Saturn 12-04-2012: my first stacked image :D

[Rihard]

Hello,

after just 2 weeks playing with my new Skywatcher Explorer Eq5, I was finally able to make my first ever stacked image of a planet.

This is the setup:

- Explorer 200P Eq5 (no tracking yet )

- Nikon D3100 with T-Ring

- Skywatcher Barlow 2X + TAL Barlow 2X

- 33" MOV video at 1280x720

- Stacked and processed with Lynkeos on MacBook Pro

I'm very pleased with the result despite of the weather conditions, setup, not very accurate collimation and my fairly basic knowledge.

I have other videos and I will try to play more with the stacking software to obtain better results

Any comment or suggestion?

[ggreene1]

Excellent image. I have a webcam and hope that I can do as well some time soon.

[Rihard]

Excellent image. I have a webcam and hope that I can do as well some time soon.

Thank you. It's much easier then it seems at first. You may even try with a DSLR camera and some barlows as I did. I also tried with the webcam with no success, since I was unable to control the exposure (It worked very well with the moon though).

I have just processed another video and got a few more good frames of Saturn

I've also tried an apparently useless video of Mars. Not brilliant but I can see some subtle detail.

[Atlas]

Great start, keep em coming!

[ggreene1]

TziuRiky,

I also have a Canon 40D and a T-Ring. I'm just starting out in this hobby and have so much to learn. I've only been a member of SGL for about a week and have already learned a bunch. Thanks

[mart rich]

Well I think that is great.

I have a similar setup to you (200P and Nikon D40), I tried to stack some frames of Saturn the other night and the result was a bit too dark, but the level of detail was very similar to what you have achieved. So that makes me feel better and perhaps I should post it here after all.

I am still at the stage of finding the processing daunting and a bit if a dark art. Stacking is about all I can manage!

I think your Mars image is great too - how many frames did you stack for these images?

Martin

[Rihard]

ggreene1: I've been reading SGL for a few months now. I admit that if I achieved these results is thanks to this forum

mart rich: if you're just taking single pictures, I advise you to push the ISO to 3200, it should look less dark. I will show you some single frames I've taken like that.

For Saturn I've used around 180 frames in the first picture, about 250 in the last one. For Mars about 280 if I'm not wrong basically a few seconds of video. I've just stacked 6 photos of Venus now... the single picture is not as clear as this stack: