Saturn March 14th

[Space Cowboy]

Quick process. 100% gain so noise a nightmare. this is 4 stacked images de-rotated in winjup to try and smooth out the noise.

f26

[Space Cowboy]

Forgot to mention this was captured at 30fps with a 50% histo. I did try 15fps but even then gain was at 80% and seeing was not calm enough. When i first got Saturn on screen seeing looked great but as soon as I tweaked focus and prepared to capture conditions became wobbly and although there was some improvement it was always up and down. Next time I will try less fl. f26 seems right on the limit for these kind of conditions. Saturn still seems very dim.

[neil phillips]

Its certainly not easy thats for sure. You experianced the same or similar conditions i got on my last attempt. after seeing Freddie lengthen the exposure. I also tried going down to 1/15th on the red. But like you the seeing was just not going to have that at all.

All your left with is the faster exposures, and as you say gain is very high. Its a good effort under the conditions you did as well as could be done. you just need better conditions. I looked out there. The stars were going mental. Im getting to long in the tooth to try without at least a hope of something of a improvement over the first attempt. So i gave it a miss. Things might improve as we enter into May, with a slightly brighter saturn, and possibly calmer early summer air. Nice processing Stuart, you pushed the captures as far as they will go i think, so nothing more you can do but wait for those better conditions

[theo]

Nice shot Stuart. Its tricky getting the noise/gain balance isnt it. Hopefully it will get a bit easier as we approach opposition. I was out in the early hours also and although everything looked promising unfortunately the seeing was average with the occasional fair to good bit!!!

Keep up the good work.

Regards

Pete

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Neil & Pete! It was thanks to you guys producing such good shots that persuaded me to drag my butt out of bed at 2am! Looks like I'm now a fully signed up member of the crazy gang lol

At least its a start after my first blurry effort back in Feb.

[Ewan]

Really nice Stuart well done, can't be easy under the present conditions but we live in hope it will improve, i have promised myself a crack at this before it disappears just got to sort some sort of power supply out or run the scope from my Vivaro van's battery.

How long were the captures Stuart ? any other advice or variations you tried out ?

Ewan

[si@nite]

Nice capture Stuart, yes my gain was right up at around the max, & seeing just how you described it very unpredictable!

[lensman57]

Hi,

I think that is excellent, I had planned to stay up late last night to tackle Saturn but at about 12.30 am the cold got the better of me and setteled for the single AVI from Jupiter earlier in the evening. I did a 1/2 hour session with my 15 X 70s galaxy hunting around the Big Bear with excellent results instead.

Many thanks for posting,

Regards,

A.G

[Space Cowboy]

Really nice Stuart well done, can't be easy under the present conditions but we live in hope it will improve, i have promised myself a crack at this before it disappears just got to sort some sort of power supply out or run the scope from my Vivaro van's battery.

How long were the captures Stuart ? any other advice or variations you tried out ?

Ewan

Thanks Ewan! All captures were 3 mins. I would normally do 6 min avis but IC Capture has a nasty habit of crashing once in a while.

At the moment Winjupos de-rotation of images looks the best bet for dealing with the high noise level. I've now added 3 more stacked images to the image above giving a capture covering 28 mins and consisting of over 11,000 frames. (see below image at 125% capture size) :

Cheers Simon & AG!

[JamesF]

I'm afraid I must also admit to considering staying up to capture Saturn early this morning and then thinking better of it. Nice effort though Stuart. I think we're all aware that it's going to be a tough target from the northern hemisphere over the next few years. Just have to make the best that we can of it. Or emigrate

James

[Freddie]

Nice job there Stuart. Definately a challenge to get it right at the low altitude we get. I was also out and captured a couple of sets of AVIs, not holding out much hope though as like with you, conditions were not great.

Keep up the good work. Got those RGB filters yet !!??

[colesmat]

Excellent picture.

[colesmat]

Excellent picture.

[Space Cowboy]

Cheers James! Yep Australia sounds a nice place lol

Thanks Freddie! Funnily enough I've ordered a mono camera today but its not a DMK or ASI ........

Cheers CMat!

[sologuitarist61]

Looking good Stuart

[Ewan]

Agreed Stuart re Winjupo's, i got schooled by Neil & Freddie Inc , i felt it paid off & glad i spent the time trying there methods out, got rid of the un aligned red band i was getting on the left limb of Jup which was a result, come on mate don't be shy what camera are you getting ????????

I have been fortunate enough not to have IC crash on me once yet & another thing is several sessions (if not most) i have Jup in the crosshair i have 5-10 dust bunnies on the screen as well, always it seems on the DMK glass sensor cover, never the filters (all i do is turn the FW to see if it's DMK or filters without the Barlow on as well), does not matter how quick i am making the FW / DMK connection they always seem to get in somehow. When the dust appears i pull the usb from the camera leaving IC running, it just sais 'connection lost' or something, clean the sensor cover, plug usb back in & do New in IC & it just run's.

Keep going with those captures Stuart as odd's in your favour you will catch a good one & i want to see it.

Good luck mate.

[Space Cowboy]

Thanks Ewan its the QHY5L-ll mono which has same chip as ASI120MM. Cam came yesterday thanks to super quick delivery by Modern Astronomy.

Just getting to grips with the cam software! You never know if I get a bang on the head I may get some RGB filters!

[Ewan]

That camera gets a good rating from what i have read & high fps, nearly half what my DMK cost :-( & if it performs anything near as good as the ASI120mm you will laughing, i'd invest in some good quality filters though instead of cheapies but that's just me.

Are you using the EzyPlanetary Software that comes with it but it's probably compatible with IC or Firecapture.

Look forward to seeing your results Stuart.

Ewan

[Space Cowboy]

Yes I'm trying EZ Planetary as Firecapture is not finding the cam on my netbook at the moment for some reason though it works fine on the pc. Not getting the proper frame rates as yet they are only half the proper rate. Must be a software issue as i5 quad core pc does no better.

[Ewan]

Just teething bugs Stuart i'm sure, i found this might be of help for you

' the QHY5L-II ascom halt when use PHD or MAXIMDL etc. Espcially using some long USB cable.

After checking we found the reason is QHY5L-II ascom set the camera working in max USB speed. This will cause bad frame

if the computer conditions or USB cable conditions not good.'

It would exxplain the fps issue i guess.

If i see anything i'll let you know mate.

[Ewan]

Back again, Stuart i'm not sure how new that camera is or what version but this might be of help or maybe not http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?PHPSESSID=d075c73be1094b9e711de6b08345d7e9&topic=3609.msg21379#msg21379

There is an updated RAR file for your camera at the bottom of the post there, worth a look though.

[Space Cowboy]

Cheers Ewan! I will try my DFK cable which is shorter.

[Space Cowboy]

Ewan you are a star! I've just copied those files onto my pc and the frame rate is now hitting the max! Its quite variable but is peaking at the recommended rates! I will try the same with my netbook but its looking good! (did not try different cable).

[Ewan]

Glad to have helped Stuart, it's not nice when gear does not co-operate as it should, now i have just ordered you some clear skies from FLO, should be with you mid week.

[Space Cowboy]

Darn it! Netbook is still the same. Shows max frame rate on USB but still only half speed transferring to HDD.