iwols

4 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

A C8 should perform a lot better than that.  It could be the awful seeing.  Is that a single frame, or the result of processing?

Not blowing my own trumpet or anything, but if you search back in this section you should find one of my images of Jupiter with a single frame and the (much better) stacked result.  I typically stack 20% of a 5000 frame video, processed in Registax6.  I generally focus on a star, not on the planet. 

  On a decent night, the live view should look a bit better than the original post image above, and the major division of the rings should show in the processed result.

If you save the file as a .ser you don't have to debayer it.

I hope this helps.

yep your right

2 hours ago, vlaiv said:

Had a look at Jupiter recording, and here are a few suggestions:

1. use x2 - x2.5 barlow / telecentric for optimum sampling

2. keep exposure around 5ms range

3. shoot raw video in .ser format (skip avi if at all possible)

4. use gain setting at around 270

5. use ROI to maximize frame rate captured (like in Jupiter video - 640x480 is quite enough to capture a planet)

6. Use 8bit capture if image is not over-exposed, another trick to maximize fps (at 5ms and 8bit you should be able to hit around 200fps)

7. Use up to 4 minutes of imaging run per planet. If everything is good you should end up with couple of gigabytes of .ser per capture (yes, quite a lot of data)

8. Shoot darks - at least 256 to 512 frames at same settings with scope covered (this should not take long - few seconds at 200fps)

9. If you can - do flats and flat darks also

10. when shooting make sure planet is centered in sensor FOV and selected FOV is in center of the sensor (as close to optical axis as possible)

11. Use PIPP to calibrate your movie and save as 16bit ser (even if you took 8bit movie). Don't debayer in PIPP so keep option "protect bayer matrix" turned on. Out of all options, you want only three in principle - don't debayer/protect bayer matrix, calibration, image stabilization (this is not necessary) and save in 16 bit ser format.

12. Use AS!3 to stack you result

hi vlaiv the settings for the avi are

[ZWO ASI178MC]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=0
Tilt=1180
Output Format=AVI files (*.avi)
Binning=1
Capture Area=640x480
Colour Space=RAW8
Temperature=36
Hardware Binning=Off
High Speed Mode=Off
Turbo USB=60
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=33
Exposure=0.315962
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=99(Auto)
White Bal (R)=37(Auto)
Brightness=404
Auto Exp Max Gain=255
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point

and the image settings are

[ZWO ASI178MC]
Debayer Preview=On
Pan=622
Tilt=850
Output Format=PNG files (*.png)
Binning=1
Capture Area=640x480
Colour Space=RAW8
Temperature=35.8
Hardware Binning=Off
High Speed Mode=Off
Turbo USB=60
Flip=None
Frame Rate Limit=Maximum
Gain=0
Exposure=4.132799
Timestamp Frames=Off
White Bal (B)=68(Auto)
White Bal (R)=30(Auto)
Brightness=404
Auto Exp Max Gain=255
Auto Exp Max Exp M S=30000
Auto Exp Target Brightness=100
Mono Bin=Off
Banding Threshold=35
Banding Suppression=0
Apply Flat=None
Subtract Dark=None
#Black Point

if that helps thanks

debayered?? thanks

not sure what the expiosure was will check next time,it was on the hot night last thursday or friday and it was about a metre or two above a bungalow opposite,

collimation was checked a while ago and i could not focus any better no matter how finely i adjusted it peter

hi been used to doing dso,but changed to planetary during this month,really struggling,using my c8 and a asi178c ccd,dont seem to get a good image ,added a few images and a link to an avi,thought with the c8 things might be slightly better,anyway any comments /suggestions appreciated as always

link to avi...of jupiter       https://www.dropbox.com/s/9lfchdick07juow/23_03_01.avi?dl=0

and an image of saturn

wow superb ,what equipment are you using

hi neil what equipment did you use for this cheers

hi saw ,not sure if this answers your question but i can never seem to get on with mine for visual so i mainly stick to imaging with a different scope and dso ,maybe i expect too much ,but i will try imaging planets with the c8 when the funds allow,maybe someone can explain different,its supposed to be a great scope though

16 hours ago, iwols said:

right my dilema is ,i have a ror with the heq5  mounted with a tq 100 and all set up for astrophotography which i dont want to disturb but the problem i have is at the moment both jupiter and saturn are low down and the area the pier mount is, is too close to a row of bungalows ,so i thought about using my c8 to start with for visual where i can use it on my patio which will just be able to view both planets,now im starting to think i will want to take some images,so visual and astro will now doubt be used,the heq5 is serving me well ,confused iwols? any suggestions appreciated

so if i bought a better mount i would probably want to use that for my fixed set up which would leave me with the heq5 pro,would this be good enough for the c8 edge for occasional viewing /imaging thoughts appreciated

right my dilema is ,i have a ror with the heq5  mounted with a tq 100 and all set up for astrophotography which i dont want to disturb but the problem i have is at the moment both jupiter and saturn are low down and the area the pier mount is, is too close to a row of bungalows ,so i thought about using my c8 to start with for visual where i can use it on my patio which will just be able to view both planets,now im starting to think i will want to take some images,so visual and astro will now doubt be used,the heq5 is serving me well ,confused iwols? any suggestions appreciated

just wondered what the cheapest mount for a c8 would be that would cope with the c8 edge thanks

hi just done a very quick test of my asi 178 ccd as a all sky cam and just wondered what your opinion is/suggestions thanks

hi just wondered what software people used for their all sky cam? cheers

now changed to usb as well

hi,seen a lot of all sky camera images that were not of great quality so just wondered if anyone could recommend one that they use,thanks in advance 

thanks john would the image without the barlow show much detail?

hi all, always done astro and dso as ive always seemed to have struggled/been disapointed with observing,so just wondered if the above setup would be any good for observing planetary(jupiter/saturn),not been used to observing so got the following fov,but doesnt really mean that much to me,would i see plenty of detail or not,any comments suggestions really appreciated

hi all ,just wondered what kind of image i should expect with the above set up,just wondered if anyone had similar and the original video,maybe with roi (sharpcap),just so i know what i should be aiming for ,thanks guys and is the 178 upto the mark??

hi all just a quickie im using my heq5 on a fixed mount but just wondered if there is any cheap way to secure my c8 to the tripod legs that came with the heq5 for just a bit of visual work? thanks

as above guys just wondered what settings you use for pixels and seconds cheers

thanks👍

thanks vlaiv,so are we saying i dont need a x2 barlow and the 178 alone will give me quite  large usable image?

On 20/06/2019 at 20:36, vlaiv said:

Hm, you are not looking at it properly.

It is hardly that you will be using full sensor surface to capture planet as small as Saturn (anything really apart from the Moon and the Sun).

Best way to calculate what sort of image in terms of size you will have is to compare pixel scale and size of planet at the moment. Planet is now about 18" and rings about 43".

Without barlow, your imaging resolution will be 0.25"/px, so size of planet will be about 72px across, while rings will be 172px.

If we draw a little diagram we can get approx size of planet in the image:

("planet" circle diameter - 72px, "rings" ellipse width 172px)

This is very close to optimal image size that you can get with 8" scope. With this camera, optimum sampling rate is about F/12. This does not mean that you can't make your planet larger by using higher F/ratio, but you won't be able to see any additional detail (much like using higher magnification EP - just blurrier larger image). Since you are using OSC camera, you would benefit from going as high as F/24 in fact - for capture, but for processing you should bring size of planet down (or leave it x2 enlarged, some people do it like that as x2 enlarged image is not going to be very blurry compared to properly sampled one).

Anyway, with 178 sensor you want to use ROI when doing capture - that will save you disk space and enable higher FPS to be achieved (more subs captured). Given the size of the planet, you can comfortably go with 320x240px ROI unless you want to try to capture saturn's moons as well - then 640x480 might be needed.

 

second the ed80 route,superb scope,and adam like you ive found out the qhy 5 can be a finicky beast,i have a permanent set up ,but if i get any connection setup problems its always with my qhy5 ii,but when it works which is 99 percent of the time its excellent,dont give up,i sold my first setup for exactly what youre going through, had a 3 year break then set back up again,seemed like major troubles ,but worked my way through them now im good to go when clouds allow it,one major upgrade was a permanent mount with shed and a roll off roof,really does make a massive difference,good luck and dont give in ,it will come second nature very soon👍

Hi been doing dso for the last 24 months but just thinking what saturn would look like with a asi 178c ccd,looked the setting up on astronomy tools,with the following but how could i make the image bigger,could a x2 barlow or anything be fitted/worthwhile,any advice appreciated