best efforts with 2x barlow on saturn

[bm1980]

Hi all these are my best efforts at imaging saturn with the 2x barlow, i have to say it was a chalange just keeping saturn on the chip even with the go-to mount. I am quite proud of them but i have a long way to go to release the potential of the 127 mak going of some of the captures i have seen on here. They were all captured last night aprox 1000 frames stacked in registax. Would apreciate your comments.

Regards

Ben

[Dielectric]

Hey great images. I know what you mean about keeping/finding the image on the CCD. Can be a nightmare!! I saved up for a sturdy mount which has been a great help but left a huge dent in the funds.

Well done on the Mak127- beast waiting to get out methinks!

[Mamsoth]

Good captures Ben, keep it up! I have to trump both of you though and say that nothing compares to the frustration of using a dob on an eq platform for imaging, that loves so very dearly to flap about in even the faintest of breezes or when positioned on slightly uneven ground!!! BLAAAAAAARGH!!!

Nice captures

Matt

[leenewtoastro]

looks good. not sure why your struggling with keeping on ccd. i had Saturn virtually indefinitely centered last night. it was uncanny good to be fair

[bm1980]

looks good. not sure why your struggling with keeping on ccd. i had Saturn virtually indefinitely centered last night. it was uncanny good to be fair

i think my tracking was out slightly

Thanks for the comments

Heres another image, i pushed the wavelets up to try and bring out a bit more detail

Regards

Ben

[Clayton]

I like your first shot. Pretty good for a small scope.

It's very hard to keep anything on the chip at higher X's without a sturdy mount, but rewarding when you manage it (sometimes)

[bm1980]

Thanks Clayton i think next time i will do a full skyalign rather than just a quick solar system alignment, maybe this will give me more acurate tracking

regards

Ben

[bm1980]

Hi another reprocess of the same avi file, think this is the best i can get from it.

Regards

Ben.................

[AztecastroMcJ]

good work

the last pic shows alot of detail

James

[bm1980]

Thanks james, i think i am ready for the 3x barlow, hopefully then with a lot of practice, patience ,clear skies and good visibility i will be able to capture saturn as good as you have.

Regards

Ben

[bm1980]

Ok this is my final process of the avi captured the other night, i think i can just about make out some storm detail. Definatly need 3x barlow.

Regards

Ben

[AztecastroMcJ]

hey Ben, thx for comments

i currently use 2.5x barlow, have tried 3x few times,

but with Saturn it doesn't give any worthwhile results,

i would advise sticking with 2x and on better seeing u could use extension to get larger image,

try not inserted camera fully would give slightly larger image aswell, like extension

an image with 2x barlow can be upscaled to 150% say and will show more detail than 3x image,

Saturn is too dim and noisy for high mag

its still all good practise tho and 3x can be used on Jupiter and Mars,

thx look forward to seeing more results

did quick edit of ur last pic, hope u dont mind

used slight gaussian blur, darkened background

2nd edit was auto rgb

James

[bm1980]

Wow thanks James it doesnt look like the same image, just when i thought i had squeezed what i could out of the image, you definatlly know how to process an image my friend. As regards to the 3x barlow i will prob try and pull the camera out of the 2x barlow like you said an see if this helps.

Thanks

Ben

[Space Cowboy]

Good work Ben! Try running your avis through the video cropping software "castrator" this centers the image for aligning in registax so you don't have to worry too much about Saturn drifting during capture. Allows you to take longer avis as registax will drop frames during alignment if there is too much movement. A 5-6 min avi will give you a lot more frames to play with.

[bm1980]

Thanks Stuart, is castrator a free download? and do you know a reliable web site to download it from.

Thanks

Ben

[Space Cowboy]

Yes its free :

Webcam Astrophotography by Emil Kraaikamp - Castrator

[EdF_uk]

Nice! Very good shots. Well done

Ed

[bm1980]

Thanks Stuart will dowload it now and have a go with it, let you know how i get on,

thanks for the comments Ed

Regards

Ben

[bm1980]

Hi all i ran the avi through castrator before stacking in R6, these are the results hope you like them as always i would apreciate your comments.

Regards

Ben

[ykket]

looks very cool, i need to wait until after a house and wedding to be able to get a scope that can come close to seeing saturn. makes me jealous!

[phallam]

Nice work Ben. I'm trying to do something similar with my Skymax 127 and your images are sharper than anything I've produced so far. How are you finding the process of focussing for these images, I'm really struggling to get good focus. Mind you last night I was really troubled by the wind...

[JamesF]

Focus always seems to be a struggle for me. I made up a "Lord Y" mask the other day (though there's no reason a Bhatinov mask wouldn't work) and a couple of nights ago used that to get a decent focus on Arcturus, then moved the scope back to Saturn. It seems to have worked reasonably well, but that was without a barlow.

Next time the seeing is adequate I'll give it a go with a barlow. The problem then of course is that your field of view is so narrow that you need to be sure you can find Saturn again without altering anything in the visual train, which is tricky when your entire image is perhaps only four times as wide as Saturn's rings. I've been using an RDF for location thus far, but I think I'm going to have to ditch that in favour of a 6x30 finder or something similar because it's more accurate.

James

[bm1980]

Nice work Ben. I'm trying to do something similar with my Skymax 127 and your images are sharper than anything I've produced so far. How are you finding the process of focussing for these images, I'm really struggling to get good focus. Mind you last night I was really troubled by the wind...

Thanks, as far as focus i think you kind of get better with practice, if you use sharpcap to capture the avi you can zoom on the image which can also help with focusing, just keep at it and you will see improvments sooner than you think. I have only been imaging for the past month or two myself.

Regards

Ben

[JamesF]

Sharpcap also has a focusing tool, afair. The problem I seem to have a fair bit though (especially over the last month or so when the seeing has not been great compared with, say, January) is that once you've added a barlow, or a barlow and extension into the visual train, the image won't stay steady long enough and it's hard to tell if you're actually in focus or just a bit either side.

James

[JamesF]

FWIW, here's one of my non-barlow Saturn shots from Wednesday evening.

James