130PDS Planetary Imaging

[RolandKol]

Hi Guys,

I know, 130PDS is not the right tool for Planetary AP, - but "you use what you have, don't you?"

I wonder if someone has managed to get decent or maybe even amazing pics of our neighbour planets with 130PDS?

Please be free to share you planetary pics below and share your knowledge with others in this field.

 

I tried on Jupiter several times with and without barlow and

the results were very... I mean, VERY bad  I even afraid to show them  

but till last night,

As I managed to get something recognizable as a Jupiter  

at last
 

I am still a beginner and my first 2 cents below.

130PDS, ZWO ASI224MC, 3xBarlow, SharpCap Gain=400

 

Edited May 5, 2018 by RolandKol

[Redscouse]

Very nice Roland! 

I have the same scope and similar camera although restricted views to the south from home so haven't managed to point my scope in the direction of Jupiter just yet. 

[RolandKol]

14 minutes ago, Redscouse said:

Very nice Roland! 

I have the same scope and similar camera although restricted views to the south from home so haven't managed to point my scope in the direction of Jupiter just yet. 

Thanks
Used a "Lucky Imaging Method" + I was a bit lucky!  

[RolandKol]

One more try.

130PDS, 3xBarlow + ZWO ASI224MC, FireCapture Gain=403, .SER. 

01_27_50_RGB_Gain=403(off)_Exposure=4.0ms_Jup_07_05_2018.txt

Autostakert + Photoshop

My bush also allowed t o take a short peek at the Saturn... it was just a blurry blob... unfortunately ;(

 

 

Edited May 7, 2018 by RolandKol

[Archonom]

Actually, those a good pictures for someone taking the first steps. Mine are a bit worse, but I hope to catch up to you soon

 

[carastro]

You've done very well Roland.  I don;t find planetary imaging easy at all, in fact I had such a rotten time this year over 4 nights trying, I have decided not to bother any more.  Done some images in the past, but those weren't easy either. 

Carole 

[RolandKol]

13 hours ago, carastro said:

You've done very well Roland.  I don;t find planetary imaging easy at all, in fact I had such a rotten time this year over 4 nights trying, I have decided not to bother any more.  Done some images in the past, but those weren't easy either. 

Carole 

3

Thanks Carole,
The most challenging thing for me... Focus... You probably do remember I was struggling a lot, and I think, I was just a bit lucky with these two pics as 130PDS aperture and focal length makes it even harder. I can only imagine, that my 10" DOB, I had previously, would produce 

I just cannot figure out how to focus perfectly on the planet with  x3 Barlow... 
My usual procedure is, rough focus on the star, target on Jupiter without Barlow, center it, add Barlow (lose focus...), retarget and refocus on the planet.

For these two pics, I was catching Jupiter as early as possible and used all 3 planet focusing aids SharpCap has (I think I lost 1 hour on focusing aprox). Those two pics are the results of the same procedure + LUCK, as I had several attempts with a complete failure  

But the fact, I managed to produce 2, more or less,  same quality pics during different sessions gives me hope, I can do better.

13 hours ago, Archonom said:

Actually, those a good pictures for someone taking the first steps. Mine are a bit worse, but I hope to catch up to you soon

2

Thanks, Archonom, I left my ScharpCap settings .txt file in the previous post, just in case if you will want to compare.
Btw, which camera have you used? I tried my Canon 1300D with x2 Barlow initially, but the results were very.. Very bad... 

[Archonom]

Thanks @RolandKol !

 

For planetary imaging, I use the ASI ZWO 290 MMC (Color, cooled). I was lucky enough to get my hands on a used model.. maybe I would have chosen another cam if I had bought a new one.

 

Anyway, was out again last night, this time my results are a bit better (3x premium barlow):

 

[RolandKol]

38 minutes ago, Archonom said:

Thanks @RolandKol !

For planetary imaging, I use the ASI ZWO 290 MMC (Color, cooled). I was lucky enough to get my hands on a used model.. maybe I would have chosen another cam if I had bought a new one.

Anyway, was out again last night, this time my results are a bit better (3x premium barlow):

 

 

Wow   much better

but it looks like you still not in a focus... I can only imagine the detail if you would in perfect Focus!
And by the way... I do have similar images after stacking before I sharpen them on Registrax.

And
I think I have managed to figure out how to focus on my set up close to perfect

My steps of thinking were, - people managed do to it without computers and GOTO mounts and guiding cams, and how they did it?

Answer: Spotting Scope!  simples

So I have aligned my spotting scope without Barlow on a bright start, aligned again with x3 Barlow, used Bahtinov Mask on the same star to get Focus as good as possible to achieve with Barlow on and only after, I moved to hunt Jupiter  it was quite easy as the Spotting scope did it's job.

this time I used FireCapture only, tried to keep Histogram around 60%

And the result!  

25% stack on Autostakert>Registrax Sharpening > Photoshop (background fix as I used very tiny ROI and had lots artifacts around the Jupiter)

18_Jup_RGB_Gain=400(off)_Exposure=5.0ms_2018_05_15_224848.txt

P.S.

next step: repeat and!

I need to learn to do your nice compositions!

 

Edited May 19, 2018 by RolandKol

[Archonom]

@RolandKol Thanks a lot!

You might be right regarding the focus. I am still tuning manually until I think the focus is reached (and the Firecapture helper says at least 100%).

Great picture! Just wondering: Did you use RGB balance within Registax?

 

The compositions are easy to make: I upload the pictures to Google Photos -> New - Collage

[RolandKol]

As I understand, FireCapture focus aid shows only the differences from the Initial Focus (is it getting worse or remains constant as temperature may have an effect on focus and etc.)

If you don't have Bahtinov mask, simply install SharpCap it has 6 Focusing aids in it's Tools option, the top 3 - focusing on Planets, bottom 3 focusing on the Stars. Give a try.

As per Registrax RGB Balance

Have no idea how to use it...

I tried it several times, expanded region on the almost full planet, pressed on Estimate and... nothing happened (Zero values in each window). Tried again, and nothing, - never came back.
Will try next time, maybe it will start doing it's job

 

Edited May 19, 2018 by RolandKol

[RolandKol]

1 hour ago, Archonom said:

The compositions are easy to make: I upload the pictures to Google Photos -> New - Collage

1

Hahahaha  never would figure it out!

Will give it a go after will collect 4 or 5 pics worth looking at  
I hope this night won't be so cloudy and I will manage to get several nice ones before Jupiter will hide in the bushes

[Archonom]

He, good idea using SharpCap's focusing aid! Thanks @RolandKol !

 

Using RGB Balance is quite easy: Simply click on "Auto balance" (see screenshots). The effect is quite astonishing :-)

 

[RolandKol]

thanks  I have not even tried this one

Yesterday, recorded 30GB of data... at the end I found I forgot the Bahtinov mask left On...  wasted

[RolandKol]

My First Lunar Mosaic.

This one is from 3 pics only (ZWO ASI 224MC)
I also captured all parts using x3 Barlow and ASI224MC, but it made 65 video files around 1Gb each  I will leave them for rainy days to process

3 pic Lunar Mozaic result quite nice

Each part captured in FireCapture, processed in Registrax and Mozaic created using Fitswork4, noise reduced and color adjusted in Photoshop.

FC file 72_Moon_RGB_Gain=200(off)_Exposure=1.0ms_2018_05_22_220751.txt

And this one without a color adjustment:

Edited May 23, 2018 by RolandKol

[RolandKol]

Just found Macros option on Registrax

Will try to leave it working with my 65vids during the night

[RolandKol]

My First steps in larger Lunar Mosaic  AKA "Death Star"

Placing pics with Fitswork4, but... not happy with a result...

Does anyone know how to get rid of these ugly stitches?

Edited May 28, 2018 by RolandKol

[Archonom]

Wow, those are awesome pictures of the moon @RolandKol

I was out last night and managed to catch Jupiter and Saturn.

Thanks to my new ADC, I am getting better, but I am still not happy with the results. 

 

 

[JohnSadlerAstro]

Those are really nice photos--they are certainly far better than any results I've ever got! I've never even seen the Red Spot, let alone imaged any detail other than the 2 main bands and some aberrations introduced by the barlow! 

I know I'm being very cynical, but it seems to me that each field of astronomy requires almost as much money thrown at it as skill. ? Once I got stuck on DSO imaging, the money for planetary doesn't exist! I'm guessing quite a lot of it is in the camera? Or just very very good collimation and a good barlow? So far I've used the default SW o.25" 2x Barlow, and an ASI 120 MMC.

John

[Archonom]

@JohnSadlerAstro Thanks a lot!

 

If you like the red spot, I hope that one of the animations below is something for you (see attachment).

Do you mind showing us your Jupiter images? I am very curious, and I bet they aren't that bad.

 

Regarding your equipment, I believe that it is good enough. Your barlow should be a premium barlow, but satisfying results can also be achieved with "cheap" barlow lenses (I used a 2,5 barlow on Jupiter during my first imaging sessions weeks ago and the results were clear and sharp). For me, the key to better images were limiting the image sizes and shutter when recording with FireCapture. I managed to otbain > 200 FPS which makes it possible to record 20 000 frames within 90s (90s because of Jupiter's rotation).

[RolandKol]

13 hours ago, Archonom said:

Wow, those are awesome pictures of the moon @RolandKol

I was out last night and managed to catch Jupiter and Saturn.

Thanks to my new ADC, I am getting better, but I am still not happy with the results. 

 

 wow! your GIANT is getting nicer and nicer!  well done!

And Saturn... mmmm.... I am jealous! Mine is still hiding in the bushes
I am almost ready to chop them off

[RolandKol]

13 hours ago, JohnSadlerAstro said:

Those are really nice photos--they are certainly far better than any results I've ever got! I've never even seen the Red Spot, let alone imaged any detail other than the 2 main bands and some aberrations introduced by the barlow! 

I know I'm being very cynical, but it seems to me that each field of astronomy requires almost as much money thrown at it as skill. ? Once I got stuck on DSO imaging, the money for planetary doesn't exist! I'm guessing quite a lot of it is in the camera? Or just very very good collimation and a good barlow? So far I've used the default SW o.25" 2x Barlow, and an ASI 120 MMC.

John

In my case, - ZWO ASI 224MC (just a bit better than yours) and the cheapest x3 Barlow I found on Ebay... I do not remember, it was £8 or £12... Focusing is difficult with it, but possible

And the best results were in Cropped mode (or ROI - I do not know the difference yet), 300x400 (around 200-300FPS),

if you have not tried recording cropped/ROI, - you did it the wrong way   

P.S.

I had more or less the same images as you described without ROI.
 

Edited June 3, 2018 by RolandKol

[Archonom]

7 hours ago, RolandKol said:

 wow! your GIANT is getting nicer and nicer!  well done!

And Saturn... mmmm.... I am jealous! Mine is still hiding in the bushes
 I am almost ready to chop them off

Thank you so much! I can relate, Saturn and Mars are hiding behind a hill, so I usually have to wait a while until I can start looking at them.

 

Last night I managed to configure my ADC correctly, so some new details were visible on Jupiter. And I managed to get my first "sharp" pictures of Saturn!! I almost cried when I saw the results last night, after being outside for 6 hours ?

 

There you go!

 

[RolandKol]

2 hours ago, Archonom said:

Thank you so much! I can relate, Saturn and Mars are hiding behind a hill, so I usually have to wait a while until I can start looking at them.

 

Last night I managed to configure my ADC correctly, so some new details were visible on Jupiter. And I managed to get my first "sharp" pictures of Saturn!! I almost cried when I saw the results last night, after being outside for 6 hours ?

 

There you go!

 

 

"Some Details"?   you must be joking! Wow!

ADC does make the difference! and ENORMOUS! I would never believe these were done via 130PDS as they look almost like made via Celestron HedgeHD

I just try to imagine how your set up looks like  I guess the train is veerrry long  ADC+Barlow+Cam should look interesting

BTW, which cam you use? I am starting to think of purchasing ADC also  but afraid, I will not get in focus as I have "circumcised" my Focuser by 1.5cm (It was protruding to deep into the scope and affected the stars).

Edited June 3, 2018 by RolandKol

[Archonom]

@RolandKol Thanks!! Hehe, the setup is indeed long: Cam -> ADC -> Barlow -> scope; it looks hilarious

I use ASI ZWO 290 MMC (Color, cooled) and it works very well with the ADC (I use the one from Omegon, the Mark II from ASI ZWO was out of stock, but both should be fine).

Getting in focus with the ADC is indeed a challenge when not using a barlow, but when using one, there should be plenty of room for getting in focus. But.. that's only for my Newton 8'' 200 PDS, don't know about your scope, though. Your moon picture are almost perfect without an ADC, I am wondering how your Jupiter looks like when you use an ADC anyways....