Mars in IR 03/03/2012

[cgarry]

I have found that having a new OTA, mount and mono camera with filters has caused me to take 10 steps backwards and maybe 1 step forward. The terrible weather has also slowed the learning curve down somewhat. Still, it is all fun!

I spent the early part of last night getting collimation sorted after an aborted install of Bob's Knobs and then eventually tried to catch some photons with the new DMK.

This image was supposed to be just a early test run for the IR filter, taken over my neighbours' nice warm house. The better images were supposed to be captured later but the seeing seemed to take a nosedive and then cloud and fog completely stopped play. So as it turned out it was the only half decent image from the night and any thoughts of putting together my first RGB image will have to wait.

Cheers,

Chris

[Clayton]

Still a half decent shot Chris

[Space Cowboy]

Wow a C14! No pressure Chris but expecting big things from you now! Good start!

[perrin6]

Why is Elysium pale - is it clouds or what ?

[cgarry]

Thanks guys. I agree Stuart, no pressure to get results comes with the C14!

I hate to admit it but I have spent a lot of the available time since I got it with these strange eye piece things fitted instead of a camera. Very odd I know.

Cheers,

Chris

[cgarry]

Why is Elysium pale - is it clouds or what ?

Imaging in the infrared is new to me so I am not sure what Mars should look like. I can say though, in later images (images that I did not finish processing because they were very poor) does show the pale spot moving round with the planet's features so I would guess it is not clouds.

Cheers,

Chris

[neil phillips]

Thats a very promising start Chris, you just need to get your feet im sure, the resolution on that shot is really showing why the C14 does quite a bit better than smaller scopes on most occassions under the right conditions. Look foward to watching your learning curve tame that mighty beast. Just out of interest is it a chinease C14 are they making them in china now ?

[frewi808]

Super !

Freddy

[cgarry]

Yes Neil the C14 is quite a beast to tame, even little things like needing some steps to reach the collimation screws slow things down. Not to mention the limited number of nights with clear skies that we have really does not help.

I just checked the box and it says that the scope is made in China, it is a HD Edge version for the record.

Cheers,

Chris

[neil phillips]

Yes Neil the C14 is quite a beast to tame, even little things like needing some steps to reach the collimation screws slow things down. Not to mention the limited number of nights with clear skies that we have really does not help.

I just checked the box and it says that the scope is made in China, it is a HD Edge version for the record.

Cheers,

Chris

Interesting Chris i was going to say it looks like youve got a good un, that early shot is quite something. A edge HD i wondered how they would perform on planets. looks like there killers from that lovely shot

[FranckiM06]

Wow, it is great shot. Lot of details also and we can see clearly the clouds.

Franck