Mars, September 6th 2007

[Starman]

Hi all. Back from my holidays now so Mars is on the menu...

[beamish]

That's a cracker Pete ! You don't waste much time do you?

No clouds near you then I take it

Karlo

[SteelRat]

Dust storm clearin up then Pete? Nice shot 8)

[jonifive]

Lovely image Pete, any chance of a photographing Mars section in S@N next month?

JV

[GazOC]

Amazing Pete.

[barkis]

Lot of detail in a 8.5 arc second image. Wonderful stuff Pete, I think you could

get real good at this imaging lark. .

Ron.

Now don't all gang up on me, it was a joke.

[mpeniak]

Great image Pete. I admire the sharpness and resolution you're achieving. What camera did you use and how much it costs please?

Martin

[jcm]

Brilliant shot :salute: I am amazed that you managed so much detail.

I had a go last night but the image was dancing all over the place - I think I will wait till it gets bigger and higher

John

[legion48]

Brilliant Pete, brilliant.

[Cloudgazer]

A C-14 at F/55.. By my reckoning thats a focal length of nearly twenty meters :shock:.

Very nice Mars pic Pete..

Scott

[Starman]

Thanks for all the comments. Martin, I believe it's around £800. You can find information out about it from www.framos.co.uk. It's a little odd in that you have to join the Framos Club to get information but that's free and harmless!

[mpeniak]

Martin, I believe it's around £800.

blumming hell Pete, my girlfriend would kill me Do you have any tips how could I improve the quality(resolution) of the images I am getting, particularly Mars please? I was thinking about buying 6x or 8x barlow as a substitute to what I am using now (4x imagemate and 2x barlow on top of that, is that 8x the focal length then please?). Onther thing I was thinking about was getting the toucam modified to mono

Any advice very much appreciated

Martin

[Starman]

What's the telescope you're using Martin (diameter, f-ratio, etc.)? A 4x and a 2x to give 8x is probably pushing things too far as it is. Simply extending the focal length doesn't work as you'll be bypassing the optimum value for your particular chip. The Toucam is a great camera but a device with a more sensitive, less noisy chip would improve things more. Do a Google on the Astronomiser range of cameras and send an email to Andy Ellis who runs the show if you need to know more. These will only operate at Toucam speeds but use a better, mono-chip than the Toucam so this will improve things. To get colour you'll need to invest in a set of filters and ideally a wheel though.

For a cheaper (girlfriend friendly) solution...

Do you use an IR-blocking filter when you take your images? If not, this relatively inexpensive filter will definitely help. Camera chips are notoriously IR sensitive and an IR source like a planet will send out enough IR to over saturate the chip. To make matters worse, the IR light will probably not be in perfect focus so the result you get will be bloated and less detailed than the result you'd get with a filter in place. The filters cost around £20 if I remember correctly. Have a look at www.modernastronomy.co.uk.

Make sure you image when Mars is high in the sky. This means when the sky is getting bright due to the impending dawn. The extra height will mean a more stable atmosphere and better results.

Don't image when Mars is located over a heat source like a neighbour's boiler flue etc.

Do allow your telescope at least 2 hours cool down time outside. If it dews over during this time, use a 12v hair drier (the type you can get via a camping outlet for the purposes of defrosting things) to gently remove the dew.

[mpeniak]

Thanks for the reply Pete. I got Celestron C8-N which is f5 ratio. My toucam has already got IR-block filter. If I get the toucam modified to mono would that be an eqivalent to that astronomiser cameras please?

Martin

[themos]

Thanks for reply Steve

That's Pete, not Steve, Martin!

I think you should call the Astronomiser, like he said. I know I will be calling soon...

[mpeniak]

Yeah I meant Pete actually but in rush I wrote Steve..don't know why Anyway I've corrected it now.

[peonic]

With these forums, if you say "Steve" you've probably got at least a 30% chance of being right!

Chris

[mpeniak]

With these forums, if you say "Steve" you've probably got at least a 30% chance of being right!

Chris

haha you're so right Steve

[iantobach]

what a fantastic image -well done!!!