Jupiter, Saturn, Mars - 26 March

[Cosmic Geoff]

Another planetary imaging session, this time with the C8 and the ASI120MC camera. This was the first time I tried to image these with the C8 so something of a 'test'.  The log shows that I spent 25 minutes of valuable time in taking the rig down after imaging Jupiter and setting it up in a different position to image the other two planets.  Next time I'll put it in a different position that will avoid having to move it.  The altitude of Jupiter was about 20 deg, and the other two at around a roof-skimming 10 deg.

Unsurprisingly (or otherwise) the results seem a bit better than with the 127mm Mak.  In particular, I could easily see the Great Red Spot in the laptop live view.  I feel a bit disappointed that Jupiter did not sharpen up more in processing.

Here are three of the processed images (processed in Registax6 and should be the noninverted & nonflipped view). Again, not the world's best, but...

I focused the camera on Spica. Mars has processed up quite sharp and, again, distinctly non-round (88% phase).  But any tips on focussing? there are some apps in Smartcap, or maybe I should get a Bahinov (sp?) mask.  I also recorded some .ser video which won't load into Registax for some reason- have to look into why.

[tooth_dr]

Great selection 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice set of images. How many frames did you actually stack? The results are a bit noisy, which suggests that stacking more might help

[Cosmic Geoff]

1 minute ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

Nice set of images. How many frames did you actually stack? The results are a bit noisy, which suggests that stacking more might help

The original videos each contain 500 frames.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Just now, Cosmic Geoff said:

The original videos each contain 500 frames.

That might be a little short. I regularly get a few thousand frames on planets like Jupiter

[Freddie]

as!2 (or 3) will take the ser files and probably give a better stack than r6.

[Pete Presland]

3 nice images there, with some decent detail visible. Nice to see the GRS on display.

Autostakkert will certainly accept your SER files, I always stack this type of file. A/S will also save a sharpened image when stacking to give an idea of what detail is going to be visible when processed. More frames would certainly help when processing, around a 1,000 is generally what I end stacking from an imaging run.

[orion25]

Wonderful set, Geoff! What a planetary dance going on in the pre-dawn sky!

Reggie