Sol 22-7-16 11.00

[xtreemchaos]

just one for the record,shot through thickish cloud. well i belive in showing the ruff with the smooth and this is about as ruff as it gets. "warning dont zoom in as will give you nightmares" 6 frames staxed, Kit- same old. hope you all have better skys than me. charl.

[Steve Ward]

Got some misalignment issues there sir which aren't helping methinks ... ?

But that's six frames more than I'll manage today ...

[Ibbo!]

nearly gone

 

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Steve, regi was having a fit with the cloud mate, and thats about the best i could do after about a hour of messing about, the single frames are very poor, i think i was lucky to get six frames ,its like venus here mate , hope it clears for you, charl.

[Steve Ward]

Give AS!2 a try , much less temperamental than Uncle Reg (esp Reg6) , or use Reg 5.1 and do a "manual align" using a single align point on a 'clear' feature in the AR.

I've managed to stack frames like this with up to 40% cloud obscured disc in the past ... not the prettiest discs but still detailed where it matters.

 

[xtreemchaos]

thanks Steve, yer mate, it will be sadly missed, looks like where heading for another blank one. clear skys charl. 

[xtreemchaos]

3 minutes ago, Steve Ward said:

Give AS!2 a try

tryed it mate, it didnt want to know, it looked like a Jackson Pollock when finnished , i might have a go with  reg 5.1 and manual aline, ive still got a copy on my HD. thanks for your advice mate. charl.

[Steve Ward]

By JP  do you mean lots of peculiar squares of blotchy colour on the stacked image ?

If so click on the "Colour" box at the top of AS!2 and select "Grayscale" , this will eliminate them.

[xtreemchaos]

 no steve, it was just like loads of discs all over the place, i shoot in mono with sol and add colour fiters in photoshop heres one off the best frames i tryed to stax, very poor with that horrible cloud. thanks charl.

[Steve Ward]

That's not cloud ... this is cloud ...

The four frames on the left were the frames I stacked ...

[xtreemchaos]

crikey thats cloud, you did some fantastic processing to get that image, well done, i dont have much detail in my single frames or that black magic in processing you have  i think my frames are well outa focus too, i think im going to leave it as one for the record and hope for better skys tomorrow. thanks charl.

[Steve Ward]

To be honest the most critical thing in capturing detail is nailing the focus , more important than 'scope , filters , mount or processing.

I have the advantage with using a USB controlled motorised focuser that allows me extremely fine adjustment of the focus via the laptop as I am capturing , fine enough to differentiate between the limb and the centre of the disc ( albeit this is probably down to curvature rather than the actual distance difference ) , all from the comfort of the shade without going within 10 yards of the rig. Turns the 10:1 into something nearer 100:1 using one click either way.

I would never be able to replicate this manually , have the motors on all my 'scopes and interchange the control unit as required.

The best investment I ever made.

[xtreemchaos]

yer steve i agree ,focus is everything, im just waiting on a new 1in 10 crayford focuser to be delivered from flo, i still have the standard focuser on my st120 and its a nightmare, its more luck than judgement, i do all my solar imaging from indoors due to lupus but have been thinking of the motorised focuser mod ,then i could set up out doors early and do it all over wifi, at the moment i have 1.5 hours of when sols in range and when its cloudy it can boil down to a few secs to get my shots.  charl.

[Steve Ward]

Just need to fit the Skywatcher motor to it and run a long extension to the handset that comes with it.

This won't give you quite the precise control that I have but it allows you fine adjustment without needing to try and adjust the focuser by hand while craning your neck trying to monitor the screen , will eliminate a considerable proportion of the frustration.

[Iainp]

2 hours ago, xtreemchaos said:

"warning dont zoom in as will give you nightmares"

I did, I did, and now my eyes hurt!  Seriously, well done getting anything. I've spent too long today trying to bag something through the clouds and awful seeing. Got lucky a couple of times (just about to post the 'best' of the  bunch) 

Iain 

[xtreemchaos]

3 minutes ago, Iainp said:

 

2 hours ago, xtreemchaos said:

"warning dont zoom in as will give you nightmares"

I did, I did, and now my eyes hurt!

 

thanks Iain, if ya put it in writing and send it to my cat Smegul ,he will arrange compensation " hope you like dreames"  i look forward to you post.  charl.

[johnfosteruk]

Looking good Charl. Just about to process my effort for today now but I doubt it'll be anything as good as that as the seeing was terrible. 

[Iainp]

Thanks Charl. I would sue, but since I was clearly warned, it would never stand up in court 

[Pete Presland]

A nice last record of a quickly disappearing group of spots. Fingers crossed for some more action soon!