after its rings this season 🤪.

Have you had your operation yet? It will be great to have you back imaging.

12 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

Looking very good Kostas!

Thanks Stuart. Not very happy with the colours at the moment, so loads of room for improvement 😁

15 minutes ago, siatnite said:

Two great early shots there well done.

Thanks Simon. 

An early start with Uranus as we are still far from opposition. The norther polar hood and the 5 main moons are nicely resolved. The moons are from left to right: Oberon, Miranda, Umbriel, Titania and Ariel at the bottom. False coloured from an OSC capture. Skywatcher 300P Flextube Goto, asi462mm, IR pass 742 filter, zwo ADC and 2.5x TV powermate. 10 min capture.

A crop before any colour addition

1 hour ago, CraigT82 said:

Nice work! Bodes well for Jupiter’s opposition that you’re getting so much detail now. 

Thanks Craig. Yes looking forward to opposition.

35 minutes ago, morimarty said:

They are superb Kostas for such early captures Especially with the windy conditions. Very Well Done.

Thanks Martyn. I am still not too happy with the Jupiter colour balance as it feels a bit 'cold' but getting it warmer looks too yellow for my liking.

Very nice Saturn and excellent banding definition. Do you think that's a spoke at the left hand side?

Jupiter and Mars under good conditions ruined by the windy gusts. Jupiter is in the company of Io and Ganymede. Mars is still tiny. The 12" and Goto are game changers for me and looking forward to good seeing. Jupiter is 6x120s derotated and Mars is a single capture as seeing dropped a lot. Skywatcher 300P Flextube Goto, asi462mc, UV/IR cut filter, 2.5x TV powermate and ZWO ADC. Jupiter 125% of capture size and Mars at 150%.

Very nice and a little hint of Cassinini division. I like that there's almost no shadow from the rings as we are approaching opposition.

13 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

Upping the gain to reduce exposure time for the dimmer more distant planets is definitely a benefit.  As for reducing it for the bright ones, I could not see any ultimate effect - I had wondered why nobody else was quoting the very short exposures (under 1 ms for Mars) that I was using last year.

Interesting. For Uranus I used 20-50ms last year when I was trying to capture the polar hood. I was aiming for a histogram of 70-90 % with IR pass and it worked really well. I have seen longer exposures too trying to get it's rings. Same as Neptune it benefits from the longer exposures.

I used to do short exposures too but @geoflewis and @neil phillipsdid some interesting comparisons at higher exposure and there was benefit. A 'consensus' seems to be 10-13ms and I have seen it from other top imagers too. Too fast sometimes introduces more noise as the snr is low despite stacking several images. 

Good images and quite a bit of effort to get all of them in one session.

23 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

For the first time, I varied the camera gain for each target in an effort to equalise the exposure times.

Is there a reason/benefit behind it?

1 minute ago, Altocumulus said:

Roll: 100 x 50 cm

Baader AstroSolar™ film

 

Available at FLO

Unfortunately it's unavailable. I can't source it from anywhere in UK or Europe for the last couple of months.

3 hours ago, bosun21 said:

As it goes I am intending to do a comparison between them my next proper solar session. I feel that the Baader Solar Continuum Filter will win out over an IR Pass. I have  already compared the 10nm against the newer 7.5nm Continuum Filter and found the 7.5nm to come out on top both in imaging as well as visually. The difference is small so if I already owned a 10nm I wouldn't rush out to upgrade it to a 7.5nm. 

Thanks Ian. Looking forward to the comparison. I am struggling to find Baader film for full 12" aperture at the moment. I can use the offset but I have seen some stunning images from a friend of mine who is using his full 16" .

Very nice details. Do you find the Continuum to be better than an IR pass?

Very nice and a bonus having Titan. Looking forward to getting back to imaging after my holidays.

Nice images despite the conditions.

Firecapture also had a focus plugin but I haven't used it yet.

To add to Ian's comments, it seems to be the case of really bad seeing at 15 degrees; your focus is off here too (at this angle you can use the shadow of the rings  on the planet or their edge; if seeing is good you will get hints of Cassini division). Regarding settings, I aim for a 70-90% histogram; I usually do 10-11ms exposure and with Saturn you can capture ~5min before rotation starts blurring features. Worth getting loads of 5min videos and do image derotation in Winjupos. If you can, wait until it is higher up and keep an eye on the jetstream maps as it can cause havoc with seeing.

It is hard to tell if collimation is a bit off or it is due to bad seeing as you have flaring at the planet.

7 hours ago, RobertI said:

Thanks for the continuing thoughts (and jokes!) everyone. Having decided on the idea of a solid tube to stay in the garden, I’m now thinking a truss dob would give the delicious possibility of viewing from some really dark skies - what a treat that would be.

I have now booked an Orion Optics 12” for the month of November, so hoping for some dark skies and also the possibility of Jupiter, Mars and Luna to give me a real feel for what a 12” can do. I shall also be going to Kelling in October and shall try and blag a look through a 12” whilst there. 👍

Excellent idea to get a feeling for it.

Another advantage of a flextube is that when the tube on its base is stored collapsed indoors it doesn't take 'much' space. My 12" sits at the corner of the sitting room and its height is shorter than the 8" solid tube. When I leave it extended to dry after a session, my wife has commented on it.

The solid tube will be much heavier to lift, so consider where you will be storing and moving it.

I had this camera in the past and the AR window is UV/IR cut.

I missed the whole event as I am on holidays but great to see some pics of the occultation. It seems that the typical UK weather ruined it for many of you 🥲.

When I started with imaging Venus at daylight, using a manual dob, I worked out at night Venus' relative position using some stars. That way I knew roughly where it should be at daylight. Using a finderscope, it's very bright, you can't miss it. As others have said be careful. If I were you, I would start at dusk or dawn, depending on the apparition, just to get a feeling about its position and then move to daylight. Daylight mostly benefits imaging as the seeing is a lot more stable to get the UV. I have never seen details visually but very experienced observers at sgl have seen some clouds on its surface, I think using a yellow filter.

Mercury is a lot tougher to find due to its brightness but similar to above.

I recently got a 12" flextube goto, and it was totally worth it. I upgraded from my 8" and I am already loving the visual aspect as it's really gathering so much more light. Veil has been incredible, planetary nebulas down to mag 14 accessible and more..... everything looks brighter and with more structure. 

Transporting it is manageable....I fitted the base fully assembled in my Astra boot and ota at the passenger sit when I went to collect it. But I am not sure you will have space for other members of your family.

At home, it's a job of getting it out in two pieces from my french doors to the garden but the base is heavy and it can be a struggle if you have a bad back but a trolley can solve moving issues.

I got it mostly for the goto for planetary imaging and I still do star hoping to find several targets as I enjoy it. As I said, visually it's amazing.

Incredible image! I love the processing too.

Nice Reggie. I prefer the first one, as it is more natural. You may want to move to Astrosurface for wavelets and sharpening.