Jupiter With Phillips spc900

[Radders]

Hi all, I've finally got myself one of these cameras and decided to try it out last night as it was clear here although windy. Managed to image Jupiter although focusing was a problem but the images have come out b&w. How do i get them to come out colour? Any help and advice would be much appreciated. Pics attached.

Radders

[Pete Presland]

nice start to your imaging, what were the capture details? what were your capture details? programme to aquire the image, length of imaging run, i am guessing the equipment used was obviously your celestron130 & SPC900. 

[RichM63]

For SharpCap2, capture in colour.

My settings,

[Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera]
Frame Divisor=1
Resolution=640x480
Frame Rate (fps)=10,00
Colour Space / Compression=YUY2
Exposure=-9
Brightness=53
Contrast=32
Saturation=72
Gamma=0
ColorEnable=255
BacklightCompensation=0
Gain=60

[jambouk]

Great start.

I've had the b&w issue before and i wan't sure what caused it.

Can you get the image bigger? Do you have a 2x barlow or powermate to put in front of the camera?

Focusing is difficult. Best to do a load of runs at slightly different focus if you have the time, then process them all the same, and see how the initial video footage data compares to the outcome image and try and picture which is best.

I suspect if you get the image bigger, the colour will be more evident. Make sure there is nothing silly like a b&w button on your capturing software.

But great start.

Jd

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

As has been said, a Barlow helps a lot in getting more detail. I do not know if you use an IR-cut filter, but before I got one colours all looked drab.

[Radders]

Thanks all, capture details are on my laptop at home but it was with sharpcap2 at 90 secs, a x2 Barlow and a Revelation IR cut filter. I've got a x4 Imagemate but really struggling to a) find the target and get it in focus but when I have briefly found it the image is far bigger.

[Langy]

Nice image though, just proves that our cheap scopes can do it (guessing by your sig that you are using the 130EQ).

[JamesF]

Lack of colour is usually down to insufficient exposure time in my experience.

I would start by turning down the gamma setting to zero, using 10fps, putting the exposure up to maximum and then adjusting the gain to get about 70% on the histogram.  Leave all the other camera controls as they are.  You may find that you need to shorten the exposure time if the image appears burnt out.  That may happen given the short focal length of your scope.

James

[red dwalf]

if your using a 130 scope you`ll have big trouble getting the image onto the chip with anything bigger than a 2 x barlow, been there done that, a real pain, managed it 3 x barlow once but your alignment needs to be good as the planet soon zooms out of the field of view.

but thats not bad for a first effort, keep going but no more than 10 fps as these cameras are usb 1 so not geared up for very fast frame rates, if you do you`ll start to compress the data and lose detail

[JamesF]

You do need pretty good alignment and tracking, that's true.  An illuminated reticle eyepiece can really help with that, to get the image dead in the middle of the field of view.  It shouldn't be too much of a nightmare if you take care though -- even with a 2x barlow at an effective focal length of 1300mm you still have a reasonably wide field of view.  Practice really helps: I found it awkward at first with a 2x barlow in my 127 Mak (3000mm effective focal length, so considerably smaller field of view), but after a while didn't find it a problem even at focal lengths getting out towards five metres.

James

[Radders]

Thanks again. Yes Langy using the 130 Astromaster. Might purchase a x3 barlow and see if that's any better.

Thanks James will try your suggestions on the next available clear night. How does the Histogram work?

[JamesF]

There's an option in sharpcap (possibly on one of the drop-down menus?) that opens a histogram window.  It's basically a bar graph of how bright the image (along the horizontal axis) against how many pixels are of that brightness (along the vertical axis).  You want to balance the exposure and gain such that the histogram comes to about 70% of the way along the horizontal axis from the left, meaning there will be a good dynamic range without getting pixels over-exposed.

James

[Astrosurf]

That's a good first shot! To focus, I push up the brightness, increase the Reticule Zoom (at top of screen) to 200 (or more if the seeing's good) and try to get the wobbling moon as sharp as possible. Not easy, but it's easier than using the planet. I've also used the Bahtinov mask when using a Barlow. The diffraction spikes are very smudged but I can work them out.

Alexxx

[Radders]

Managed to get out last night and put the suggestions  to the test and here are the results. 1st pic is x2 barlow and the 2nd is with the x4 Imagemate which definitely needs better focusing but its the best I've managed so far. Processed in AS!2 and wavelets in Registax 6. 

Woudl like to say thanks to all that helped with suggestions and JamesF your tips definitely helped. I even got the histogram working! 

Radders

[RichM63]

Evidently a vast improvement. Nice work.

I'm just a happy amateur, but for Jupiter I turn the gain up and focus on the moons, then turn it back down to get the planet details.

If the moons are sharp, the planet will be.

Cheers,

Rich

[JamesF]

Well done

The larger image has a bit of colour misalignment -- the left-hand side is slightly blue and the right-hand slightly red/yellow.  In Registax in the wavelets section you can select "RGB Align" and it will estimate the realignment required to sort that out.

The 4x ImageMate is a strange thing.  Some people find it fine whilst others really struggle with it.  If you feel as though you're not making progress with it then it may well be worth trying something else.

James

[Radders]

Thanks Rich its nice to see progress 

James do you think it is a case of getting better focus as the slightest touch sent the the image off the screen, or is it just too much for my scope? I've got x3 barlow on the way so hoping that will be better.

Will try the RGB Align tip.

Radders

[JamesF]

With the SPC900 I think you could stick in a 5x barlow and it wouldn't be too much for the scope.  It may be too much for the mount though.  Whilst the scope isn't ideal for planetary imaging it can be done.  The mount on the other hand may just not be accurate and stable enough.  Common aids to stability are weights hung from the tripod head, put in the eyepiece tray or filling the tripod legs with sand.  Oh, and not extending the legs at all.  Makes it a pig to look through the scope, but improves stability a fair bit.

That said, even on a more beefy mount once you get out into the multi-metre focal length territory that works well for planetary imaging just touching the focuser can send the image all over the place making focusing so much more difficult.  Some people have rigged up a lever on one of the wheels of the focuser of newts for fine focus control without causing too much vibration.  I did something very similar for a fair while, but eventually went down the route of a motorised focuser.

James

[Astrosurf]

Good job! I gave up with my 4x Imagemate in disgust after I used a friend's 3x TAL. My images were MUCH better. I eventually got one second-hand and am very happy with it. I think 4x was pushing it for me anyway.

[JamesF]

With the 200P and SPC900 you could actually probably push things as far as 6x with barlows and/or extensions, though it does start to become more demanding in terms of tracking.  I wouldn't let your experience with the ImageMate put you off.

James