First Attempt at Imaging Jupiter

[Stub Mandrel]

Tonight I tried my hand at Jupiter as an 'easy target' for my first attempt at imaging.

I used a Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD modded as described by several others. Unfortunately my laptop is USB 1 so I struggled to get 5 fps. With an X2 barlow I could get about 50 frames before it disappeared off the screen.

Starting before polaris appeared meant I moved the tripod twice, so I got images with three different rotations.

I also have two specks of dust to track down that hit some of the images, but don't seem to have made a big impact.

I used sharpcap to get the video. It is very easy to use.

I used PIPP on its defaults for planetray imaging in join mode to make each of the three sets of AVIs into a big one, choosing the top 30% of frames.

I used registax to stack and process the images, witha light tweak in Corel Photo Paint for colour/contrast

I found that registax crated strange marks (like cracked glass) on the shortest (last) set of frames. This happened even worse when I stacked around 3000 frames across all the videos, although the derotation worked well. Any suggestion how to avoid this 'cracking' or 'jigsaw' effect is welcome.

Ironically it's clearthat the first image is much better than the last two - I assume this is simply beacuse its made of vastly more frames. Note to self - don't move scope or change settings during a run of videos!

All said and done, I'm pleased with these as something to build on.

Srtub

[Stub Mandrel]

I've just realised you can see three dark 'lumps' in th emain bands, two in the top one, one in teh bottom one, more or less in an equilateral triangle.

As I spent about 45 minutes taking the videos Jupiter will have rotated about 30 degrees, and you can actually see these 'swellings' have moved between each photo.

K3WL!

[northcanadian]

Nice ones!!!!

[Kokatha man]

With the camera & restrictions you had this is a good start!!!

Keep at it - usb1 is also a real drag unfortunately but if you try to get the best you can when the opportunity to upgrade occurs you will be well on your way & probably surprise yourself!

That "cracked glass" (which has it on your 3rd image) is to do with the alignment points in Registax...try reducing the number but AutoStakkert! is a superior stacking software imho...

Try using just a single alignment point also...

I can't comment further except the images would benefit by "RGB Align" in Registax (that's the red tinge at the bottom of the limbs in the images.)

Keeping the videos total capture timespan to 3 or 4 minutes at 5fps really limits the number of frames you have to play with & something like a Toucam would certainly perform much better imo...just remember that timespan is the overall/total time - it depends upon the image scale employed & you might even be able to capture for 5 minutes if the scale is fairly small...but getting "reasonable" PA & tracking is necessary although personally we never use more than "rough & ready" because we travel constantly...but you shouldn't be moving the tripod around during the night's sessions..!

http://momilika.net/

[christhebrit]

I like them, the last photo is usually how I actually see Jupiter when using my 8-24 Zoom.

[Stub Mandrel]

Thanks, I will experiment with RGB align, reducing alignpoints and try Autostakkert.

> I like them, the last photo is usually how I actually see Jupiter when using my 8-24 Zoom.

Last night I was excited about the detail, today I can't help thinking the top two are over-sharpened.

Boy, this is addictive stuff....

[Stub Mandrel]

Top is stacked in autostakkerts, bottom is stacked in registax, both processed in registax, both using the same 20% best frames.

[JamesF]

That last one is definitely getting there.  The AS!2 one looks like the colours have been over-processed I'd say.  When the image starts to look "flat" you know you've gone too far.  If you look at the second you can see the darkening towards the limbs that helps to define the spherical(ish) form of the planet.  Rebalancing the colour histograms may help.  It takes a bit of practice and experimentation to get these things right.

James

[Stub Mandrel]

Just as I was getting pleased with it...

I think this one has a bit more contrast and richer colour, with the bands browner and closer to the colours I see.

I will stop here for now and try and get better pics tonight -the GRS is transiting at 8:26 which will pose a nice challenge. Also, I've got some annoying specks of the webcam sensor, which took about 45 minutes with propanol, cotton buds and in the end only a tweezerful of toliet tissue would remove all the dust and not deposit some of its own.

Thanks all for the advice & envouragement.

[Stub Mandrel]

Oops.. replaced the above image after using RGB align

[northcanadian]

Hi Stub:

Hope you don't mind I tried tweaking the middle one a bit in Photoshop Elements 10...unsharp mask, sharpen, gaussian blur and curves

I am still learning and thought to practice a bit

Cheers

Roger

[Stub Mandrel]

No Roger, it's interesting stuff.  I'm realising there are no right answers, just lots of excuses to get more stuff ;-)

Here are last night's shots, I think I'm getting better, but i think I could improvethe focus a bit?

Jupiter looks great tonight, sky is crystal clear, but after a days's cycling I am shattered ...

[knobby]

Definite improvement, well done and keep at it !