First Venus 26th March

[Knighty2112]

OK, no great shakes I know, but my first planetary image captured with my ZWO ASI 120MC fitted to my Celestron 4SE on my goto mount. Image of Venus taken at approx 7:45pm UK time. No details alas on the planet (it is Venus after all), but the planetary phase can be seen at least. Focus was as close as I could get with the scope, which wasn’t cooled fully, and seeing was a little wobbly. Now I just need to get up early and nab Jupiter and Mars at some point soon too!

Stacked in Registax, and processed a little in PS.

 

 

[Stargazer33]

I know the clocks have just gone forward, but two months! ??

[Knighty2112]

1 hour ago, Stargazer33 said:

I know the clocks have just gone forward, but two months! ??

I’ve done that more than once this month when signing off the date. Doesn’t bode well for the future! Yikes!  

[Demonperformer]

Good start.

Registax has the option to align the RGB from a colour camera. If you use that you should be able to eliminate the red and blue fringes.

[Knighty2112]

1 minute ago, Demonperformer said:

Good start.

Registax has the option to align the RGB from a colour camera. If you use that you should be able to eliminate the red and blue fringes.

Thanks! I’ll try that when I get back home later on this week.  

[celestron8g8]

Nice capture ! So Venus is at full disc now ? I haven't kept up with it lately . 

[Knighty2112]

16 minutes ago, celestron8g8 said:

Nice capture ! So Venus is at full disc now ? I haven't kept up with it lately . 

Thanks! Yep, nearly full disk showing. Image below showing phase of Venus at the moment.

 

[celestron8g8]

That should really be bright in the EP . What power do you use for Venus ? With my C8 I used 2x barlow and a 25mm EP for best viewing but with a 12mm it was somewhat distorted slightly . 

[Knighty2112]

6 minutes ago, celestron8g8 said:

That should really be bright in the EP . What power do you use for Venus ? With my C8 I used 2x barlow and a 25mm EP for best viewing but with a 12mm it was somewhat distorted slightly . 

That was just with the camera straight in the scope. Didn’t Barlow it at all. I was going to after I took a few images first off, but then clouds covered Venus up so couldn’t get any more. Not sure what the power is in the 4SE when using the camera on its own. I’ll have to work it out. It was bright, but I dialled down the exposure time to cope with the view better.

[Demonperformer]

It's like fitting a 1325mm telephoto lens on it.

[Pete Presland]

Nicely captured.

[Knighty2112]

Thanks to the info from Demonperformer about been able to align the RGB in Registax, I’ve redone the image of Venus, cropped in closer a little to it, and aligned the RGB to eliminate as much as possible the red and blue flanges apparent in the original image. I didn’t do any wavelets on this image as there is no planetary detail to pull out other than the phase of Venus. I’ve also just ordered an ZWO ADC from FLO which should help to correct the RGB as the image is taken, so will see what results I get from that when I get it.

 

[orion25]

Nice start, Gus! I can see the phase clearly. Can't wait to see your Jupiter and Mars. I'll have to pick up one of those cameras! I'm looking forward to the close conjunction of Saturn and Mars over the next few days. M22 is in the vicinity, too. But oh so early in the morning!

[Knighty2112]

32 minutes ago, orion25 said:

Nice start, Gus! I can see the phase clearly. Can't wait to see your Jupiter and Mars. I'll have to pick up one of those cameras! I'm looking forward to the close conjunction of Saturn and Mars over the next few days. M22 is in the vicinity, too. But oh so early in the morning!

Thanks Reggie. Cheers!  Yep, can’t wait to nab Jupiter next, but the others are really way to early to think about for now.  Just hoping we get a few good nights of clear weather, rather than the grey cloud crud we seem to be stuck under at the moment.