Should I be underwhelmed?

[Mak One]

Got up early this morning to have a first go at Jupiter with the Skymax 150Pro and the Neximage. Forecast was good, reality was less so - having checked Meteoblue and the Mess Office data later today for that period, there was a lot of cloud showing up on the IR satellite images. Managed to grab about 30 runs between 5am and 6am, but all but about 10 of those were badly interrupted by broken cloud.

Image on the laptop screen wasn’t still by any stretch, and I couldn’t pick up any real detail in the belts on screen either. I’d hoped this would come out when stacked etc.

Anyway, of the AVI’s not interrupted by cloud, here’s a typical post-Registax example below (10fps – 500 frames + skyglow filter, cropped):

Should I be underwhelmed, or is this what I should expect from the kit in these conditions? As I can just pick out Io, Ganymede and Europa on the image, I’m guessing the focus and exposure levels weren’t far off the mark. Mind you, I didn’t use the Bhatinov mask – perhaps next time...

Tried with a 2x barlow as well (not on above image). Not only did the image jump about when adjusting focus (mirror flop?), it drifted quickly across the screen, almost as though the tracking was off (it wasn’t). It took a nudge on the focus knob to stop it drifting. As the scope’s been sat idle for the best part of 6 weeks (UK weather and a holiday have got in the way), is this just likely to be a “sticky” focus mechanism through lack of use?

[bigal1]

Hi thats not a bad effort , by the sounds of things you had poor conditions which would severly effect the results and also rule out using higher powers ( barlows ) . I have a 127 mak and in times of good seeing have been able to use a 2x barlow + an extension tube which has yielded some good results ( pics in my album ) but recently conditions have been that bad in my area i've not been able to improve on my best effort . Your 150 mak should do very well when you do get good conditions , i'd try a 2x barlow and an extension tube or maybe even a 3x barlow but that may be pushing it with the 150 not too sure .

Regards Alan

[tyler_jrb]

hey mak one, there is a gso/revelation barlow with very good rep, it not only has 2x magnification but also can go to 1.5x aswell so on the not so good nights when the 2x isnt useable then the 1.5x part would come in usefull. or say if its too much magnification on certain objects then it again would come in handy. Would also go nice in your revelation set. Im ordering it tomorrow. It would effectively triple your eyepieces. Hope it helped.

[spaceboy]

Looks good to me. Everything is there that you want. I'm sure when conditions are more favorable and with a 2x or 3x barlow it will really get those subtle details to pop.

[Mak One]

Alan

Thanks. Having had the same issues with Saturn earlier in the year (albeit a more challenging target) I worry that's it's me, not the seeing. On anything but the Moon, I find focus with the Mak (for pictures) is still a pain, with or without the Bhatinov. Constantly amazed by results obtained by the 127 users on here in comparison.

Still, there's always next time. About October given the crummy weather so far this "summer"...

[Mak One]

Would also go nice in your revelation set.... ...It would effectively triple your eyepieces. Hope it helped.

Thanks Tyler - I'll have a look!

[PeterW]

Pretty good first go, some bar lowing would help dig up smaller details. Much better than my first attempt. Keep at it!

Cheers

Peterw

[barkis]

The planet doesn't transit until around 5:30am I think.

It's declination is +13deg. not Ideal if you did your imaging in the early part of the night.

I see some fantastic images of Jupiter when it heads towards opposition, and will be well up in altitude. It's size will be 50 arc seconds in diameter, and almost magnitude 3.

Opposition is October 29th. 2011. Given decent seeing, and scopes in prime collimation, you'll have a great time imaging the big fellow.

The image you have here is very good anyway .

Ron.

[Mak One]

Ron

I wish it was early in the night instead of the morning! Passed the meridian nice and high up about 5.30ish - it was higher in the sky than last year which is nice as it takes it above the streetlights that plague my view of the southern horizon up to around 30 deg. Tracking away nicely then the image starts racing across the screen - took a few seconds to realise what was up and flip the scope back around!

Looking again, at 640x480 res there's not much room for detail at that magnification anyway, so I think I'll have to practice with the barlow.

So, further questions:

1. The barlow does make the view a bit dim - would a powermate be any different?

2. Extension tubes - before or after the barlow, and is this likely to produce vignetting?

Thanks

[barkis]

Powermates are reputedly great for imaging, but your native f12 and a x2.5 Powermate takes you up to f30.

The problem is the resolving capability of the 150mm objective.

Since resolving capability is dependent on the size of the

Mirror/Lens, whopping up the mag. by increasing the focal length will certainly give a larger image, but not more detail unfortunately.

Ron.