Does Jupiter have to be in the centre

[Lee85]

It looks like tonight is going to be clear so Id like to try and get a better photo of Jupiter but the thing I need to know is I havent got a tracking mount so if I set my webcam up all focused and when Jupiter comes in the frame start the capture (so it moves across the frame) will registax still be able to align them up or will I have to use the slow controls to keep Jupiter in the middle of the frame?. Also and tips for tonight will be greatly appreciated.

[Kai]

I would try to keep Jupiter in the center as much as possible to gain the most amount of frames

[Lee85]

Ok thank you ill give it a try

[KevG]

You will struggle keeping the image dead centre if manually tracking, just try and keep it on the chip for as long as you can. If the image is dancing around a bit, dont worry, Registax can cope with that if you align frames using 'centre of gravity'. Good luck

[AstroGnome]

Tracking will get you the best results but what you suggested will get you something.

I've tried both and got results both ways (tracked and untracked).

You could try 'castrator', a free bit of software that will preprocess the captured movie and crops each frame to just the planet your imaging so you get a smaller movie file and the frames are already aligned. Works a treat.

[Space Cowboy]

Yep Castrator is what you need. The video editing program "Virtual Dub" is also very useful for editing out any frames where Jupiter has slipped off screen as these can confuse Castrator when it crops the Planet (you may end up with no Planet).