1st Light ASI290MM on Jupiter, Mars & Saturn

[Kokatha man]

Ah-hah! Worked out what was happening...I think!!!

Either I didn't wait long enough or didn't realise that clicking next to the top image & hitting "Enter" would give me some space to re-insert text & get the type headers to re-appear...it was very late at night for me in Oz - & I still don't understand why I can't login a lot of the time without re-typing my password etc - it's nothing to do with saving it or sometimes deleting stuff...the bally thing just won't work sometimes & this password refuses to lodge itself in my memory...too many codes stored already, methinks!

Anyway, as can be educed this is the ASI290MM's "first light" for us.

Seeing for Jove was poor with Pat describing it as "looking like Jupiter had been sand-papered" on the live view even though we could make out quite a bit of detail through this hazy appearance - this was when it was culminating at 50°.

We took quite a few avi sets (r-g-b) but nothing was really worthwhile until it had dropped to about 42° whereupon it seemed to steady noticeably & the images below were captured: even though we have not had a lot of anything more than "half-decent" sessions imaging Jove this wasn't of their calibre...making me think that on a good night (which would need to be in the next few weeks or so) we might pull something quite "out-of-the-box" for Jupiter - especially if it coincided with the maximum 50° elevation. (which we have to go 400km North for at Carrieton, where we took all these current images)

Hard to appraise the level of noise in the live-feed for Jove due to that "sand-paper" effect but the resultant images has me believe it accords with the sensor specs...a little more noise than the ASI224MC's very low value - but not a great deal more! I suspect that the "quite decent" blue channel outcome does reinforce the camera's capabilities in trying conditions at that elevation & one area where the mono aspect might boost its merit well beyond the ASI224MC...but this is of course all pure speculation atm! 

The little animation opportunity the next night was too good to miss but tbh the seeing on the 2nd night was pretty poor - why we used iR610 & then packed up to go home...but capturing that lovely wavy cloud-band just above the GRS was worth the effort by itself for us!  

At (or especially at!) 42° the seeing was only fleetingly passable - another very disconcerting (but familiar!) aspect of the seeing was that focus was moving around very markedly: it was useless ascertaining each channel's focus at the start of an r-g-b run (we use a Moonlite with digital readout) because by the time the last channel was due to be recorded focus had moved markedly...the only way to handle this most effectively was to capture each channel for 3 minutes, focusing "on the fly" during each capture (which we have become somewhat adept at - even if we don't like having to do so) & then refocusing for the next channel (which also gave us time to de-fog the corrector plate) - WinJupos aligning/combining the resultant stacks...the additional frames to chjoose from helping markedly also.

For Mars a few hours later the seeing was thankfully considerably better, but certainly no more than "good" in our estimation - this only lasted 3 r-g-b sets before it went down the tube: rather than staring at a rotten live view of Mars we went to Saturn nearby & were pleased to see the seeing was much better...no doubt simply one of those peccadilloes of seeing where it can dip/rise in a very short time...

Saturn produced good reds & greens & a few quite passable blue stacks, although there I'd have to say we have had much better seeing & blue results. (with commensurate r&g improvements)

Hard to say what value this camera might have for really low elevations where the colour cameras make themselves much more amenable to easy ADC use & their benefits...although one can still use them with the mono, a parfocal ep adjustment of the ADC seeming to be the easiest. (from our theoretical appraisal!  ) That or the 290MM & 290MC in tandem!!!

Despite all the speculative comments herein I am of the opinion that this mono camera "will" be a noticeable improvement on the ASI224MC for us, especially with Neptune & Uranus...but for many folks the 224MC could well be a better choice!

Both the Mars & Saturn outcomes seem to support our views that the mono is the preferred option in a general sense, I'll look through the "relative response" & noise graphs etc a bit more to see how the 224 & 290 stack up compared to each other but ultimately it will come down to individual preferences & locations to a large extent I suspect - for us we're pretty convinced of the overall advantages however (also remembering it was the very first session for all these images except the little Jovian animation done on the 2nd night) & believe we can push our imaging outcomes considerably with the ASI290MM - but as they say in the US..."your mileage may vary!"  

 

 

 

[Kokatha man]

...& the Saturn image - I thought I'd exceeded the file-size limits but it posted ok above...seems the only thing SGL didn't like was the fact I hadn't put a thread title in..!

[Polar Bear]

Wonderful! 

 

[Knighty2112]

Great set of images and animations. Thanks for posting. Well done!  

[Kokatha man]

Sorry about this - can't seem to replace the text that got lost in the original post...I seem to have a lot of trouble logging in to SGL & when I do things like this often happen - I must be jinxed!

As the edit box said however, the thread title says it all..!

[Pete Presland]

Fabulous collection of images, looks like the new camera is working very well!

[laudropb]

Terrific set of images and animations.

[Starwiz]

Very nice indeed!  

John

[Aussie Dave]

Excellent Trio Kokatha. Mars is one of the best I've seen, Jupiter's quite good as well and Saturn is always nice to see with detail like that.

Wanna swap your new ZWO for a clapped out Nikon

[Mick J]

Who needs the text when the pictures tell the story, outstanding again Darryl, love the Mars shots and animation.

[johnfosteruk]

cracking images.

[Ruud]

Excellent results, high detail with a good dynamic range!

Congratulations on the new camera.

[neil phillips]

I am certainly interested in the text namely what Darryl thinks about the camera. Though agreed the images do tell the story. Still interested in what you think are the strengths and weaknesses if any. What are your thoughts about this as a lunar camera Darryl at F5

outstanding work as usual.

[kev]

WOW!

And I see youve caught a small spot mid lattitues on Saturn just left of the CM.

 

[Alan]

Brilliant images as we have come to expect Darryl, looks like another new camera to add to your armoury

[Kokatha man]

Thanks very much from Pat & me  for all the kind comments folks - I've managed to put a text into the initial post now so that people can get a little bit better an understanding of this "first light" & our thoughts etc...  

[Lacaille]

Quite astonishing! Who needs interplanetary space probes?

[Kokatha man]

Ha-ha, thanks Mark...I presume you're enjoying your time over there!

[symesie04]

speechless!