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Io transit animation, 10/12/12

JamesF

By JamesF
in Imaging - Planetary

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JamesF

JamesF

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Seeing was far from the best last night and drifted in and out a fair bit, not helped by cloud turning up uninvited every so often, so the frames for this are quite variable. It didn't help that I had to do a flip halfway through either. I could have got through the entire thing without if I'd had the scope on the right side of the mount to start with, but I'd been out for at least half an hour before this sequence starts, throwing away every capture run because of cloud and was in a less than happy mood.

Anyhow, here's the entire event from start to finish in fifty frames starting around 23:30 and ending about 2:03, so close enough to two and half hours worth of capture time. It's (for me at least) a surprising demonstration of how the seeing can change so much over quite a short space of time.

io-anim.gif

James

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stev74

stev74

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That's a cracking animation James well done. :shocked::smiley:

I was also out observing and imaging Jupiter at the same time, just processing the results now, fingers crossed I might get one good image... never mind a whole sequence like that!!

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Jupiterholic

Jupiterholic

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Nice work James. Hell of a long session that must have been! bet you were on the verge of going down with hypothermia by the end of it ;) and you still managed to line up your captures despite flipping halfway through!. Thats happened to me more times than I could count. I shot a 2 hour animation last night and foresaw that problem so started on the other side of the mount, but I almost broke my neck trying to twist myself under the finderscope to get Jupiter in the eyepiece. This animation was from the night of the 9th wasn't it.

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JamesF

JamesF

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Thanks all for your comments.

It was a bit of a marathon session, yes, but once you've got half way through and the end is within sight you know how it is :) It did take me ages to feel properly warm again afterwards. I have exactly the same problem with getting the initial alignment. My EQ3-2 is set up with the legs quite short so the OTA barely reaches chest height once mounted up. I usually go 32mm/12mm/12mm + 2.5x barlow/12mm + 2.5x barlow + extension, re-centering each time before putting the camera in and I either end up on my knees under the mount or bent double trying to see through the eyepiece.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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Awesome capture James well done. You really do get some nice images with your SPC something I still struggle with sometimes.

Thank you. I struggle sometimes, too. Those ones don't usually get posted though :)

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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Nice work James, the beauty of single colour cameras. Makes these long films much more doable.

Thank you. I can see that it would be possible to do with a mono camera, but it would be pretty frantic, especially if you only had a manual filter wheel :)

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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Hmm. A zoom might well help with the initial steps, yes. I'd not thought of that. The reason I go through a step each time with the barlow and extension is that I've found it impossible to put camera, extension and barlow into the back of the Mak and to find the target again no matter how well centred it seems with just an eyepiece.

That's also why I've pretty much given up attempting to use the ImageMate with the Mak, even though I think Jupiter might stand it. The sudden jump to 4x scale means the smallest error is amplified so much that I can't find the target again.

Of course it would help if the mount were somewhat better. I was watching last night as I actually have the alignment fairly reasonable now and my fairly ancient "Skyscan" EQ3-2 must have a periodic error of close to +/- 25 arcseconds in RA.

James

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JamesF

JamesF

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One question I've been meaning to ask James. You've got a C9.25 on your signature but you are using the MAK 127.......why? :smiley:

Some of my kit had to be put away where it would be safe some time ago when we started some work on the house and I only got to keep the small stuff out (apart from the 10" dob that stands in a space barely big enough for it in my office). My plan was to have an obsy up and running before the end of the summer so I'd have everything all sorted for this winter. Unfortunately work and weather intervened :( As a result I'm left with the 127 Mak, ST120 and my ancient EQ3-2 that I can use from the patio. There are worse things that could happen...

James

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Space Cowboy

Space Cowboy

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Some of my kit had to be put away where it would be safe some time ago when we started some work on the house and I only got to keep the small stuff out (apart from the 10" dob that stands in a space barely big enough for it in my office). My plan was to have an obsy up and running before the end of the summer so I'd have everything all sorted for this winter. Unfortunately work and weather intervened :( As a result I'm left with the 127 Mak, ST120 and my ancient EQ3-2 that I can use from the patio. There are worse things that could happen...

James

Plans seldom run smoothly when the UK weather is involved. I made a solar filter for my 127 but have only used it a couple of times this "summer" . I do envy those with an observatory especially these freezing nights.

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