My 1st Jupiter of 2019

[geoflewis]

With Jupiter so low from the UK this year, I wasn't sure whether I do much more than take a glance at it, but as others have reported the seeing was pretty good last night, so after enjoying some visual observations I got the camera out and had a go at capturing some data. Since last year, I've had to replace my planetary imaging laptop which finally died this March, so I had to reinstal FireCapture and try to remember where all the settings are. I had some issues with drivers, but eventaully got everything working, so here is the result of 3 x R-G-B runs through the C14 with my ASI120MM-s, together with my ADC and x2 PM in train. Each capture was 2000 frames per filter, of which I processed 50%, so some 9000 frames in the final image.

The end result is quite soft, despite me bullying the data somewhat in Registax and PS. It's certainly not going to win any prizes, but I'm quite pleased with it considering that Jupiter was below 15deg altitude throughout the session.

I ran several other AVIs, which I'll process in due course, but as I reported on another thread, I discovered that running the OTA fans in humid conditions fogged both the corrector lens and primary mirror, so I suspect that the above is about as good as I'll get from the session.

I hope to try again tonight, now that I've swept the planetary imaging cobwebs away and I've got my replacement laptop working.

Cheers, Geof

[matt_baker]

3 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

With Jupiter so low from the UK this year, I wasn't sure whether I do much more than take a glance at it, but as others have reported the seeing was pretty good last night, so after enjoying some visual observations I got the camera out and had a go at capturing some data. Since last year, I've had to replace my planetary imaging laptop which finally died this March, so I had to reinstal FireCapture and try to remember where all the settings are. I had some issues with drivers, but eventaully got everything working, so here is the result of 3 x R-G-B runs through the C14 with my ASI120MM-s, together with my ADC and x2 PM in train. Each capture was 2000 frames per filter, of which I processed 50%, so some 9000 frames in the final image.

The end result is quite soft, despite me bullying the data somewhat in Registax and PS. It's certainly not going to win any prizes, but I'm quite pleased with it considering that Jupiter was below 15deg altitude throughout the session.

I ran several other AVIs, which I'll process in due course, but as I reported on another thread, I discovered that running the OTA fans in humid conditions fogged both the corrector lens and primary mirror, so I suspect that the above is about as good as I'll get from the session.

I hope to try again tonight, now that I've swept the planetary imaging cobwebs away and I've got my replacement laptop working.

Cheers, Geof

Do you have any better images of the planets with the same setup?

[russ]

Considering how low it is this year I think you have done a mighty fine job of it.  Some nice detail.

I tried a visual of it last night but it was a dead loss to be honest. Maybe out in the countryside with an excellent horizon it would be okay but from the town it was awful.

[geoflewis]

11 minutes ago, matt_baker said:

Do you have any better images of the planets with the same setup?

Hi Matt, thanks for looking. Yes, I got this one last year with the same rig, best image of Jupiter I ever captured, note the albedo markings on Ganymede.

I have other images on my Asrobin page, if you want to peruse them. There's a mixture of planetary, lunar, solar and DSOs.

https://www.astrobin.com/users/geoflewis/

Cheers, Geof

[geoflewis]

25 minutes ago, russ said:

Considering how low it is this year I think you have done a mighty fine job of it.  Some nice detail.

I tried a visual of it last night but it was a dead loss to be honest. Maybe out in the countryside with an excellent horizon it would be okay but from the town it was awful.

Thanks Russ.

[maw lod qan]

Great image. I do enjoy seeing one of the moons being more than a bright speck.

[geoflewis]

13 minutes ago, maw lod qan said:

Great image. I do enjoy seeing one of the moons being more than a bright speck.

Thanks, I think it will be a few years before I get close to that quality again, perhaps when Jupiter gains altitude in the mid 2020's, but then again it took me completely by suprise last year....

[matt_baker]

15 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Hi Matt, thanks for looking. Yes, I got this one last year with the same rig, best image of Jupiter I ever captured, note the albedo markings on Ganymede.

I have other images on my Asrobin page, if you want to peruse them. There's a mixture of planetary, lunar, solar and DSOs.

https://www.astrobin.com/users/geoflewis/

Cheers, Geof

I never really thought you could get such detailed images of the moons, especially considering how low Jupiter is to the horizon.

We have a C14 and a CGE at our school obsy and I'm trying to persuade the powers to be to allow me to use the scope independently, since I'm in sixth form.

Especially considering the FPTA spent £25,000 for it and it never gets used at all.

 

Matt

[geoflewis]

4 minutes ago, matt_baker said:

We have a C14 and a CGE at our school obsy and I'm trying to persuade the powers to be to allow me to use the scope independently, since I'm in sixth form.

Hi Matt,

For many imagers the C14 is the weapon of choice and it is a fantastic investment by the school's FPTA. It's a shame that is not getting more use, so I hope that you can persuade the powers that be to let you use it. What else did they spend the £25k on as a new C14 on a CGE mount would only cost about half of that? Is it in an observatory and what other equipment does the school have, e.g. eyepieces, cameras, filters etc.?

Regards, Geof

[geoflewis]

Here's the result of me processing the rest of the data from 28 June 2019, as the GRS rotated out of view with Jupiter displayed south up. I've added capture details, stack average timestamps and CMI.

Cheers, Geof

Edited June 30, 2019 by geoflewis

[matt_baker]

7 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Hi Matt,

For many imagers the C14 is the weapon of choice and it is a fantastic investment by the school's FPTA. It's a shame that is not getting more use, so I hope that you can persuade the powers that be to let you use it. What else did they spend the £25k on as a new C14 on a CGE mount would only cost about half of that? Is it in an observatory and what other equipment does the school have, e.g. eyepieces, cameras, filters etc.?

Regards, Geof

It was mostly to build the entire observatory which is a decent size with a dome and everything (contractors will charge extra for building on council land probably).

Telescope and all accessories were provided by a local astronomy group which have been funded by the lottery since 2000, so a lot of the stuff is pretty old and I wouldn't be surprised if the mount has issues. There are no cameras as of yet because back then, a lot of good cameras were very expensive and using a dslr on a slow scope with no cooling or hyperstar would just be no point, except for very bright objects.

I have a 120MC which I use as a guidescope on my personal rig, so I can use that for planetary.

A 60mm Lunt solar scope was also part of the package donated so I'm planning to use that in the daytimes.

It is a shame because everyone is completely fine with me going up and using it but there's all the 'health & safety' and 'forms' to fill in that they've been saying they're getting round to doing for at least 4 months now

[Pete Presland]

Lovely set of Jupiter's, especially considering the altitude of the planet.

[Pete Presland]

15 hours ago, matt_baker said:

I never really thought you could get such detailed images of the moons, especially considering how low Jupiter is to the horizon.

We have a C14 and a CGE at our school obsy and I'm trying to persuade the powers to be to allow me to use the scope independently, since I'm in sixth form.

Especially considering the FPTA spent £25,000 for it and it never gets used at all.

 

Matt

What a waste of such a fine scope!

[si@nite]

Hi Geof

Nice to see some uk images, & very nice work for this elevation, ive not been out in a long while must try to get my mojo back!

[Stu]

Nice images Geof! Impressive for its current position. Love your 'best ever' image, really nice.

[geoflewis]

Hi Matt, thanks for the additional info about your schools observatory, it really sounds like a very fine facility and yout school should be proud to have and make more use of it. I do, however, understand their H&S concerns and they probably shouldn't let you use it on your own as it's easy to have accidents fumbling about in the dark - I even cracked my scalp open on the counterweights in my obs during daylight requiring it to be glued back together....!! That said, I do hope that they will find some way to make moreuse of the facility. My C14 is an old pre Edge version, so I'm sure that yours will give a good performance, though very likely you will need to learn how to collimate it. I use the mono version (ASI120MM-s) of your 120MC, so you should be able to capture some reasonable images with that. Your own rig looks pretty good too, I wish I had anything like that when I was your age...!!

Best of luck with the school.

Geof

[geoflewis]

@Pete Presland @si@nite @Stu - thanks all for the feedback, thanks for looking and I'm pleased that you like the images.

Simon, having the observatory has certainly allowed me to keep my mojo up, as without it I wouldn't be bothered to get out anything like as much as I do now. There have been many occaisions over the past 3 years when I've started the evening thinking that I can't be bothered, then later I've looked out and thought well maybe, then had a very good session - last night was probably a case in point. Set up is a matter of minutes for visual and not much longer when imaging. Better still is the shut down time, I can be at the eyepiece one minute and in bed less than 10 minutes later with everything shut down - what's not to like 😄.

Geof

[matt_baker]

3 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Hi Matt, thanks for the additional info about your schools observatory, it really sounds like a very fine facility and yout school should be proud to have and make more use of it. I do, however, understand their H&S concerns and they probably shouldn't let you use it on your own as it's easy to have accidents fumbling about in the dark - I even cracked my scalp open on the counterweights in my obs during daylight requiring it to be glued back together....!! That said, I do hope that they will find some way to make moreuse of the facility. My C14 is an old pre Edge version, so I'm sure that yours will give a good performance, though very likely you will need to learn how to collimate it. I use the mono version (ASI120MM-s) of your 120MC, so you should be able to capture some reasonable images with that. Your own rig looks pretty good too, I wish I had anything like that when I was your age...!!

Best of luck with the school.

Geof

One thing I have stressed to them is that I will have a parent with me at all times so I'm not on my own.

 

[astroman001]

Hi Geoff

A great image considering altitude this year, well done.

Peter

[geoflewis]

2 minutes ago, astroman001 said:

Hi Geoff

A great image considering altitude this year, well done.

Peter

Thanks Peter, I was very lucky with the seeing for this my first outing on Jupiter this year. I tried again last night, but no joy imaging, though the seeing improved later on for some visual observing. Geof