Jupiter and its 4 largest moons

[Ultrapenguin]

Taken this week from my back garden, I think I got the exoposure all wrong on the moons and teh colour is not quite right but i was pleased to get all four moons.

[Ganymede12]

Well It's better than my attempts. What kind of camera did you use?

[jammo]

Fantastic shot, jupiter itself looks very well exposed, nice one

[Ultrapenguin]

I used a Creative livecam CCD webcam.

[Ganymede12]

Did you use tracking?

Sorry for all the questions but I have been trying to image Jupiter in my Skyliner 200p using a digital camera and the PH047. So far, I have only managed a big white blob surrounded by 4 white dots.

[starnut]

WoW I like that well done

[Fluke]

Thats fab, you should be very happy with that!

[rwilkey]

A great shot, well done!

[knobby]

Did you use tracking?

Sorry for all the questions but I have been trying to image Jupiter in my Skyliner 200p using a digital camera and the PH047. So far, I have only managed a big white blob surrounded by 4 white dots.

If its a big white blob, you need to somehow get the exposure down or shutter speed up... Shutter speed preferably as it will help keep the image steady / sharp, good luck

[Ganymede12]

I don't think I can change the shutter speed on my FujiFilm Finepix Z5.

(Sorry for hijacking the thread)

[jammo]

A white blob means its over exposed, I did some couple of nights ago with just DSLR and lens at f/5.6 ISO 400 and 1/250th second and you could just see the bands, but the moons were virtually invisible, a multi exposure is probably needed to show them together

[Ultrapenguin]

@Ganymede12 the camera I used is a webcam I purchased it from Ebay for £5 the adaptor for the front cost £10 I think but like you I tried using a compact camera and it was always overexposed or under exposed. Once i got the webcam it became quite easy to capture bright objects like Jupiter even some deepsky objects are fairly easy. My advice to anyone starting planetry imaging is to buy a cheap CCD webcam (not one of those overpriced Philips jobs) but a sensible cheap one and see how you go. In answer to your question though I do have dual axis motor controls although it is possible to track manually I found the vibration was too much when using high magnification of the type used in planetry work, I also purchased a motor for my focuser, best move i ever made. Focusing without it was hit and miss due to the disturbance to the scope by touching the focuser, with the motor control its easy, zero disturance and ultra fine control.

I was going to give this webcam a go at some point as it looks interesting

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/V-Gear-TalkCam-Tracer-CCD-Webcam-with-Headset-Mic-Included-Brand-New-/190740057851?pt=UK_Computing_ComputerComponents_Webcams&hash=item2c68fe4efb

[Ganymede12]

Thanks Ultrapenguin! Did you have an EQ mount though? Right now I'm using the dob mounting and Jupiter moves really fast!

[Ultrapenguin]

Yes my Skywatcher 150PL has a EQ3-2 mount, once polar aligned and tracking is on I get zero movement out of shot, I know what you are experiencing I used to have a 76mm refractor which had no motors ect and trying to image by allowing the object to pass through the FOV was not easy at all.

[sologuitarist61]

I think that is a great image - well done

[Yidoboy]

How did you manage to get the moons and Jupiter?

I've tried for ages but I end up having Jupiter overexposed so as to get the moons in?????

[Ultrapenguin]

Yidoboy, I use the double exposure method I start by taking a 3 min AVI of Jupiter, normally only the brightest monns are visable in this AVI then I adjust exposure for the moons and run another 3 mins AVI, I have found thsi second one can be shorter as there is not much detail I can get on the moons with my SW150. Once I have both processed through registax I combine them using PSP or Gimp.

Unless you have a really large appeture I have found this is the only way to get a proper exposure on both moons and planet, I have also found that there is detail to be extracted from the moons on nights of good seeing and next year I plan to use a x 5 Barlow to see if I can produce a study of the four largest moons of jupiter :-)

[Yidoboy]

That sounds good. My only problem would be one of stability...I don't have a motorised scope so I don't know how easy it will be for me to make sure Jupiter stays in the same place. That said, I wonder if running the avi through PIPP would go some way to solving that problem???

[Ultrapenguin]

Registax compensates for the movement automatically you will just end up with a jupiter close to the edge of your frame but nothing to worry about I used to use that method before I got my 150P and it was ok.

[cgarry]

Registax compensates for the movement automatically you will just end up with a jupiter close to the edge of your frame but nothing to worry about I used to use that method before I got my 150P and it was ok.

I disagree with that. Registax can really struggle to track the planet when it moves around the frame a lot , especially if it leaves the frame completely. I find it is much more reliable and produces better results if the planet is centred beforehand. On the other hand, AS!2 is much more tolerant to the planet moving around, but even then I have also had captures that needed the planet centring before AS!2 would stack all the frames.

Cheers,

Chris

[Ultrapenguin]

I am no expert here just offering advice that has worked for me, for sure if the planet is moving around the frame registax will not cope with that, but for me I used to get set up let the object drift through the frame so it was only ever moving in one dirtection and registax coped perfectly well with that.

This image was processed with that method and a 76mm refractor

This image of Saturn was also taken the same way by allowing the planet to drift through the frame, although this was taken with a Skywatcher 130 (not motorised)

You may notice that in both images the plpanet itself is not centered, this is because registax used the final position in the stack to determine where to put the stacked image. If you allow the planet to go out of frame registax will not be able to cope maybe this is where others have had issues.

This final image was done in exactly the same way but with the addition of a frame for the moons processed in registax and assembled in Gimp, no where near as good as the 150PL with tracking but still a half decent image considering, I would also add I was able to image Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Venus and some great moon shots using the drift technique, tracking is better but dont be put off trying drifting but make sure the object is in frame at the begining and end of the AVI.

[Yidoboy]

All my avi's are manually tracked and I try and keep the image in the centre by simply using the slow motion controls. I then centre the planet by using PIPP.

[cgarry]

Hi Ultrapenguin,

Not bad results at all, but I assume that technique can only collect as many frames as it takes the planet to drift across the sensor once? I know of several people who use the same technique with PIPP, except they move the planet back to the left hand side of the image each time it drifts off the right hand side and therefore capture many more frames. PIPP would have automatically discarded the frames where the planet was not completely in the frame, leaving just the good frames for Registax to stack.

As you say it is much easier to do planetary imaging with tracking, but I doff my cap to those brave imagers who work without tracking.

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers,

Chris

[Yidoboy]

Hi Ultrapenguin,

Not bad results at all, but I assume that technique can only collect as many frames as it takes the planet to drift across the sensor once? I know of several people who use the same technique with PIPP, except they move the planet back to the left hand side of the image each time it drifts off the right hand side and therefore capture many more frames. PIPP would have automatically discarded the frames where the planet was not completely in the frame, leaving just the good frames for Registax to stack.

As you say it is much easier to do planetary imaging with tracking, but I doff my cap to those brave imagers who work without tracking.

Cheers,

Chris

Cheers,

Chris

Would this drifting method work better than my method of constantly adjusting the slow mo controls to keep the planet in the centre?

[cgarry]

Would this drifting method work better than my method of constantly adjusting the slow mo controls to keep the planet in the centre?

I don't know which method would produce the best results, but I imagine the drift method would be easier to do as you would be touching the controls less. Does your telescope to shake when you touch the controls? If it does I would think the drift method would be better. I would try a few test captures both ways and see if one way or the other produces better results.

I would think the hardest part for you would be getting a good focus, it takes me at least 10 minutes to get a focus I am happy with and that is with the planet sitting still in the middle of the sensor! There again, I suppose you could always set your focus using Polaris and a Bahtinov mask.

Cheers,

Chris