Jupiter - blurry pictures, any suggestions?

[stair]

I'm fairly new to Astronomy and AP, so I was wondering if I could get some pointers on how to improve my images of Jupiter?

I'm using a Skywatcher Explorer 300P on a NEQ6. The Camera is an unmodified Canon 450D connected to either a 5x barlow (image 3379) or a 2x barlow (image 3400 & 3402).

The problem I'm having is that the images are blurry, and I can't seem to get them sharp.

IMG_3379 taken on the 28th Nov, ISO 800, 1/20 sec

IMG_3400 & 2 taken on the 4th Dec, ISO 400, 1/80 sec

I've got a few ideas - not sure which (if any) could be causing me the problems:

• Light pollution? I'm in London, so it's about as bad as it gets
  
• Focuser - it's the standard SW one without the dual speed control so quite difficult to get precise focus. I'm going to get a Bahtinov mask, hopefully that will help
  
• Bad seeing?
  
• Collimation? I checked with a laser collimator before the session, but I've heard they aren't foolproof
  
• Scope temperature? It's stored in a cool garage, then I give it an hour or so outside, so I think it should be at ambient temp by then.
  
• Would stacking help me at all?
  

Thanks!

Alastair

[carean01]

Stacking makes a huge difference. I shot 500 to 1000 frames of video and use Registax 6.

[VigdisVZ]

Actually it looks pretty good for a single frame. The trick to planetary, like carean01 says, is to use registacks on movies you've shot.

Stacking and enhancing in Registax will make a ton of difference. You should be able to film with your DSLR or do like many people do, attatch a webcam. Since the planet at this magnification gets so blurry, the extra large sensor of the DSLOR wont give you enhanced clarity. You get a similar image with a much cheaper webcam.

[ronin]

Are you using a remote release to get the picture or setting the camera to have a 2 or 10 second delay before the shot is taken?

If you are pressing the go button then you are adding vibration to the shot.

One general concern is you have a nice visual set up nice big scope, nice solid mount. However I know of no-one using this set up for AP. The mount is transferable but the scope seems a bit of an oddity.

Stacking will be of no great use with the camera, it really takes single shots for stacking you take a movie, .avi file, for say 10 minutes which at 30 fps means 18000 frames or images, you are not going to do that on a Canon (well I do not think you are). Then using something like registax you select say the best 10% and stack them.

As an added cost have you tried a coma corrector in the scope, they are pretty fast and for imaging will I suspect need one.

My advice for one step improvment would be put an ED 80 on instead of the 300P.

May seem a bit extreme but I suspect the improvement would be immediate and significant.

[VigdisVZ]

Are you using a remote release to get the picture or setting the camera to have a 2 or 10 second delay before the shot is taken?

If you are pressing the go button then you are adding vibration to the shot.

One general concern is you have a nice visual set up nice big scope, nice solid mount. However I know of no-one using this set up for AP. The mount is transferable but the scope seems a bit of an oddity.

Stacking will be of no great use with the camera, it really takes single shots for stacking you take a movie, .avi file, for say 10 minutes which at 30 fps means 18000 frames or images, you are not going to do that on a Canon (well I do not think you are). Then using something like registax you select say the best 10% and stack them.

As an added cost have you tried a coma corrector in the scope, they are pretty fast and for imaging will I suspect need one.

My advice for one step improvment would be put an ED 80 on instead of the 300P.

May seem a bit extreme but I suspect the improvement would be immediate and significant.

Are you sure you're not confusing Jupiter with DSO's now? ED 80 would give a worse jupiter picutre, and a coma corrector wouldn't really improve that much unless you're using the whole frame? Also, you don't need to use a quick release since you actually want to shoot a movie.

Edit: The setup is great for AP. My buddy Chris shoots excellent Jupiter shots with a similar setup, ie NEQ-6 and huge Newt.

[cgarry]

Are you sure you're not confusing Jupiter with DSO's now? ED 80 would give a worse jupiter picutre, and a coma corrector wouldn't really improve that much unless you're using the whole frame? Also, you don't need to use a quick release since you actually want to shoot a movie.

Agreed.

[atmenterprises]

I doubt you need a coma corrector for Jupiter.

Try a few things:

1. Nail the focus. Make or buy a Bahtinov mask if you need to make sure you're in focus.

2. Take video instead of stills. My 550D has a crop video mode (640x480 resolution). Still shoots at 30fps if I remember correctly, so you're going to get some compression though. Stack the resulting movie.

3. Or buy a web cam. I use an SPC900NC. Works great, even better at 10fps.

[atmenterprises]

I doubt you need a coma corrector for Jupiter.

Try a few things:

1. Nail the focus. Make or buy a Bahtinov mask if you need to make sure you're in focus.

2. Take video instead of stills. My 550D has a crop video mode (640x480 resolution). Still shoots at 30fps if I remember correctly, so you're going to get some compression though. Stack the resulting movie.

3. Or buy a web cam. I use an SPC900NC. Works great, even better at 10fps.

[StuW]

Your problem is seeing, you need to shoot video rather than single shots so you can capture the milliseconds of steady air.

[Pete Presland]

your set up + a webcam (spc880/900) and a X4 barlow = some very good images of Jupiter

there lots of tutorials online regarding planetary imaging, using sharpcap and registax or similar programmes.with your mount and massive aperture you could get some great images. around 3 minutes of AVI's using sharpcap and some magic in registax and you will be amazed!

[Astrosurf]

Be aware that the Phillps SPC 880 and 900 are no longer sold and are now gold dust! You could spend over £100 for one on eBay as owners, even if they're not astronomers, have cottoned on to the fact we love the webcams! I managed to get one for £40 on our classifieds here. I was lucky. Do keep a look-out though. There are other ones, not as good I think, like the Xbox cam, that can be modded. Ask the question on here. There have been lots of threads, also about modding webcams, so have a search.

Alexxx

[stair]

Thanks very much for all the replies! It sounds like I need to get stacking

I'm lucky enough to already have a SPC900, so I will hook that up to the scope next time the clouds clear and see what I get.