Saturn April 24th Good seeing!

[Space Cowboy]

Quick process from last night just going through avis. Very good seeing so I pushed up the mag to over f30 for this one. Spc900 & auto flextube dob.

[neil phillips]

my pc is dieing under data here, what with summer life. i cant keep up with all the good nights Stuart. its a good result look foward to seeing any more from this night

[cgarry]

Really nice image, it has held up really well at f/30. Great colours too.

Cheers,

Chris

[Clayton]

Nice shot Stuart

[Space Cowboy]

Cheers guys! Not put this through reg v6 yet just 5.1 on the netbook so hoping to get more definition. This was the last image of the night and tracking took a turn for the worst but persisted as seeing seemed to improve even more. This was the first proper session since April 7th though transparency was not as good as the 7th....f27 shots @ 1/25 needed 10% more gain and 1/33 was 100%. This image at over f30 was 95% gain @ 1/25.

Wish I could use sharpcap...tried again last night but crashed as soon as capture was activated...preview looked stunning...far smoother than craterlet. Alas old faithful craterlet was used for all captures.

[peterako]

Registax 6 is absolutely fantastic!

Great image by the way

Clear skies,

Peter

[bigal1]

Great image Stuart like the colours well done

[solarwallace]

Very nice image You've got the same scope as me so I know what to aim for now. What did you use to get up to f30?

Steve

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks again for your comments guys! Steve this scope rocks! I'm surprised more people don't use the auto dob for imaging. I use a 3x tal barlow with a skywatcher 2x tube which gives f27 I then pulled the webcam out half way to add more extension and push over f30.

Here is the same image after using registax v6. 2nd image is 140% scale. Definitely my best Saturn to date.

[oldfruit]

Great results, especially at f30+! Your image has a really nice natural look to it, and there is a fair amount of detail showing too.

[solarwallace]

Thanks for the info Stuart. I'd wouldn't have thought of doubling up like that. I've got a 2x and a 3x televue so I might (will) try that.

Thanks

Steve

[Space Cowboy]

You should get good results with the 3x Televue Steve!

Here is another version from the same avi as above but with 2500 frames stacked and using "create luminance from rgb" Did notice some alignment point artefacts in the above images which the extra frames seem to have removed.

140% scale.

[bm1980]

Top class images Stuart, seem to be getting better every thread you post

Regards

Ben

[AztecastroMcJ]

Very nice again Stuart

looks like ur starting to get hang of that dob now

thx

James

[DarkSky71]

I tried my SPC900nc for the first time the other night. It came with Registax and SharpCap amongst others. At first my Sharcap kept crashing when clicking on Capture. Daft question SPace Cowboy but my Sharpcap started working once i had created and set a folder for capture in the program. Have you done this. Sorry if you have as i am just a beginner

[johnh]

Thats showing interesting detail Stuart especially first version, F30 is a long fl so seeing must have been steady.

John.

[WayBig]

Really nice images. To track at f30 did you use a synscan goto handset on the dob for these?

[Kokatha man]

Excellent images Stuart.....I can appreciate how chuffed you're feeling....!

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Ben & James! Good point Darksky i did install a older version of sharpcap and although it appeared to have the same capture folder it might be worth try a new folder.

Thanks John, just worked out its actually f34 so 8.2 meters fl. As this was a 6 min avi I'm now thinking that may be too long for the fl...will try splitting the avi maybe into 3 or 4 min.

Thanks Chris, tracking went really weird on this capture..it normally loses alt in the eastern sky but recently after about an hour there is no response from the hand control for several seconds then the gears start whirring and bang the image shoots off screen I release the button and it whizzes back...don't know what causes this massive backlash. Thankfully vdub and castrator tidy things up for aligning in registax. I was using the goto handset as the slowest setting is slower than the auto tracker so less blurring caused by moving image back on screen.

Cheers Kman! Can't wait for Jupiter...just thinking....if Saturn holds up this well at f34 then Jup at 50 degrees,bigger and brighter.....licking lips!

[banner001]

very nice image, im saving up for either the 10 or 12" skywatcher dob...nice to see what i should be aiming for

and yes that night was nice for viewing saturn, i got a good view of saturn and titan, but im still to see the cassini division for myself on my own equipment

[WayBig]

I've been looking at this image and been impressed with many things....having the balls to try at f30, being able to track an object at that magnification (and hence narrow field of view), capturing such a long avi, the processing...

But I've just thought of one more....how on earth did you manage to focus the scope at what must be over 1000x magnification, that's got to be impossible!!!

[Jupiterholic]

Can't wait for Jupiter...just thinking....if Saturn holds up this well at f34 then Jup at 50 degrees,bigger and brighter.....licking lips!

I've been thinking the same thing about Jupiter recently. You've captured some beautiful colours that display really nicely in your 140% scale version. Very natural. Absolutely stunning image!

[eliot]

Great images.

[Spikey]

Nice one Stuart, the wind must have been in your direction as it was no use again over here.

Your images get better with every post, your really getting the hang of the dob now and your processing is bringing out the best. Well done mate.

[Space Cowboy]

I've been looking at this image and been impressed with many things....having the balls to try at f30, being able to track an object at that magnification (and hence narrow field of view), capturing such a long avi, the processing...

But I've just thought of one more....how on earth did you manage to focus the scope at what must be over 1000x magnification, that's got to be impossible!!!

Thanks again Chris..its hard to explain...mainly clean living, no fast cars or loose women keeps the mind focussed

Seriously I find focusing at higher mag easier because the image is that much larger...obviously seeing has to be good. In naff seeing focusing is very hard. The auto Dob is easier to use than my skymax 127 was..now that really does have a narrow field of view like a pin head at f50 (best Jupiter i took with mak was f50).

Without castrator software it would be almost impossible at this fl to get an avi steady enough for aligning and stacking.

Cheers again guys for your comments!