Mars 1st September - but very poor!

[Tommohawk]

OK, so I'll do the excuses first!

I can't see due south and I could only get onto Mars at about 195 deg Az at 11 deg Alt, a fair way below the maximum height. Even then I only get a 20 minute window between the trees.

It's my first shot at Mars with this kit, so I had to get everything set up and shoot double quick.

That said, I got focussed quickly and had the gain set approximately, so things actually went as smoothly as I could have hoped. But it was still a boiling mess of an image! 

I was really surprised how bright Mars is and how little exposure time I needed, especially on the red channel. Even with conservative (unity) gain I only needed around 3 ms  - so I had frame rates of 340 fps for a histo average of 78%!  I reckon that was still overexposed, and could probably have got nearer to 400 fps, but there wasn't time to fine tune. Interestingly I found that the first run doesn't capture quickly - I don't know why this is, but I did 5 60s runs for each of RG and B, and just the first run woulnt download quickly enough so only got about half the frame rate I should have - subsequent runs were all OK.

I tried various processing methods, but the quality was so poor that the only way I could get anything at all was to lump all the frames for each colour together, and just use the best 5%. Individual images from the 60s runs were so poor de-rotation was out of the question. I can make out some landmarks, but all a bit iffy!

Hopefully in ~2 years time when Mars returns I'll be able to do a bit better!

So - Quattro 10 with powermate x5, ASI290MM with ZWO RGB filters, 5 x 60s runs at unity gain for R (a bit more for G and B ) Firecapture, PIPP best 50%, AS!2 best 10%, RS6, PS.

Happy for any comments - thanks for looking!

[Davey-T]

Well that's a hundred percent better than anything I've achieved Tom, I've pretty much given up on it.

Dave

[NigeB]

Whaaaat? Poor? That's really good! Based on your title I was expecting to see a fuzzy featureless blob. 

I was working in Malaysia earlier this year and spent a night at an observatory with a very nice 20" RC. Jupiter was not directly overhead, but not far off. The view through the eyepiece was jaw-dropping - almost like looking at a Damien Peach image. The clarity and steadiness of the atmosphere at that elevation made all the difference and brought home what a disadvantage we have in the UK with the planets so low in the sky. Not diminishing in any way the quality of the work which people like Damien and Chris Go produce - but that clarity gives a significant head start. This is what you're up against, and I'd be very happy if I'd produced an image like yours.

Nigel

[geoflewis]

No excuses needed, that’s a pretty decent image with good detail showing for 11 degrees altitude, well done.

[Demonperformer]

Ah. This is clearly some strange usage of the word "poor" of which I was previously unaware. 

For a really poor image of Mars, go take a look at my (some time ago) thread: Red blob in the rain!

[orion25]

Are you kidding? That's a great image, Tom! Especially dealing with such low elevation. In a few years, you'll be amazed at how you were able to get such a good image with the conditions you were facing.

Regards,

Reggie

[Tommohawk]

Hey thanks guys for all the positive comments - you're all too kind!

I was using Peter's images like this as a reference because I couldn't be sure how much of the "detail" I got was just artifact - now that is a good image! Of course he has a C14 and was capturing at 14 deg, but still a great result.

BTW one thing I found with AS!2 is that when using alignment point of uniform size 64 I got some very odd artifacts, no matter how many I used. Using 64 for the polar ice-cap region, but 96 elsewhere resolved this - the difference was quite striking and also consistent with all channels.

Thanks again - and looking forward to the rematch in 2020!

PS just had another quick look on a different screen and noticed a nasty ring artifact and the dark side - I'll have another fiddle.

[Demonperformer]

2020 is going to be a lot better from the northern hemisphere - just a few seconds smaller, but 30 degrees higher.

[Grotemobile]

On ‎05‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 23:19, Davey-T said:

Well that's a hundred percent better than anything I've achieved Tom, I've pretty much given up on it.

Dave

Join the club Dave. I was out last week & I could just about make out the poles of the planet. ? 

[Tommohawk]

7 hours ago, Grotemobile said:

Join the club Dave. I was out last week & I could just about make out the poles of the planet. ? 

From your location that far south Mars must be almost overhead ?

[Pete Presland]

A pretty good image, especially considering the conditions you were up against.

[Grotemobile]

On ‎07‎/‎09‎/‎2018 at 19:22, Tommohawk said:

From your location that far south Mars must be almost overhead ?

You have noticed as well , being In  the same neck of the woods so 

to speak. U must be looking at a different Mars to me. ?