Kon

Thanks. It's looking promising tonight.

Indeed the close proximity of the two made for a nice viewing.

The fog did not clear here until 6 or so and it was way too bright to do anything. It is a weird jetstream we are having as the seeing is rather stable, even from my weekend post. I am sure if the fog was not there, the captures would have been great. I do question myself why image under these conditions .....but oh well I did put my alarm on 😀.

Thanks Stuart. Awful summer so far, and we do not seem to be getting a break anytime soon. Worth trying 😀.

Thanks David

Awful conditions this morning but stable seeing through the fog. I am surprised that I managed to get some details through. Nice prominent GRS. 2x180s derotation and my usual 8" Dob setup.

I started as an observer but I got into serious planetary and ISS imaging the past year or so. I still love doing visual of DSOs and in particular nebulas. Finding them and trying to tease details out of them still excites me. I love the tranquility of being in the dark sky with no screens nothing. Just me and the dark skies. I like observing planets but imaging for me is another level of excitement trying to get details out of my captures and compare changes; eg Venus was a big project I did this year. Imaging, daily changes in cloud formation not easily seen on the eyepiece (some excellent visual reports and sketches in SGL) but captured in UV. Or Mars storms last year etc etc. On the other hand, you need to be realistic with your expectations if you go down the imaging route. If it is the case of snapping a few photos then a mobile will do as others are posting excellent images here, but if you want to be serious about it then the cost will spiral quickly. The 8" is excellent for visual (I have an 8") if you have some darkish skies but also excellent for planetary (have a look at posts in planetary section). I have also seen some really good DSOs with 8" Dob but you need to factor in an eq platform at minimum. I have a simple setup without tracking but I still manage very good planetary imaging by upgrading my cameras based on good suggestions at SGL. My advise is do what makes you happy but also know your equipment limitations and do not get frustrated why others are producing better images with a different/better setup. We are all attracted to this hobby for different reasons so follow your heart.

For my Venus I removed the AR window to gain that extra 15% that it was cutting. Others might advise you to keep it on to avoid dust on the sensor. I always had a filter on and stored it away. The AR is back on until next Venus.

It seems to have been better with the derotated image but likewise I prefer registax in most cases. It seems to have less control. Worth experimenting until the good captures come.

Thanks Neil. The high elevation is definitely helping. Saturn was a mess this morning, I deleted all the captures (even the IR was boiling like crazy). I keep messing around with the post processing as I am not 100% satisfied; I need to get that feeling again, it has been a while. Looking forward what your 12" can deliver.

I was surprised 'how well' it came out. I was imaging between 345-445 but it was getting quite light. The best sequence was between 4-415 so around 40degrees. I might have another go before work tomorrow morning. I also played with Wavesharp, it brought out more details, I think. What do you think?

Great capture.

Thanks. I am happy to have got some decent images to play with. Fingers crossed to more good seeing.

Thanks. It's nice having it high up as well as my Saturn was pants today.

Unless you go for the early morning Venus from September 🙃

edited to add the animation

Thanks. It might be ok tonight/this week. looking forward if you do get some imaging going.

Thanks. Yes it is putting the whole system in perspective. I have a a couple of more captures to go through that show Up coming from behind.

Nice captures. The 462mm is a very nice camera.

It has been a long wait to get any imaging going. Despite the overhead jestream seeing was good. Captured at 415am. 8" Dob, manual, asi 462mc, 2.5x TV powermate, UV/IR cut filter. I managed a colour image and derotated 3x180s captures. Ganymede is showing some details as well. I feel rusty with processing but always happy for feedback. Io coming from behind Jupiter and a little animation from my 4 captures.

Yes it's a nice way to pick new features. You can get some nice false colour images too by mixing IR and methane captures, that was my intention but bad weather has prevented this.

I was not planning to post these images but I am fed up with the lack of clear weather and I spent some time processing them. They are from the same capture back on 26 June. They will not win any awards but good for the record. My usual setup but with methane filter.

That's a great image. I like all the resolved moons too. By the way, do you derotate the video in Winjupos or the stacked images?

Very nice Pete. It is getting larger, isn't it? I tried to find Venus over the weekend but no luck; I tried at 6pm as by sunset it's obscured by my hedge. Was it at sunset and could you see it with a finderscope? You may have a tiny bit of UV cloud at the middle of the image.

Thanks. I know what you mean. When the IR is suffering you know it's bad. I was very surprised how bad the methane capture suffered as it's much deeper in red. The next few weeks are not going to be better either.