The return of 960...

[Starman]

...as 961 apparently

Here's a shot of the 'new' spot rotating into view. Captured this morning through an increasingly rare break in the clouds. 100% cover has returned now (and it's chilly too!!).

[mpeniak]

Great shot Pete.Well done!

I hope I will get some breaks in the clouds tonight when imaging Jupiter I've seen some very impressive pictures you've taken. If you have mono camera and taking picture of Saturn for example using RGB filters, how do you do it? I know that the max time for which you can imaging Saturn is about 3mins per photo. Does it mean that you got only 1min per each filter, or how does it work?

Martin

[Starman]

Hi Martin,

I use a 60fps camera which means that 1 minutes imaging time results in 60x60 = 3,600 frames. In reality, I keep my frame counts down to about 2,000 frames for Saturn. Having said this, it's necessary to refocus the camera between filter swaps and this takes some time out. I don't tend to rush on Saturn. As long as each channel is fairly quick, then anything of interest is going to show up on that channel much better than it will in an RGB composite. If there is something of interest visible then I will normally try and do a fast RGB capture to keep the end result as tight as possible.

[mpeniak]

Thanks for your answer. Do you think I would yield better results if I got my Toucam pro modified to mono and used RGB filters?

Martin

[Starman]

Which country are you based in Martin (it has bearing on the answer)?

[mpeniak]

UK, Plymouth

[geppetto]

Thanks for the pictorial heads up Pete.

Looking to be a big spot 8)

[Starman]

I don't think there's going to be anything you can do to improve Jupiter Martin - it's a bad lot this year (and for the next two really). Being so low down means that you're doomed to imaging it through poor quality air and the planet will always look less than sharp.

The colour Toucam Pro is a wonderful camera and can take great planetary shots. However, the colour matrix does degrade its sensitivity a bit (you get all colours filtered in one go). Switching to a mono-chipped webcam will improve things greatly but don't expect miracles on Jupiter. Even the high end scopes and cameras are suffering from the UK on this planet at the moment.

Mars is the next biggie but you'll have to wait a couple of months for it to improve a bit. This is the time I regard as planetary recuperation time

[mpeniak]

Yeah...I know that Jupiter image won't be much better. Let's say I get the webcam modified to mono and I want to take picture of Jupiter at 10fps. Does it mean the best I can get will be around 600frames per each colour? How long you can imaging Mars withouth the image being blurred?

Thanks

Martin

[jonifive]

Martin said

How long you can imaging Mars withouth the image being blurred?

All of my images are blurred!!

Excellent photo again Pete....I will have a look this evening if the clouds ever leave.

Jonathen

[Trevor]

Getting a bit off topic, but I am waiting for Pete to do something like this:

http://www.damianpeach.com/images/mars/2005marsrotationdp.wmv

With step by step instructions please.

[Starman]

Yeah...I know that Jupiter image won't be much better. Let's say I get the webcam modified to mono and I want to take picture of Jupiter at 10fps. Does it mean the best I can get will be around 600frames per each colour? How long you can imaging Mars withouth the image being blurred?

You're going to get blurring anyway because of the atmosphere. I'd say anything between 600-1000 frames should be ok. The best way is to suck it and see to be honest. A high definition Jupiter isn't going to be on the cards so now's the time to experiment.

It's generally accepted that 3-5 minutes is the maximum imaging window for Mars before rotation blur kicks in. If you're RGB imaging Mars then the G channel is commonly synthesised as an average of the R and B (it's also common to use IR for R) which takes the heat off further.