Venus and Mars Skymax 127

[bigal1]

Hi folks well the weather has been kind to me for once and i have been able to get out the last 3 nights in a row conditions were not as good as what i thought and even though there was a very clear sky the atmosphere seemed very unstable . Equipment used as always was a Skywatcher Skymax 127 mak scope , 2x barlow and extension plus a Philips Spc900nc webcam and both images were a stack of 3100 frames @ 10fps recorded in Sharpcap .

Regards Alan

[Alan]

Very nice captures indeed Alan, well done

I think this is the last of the good weather so you can put your feet up for while

Alan

[cspindley]

Nice images I've got the Skymax 127 any chance to know where you got your extension from

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[bigal1]

Nice images I've got the Skymax 127 any chance to know where you got your extension from

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The extension i use is just the standard skywatcher 2x barlow with the lens section removed .

[bm1980]

Top stuff Alan, well worth going out 3 nights in a row

Regards

Ben

[Gina]

That is really outstanding - well done

[cspindley]

What settings do you use on sharpe cap I have the same cam as you

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[Olorin]

excellent result for the SPC900 with your setup, well done!

[Space Cowboy]

Very nice images Alan especially Mars!

[bigal1]

What settings do you use on sharpe cap I have the same cam as you

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I use a program called WcCtrl which gives all the webcam control settings but some are a little easier to get to than in Sharpcap so i only know what i set in WcCtrl ( it runs over the top of Sharpcap ) , think it was 1/25 exposure , gamma 0 , brightness at mid point (default as i leave alone ) saturation was at max , gain was at 62 and to get the color as good as i can i use auto color balance in WcCtrl then leave to settle for a few seconds once i have the target of choice on screen then i'll freeze it , this seems to be the easiest way i've found so far of getting the correct color balance .

[Delboy_Hog]

Lovely pictures Alan!

They make my pictures with the Skymax 127 look utterly feeble - but that's a good thing as it makes me want to improve! It's great to see other people's work as it gives you an idea of what's possible with the same setup and a boat-load of practice!

Thanks for sharing - most impressive pics!

[Baffa]

Great results, I really like Venus since I know how hard it is to get a good result (I have failed time after time)