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Mars rotation time-lapse 2020-09-22, UK, personal best!


sagramore

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Hi everyone. Thanks for looking. I know we're inundated with Mars pictures at the moment but I've not seen buckets of time-lapse and this marks a significant personal best for me so I really wanted to share it. I've not had seeing this good for a long time, especially with a planet this high above the horizon (I'm looking at you Jupiter & Saturn.....).

Only 12 frames spread across ~1 hour, but nice to see some movement. One single still as a bonus too :)

 

1940003334_2020-09-22-Mars.gif.523addb99657f60184090abaab0f7493.gif

 

198749714_2020-09-22-Mars.jpg.781d2e8dbe476348a85715378b6fd3fa.jpg

 

Edit to add acquisition & processing:

  • Skywatcher Skyliner 200P reflector (off my dobsonian), 1200 mm, unbranded 3x barlow for 3600 focal length, f/18
  • Skywatcher NEQ6 Pro mount
  • ZWO ASI120MC-S - gain 33, 20 ms exposure, 2000 frames per video

 

  • Each video recorded with 5 minute spacing. 12 recorded in total.
  • Stacked in Autostakkert 3, best 30% of frames. Wavelets, colour balance, and tweaks in Registax 6. GIF assembled in Photoshop with a few final contrast and levels tweaks.
Edited by sagramore
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That's a superb animation, really well done! Loads of detail and can barely see any difference in the frame quality as it goes, the seeing must have been nice and consistent. Is this with the 200p in your signature? The frames of the animation look slightly more detailed than the singe image.

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11 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

That's a superb animation, really well done! Loads of detail and can barely see any difference in the frame quality as it goes, the seeing must have been nice and consistent. Is this with the 200p in your signature? The frames of the animation look slightly more detailed than the singe image.

Thank you! Yes, the seeing just seemed... brilliant all the time I was out there and I couldn't believe how stable it was across the ~1 hr of the time lapse.

You're right about the single still detail being less than the animated frames - that's probably just my own processing though. I think I took a lot more care with the animation (in fact, it was my 3rd go that I actually uploaded). I just love the movement though so I couldn't focus on the stills 😄

Edit: Forgot to add, yes, it's the 200P reflector in my sig that came off the dobsonian. It's a nightmare to locate objects with it at that FL but once you do, it really shines.

Edited by sagramore
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That's a superb animation. I was imaging Mars at about the same time, but with mono RGB&IR filters, the jumps between stacked colour images makes smooth rotation animations difficult. I must try to work out how to do that; I think WinJupos has a tool for it but not sure....

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On 28/09/2020 at 20:11, Stargazer33 said:

Great animation and nicely processed too.

Thanks, that means a lot. I am often guilty of over-processing a lot of my astrophotography data (especially of deep sky) and I'm trying to bring it back a notch, do without a little detail but keep it looking "real". I'm just so pleased with how this turned out given the awful seeing / low altitude I've had with Jupiter for the last year or 2 of trying!

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