I took a picture of Uranus

[Maideneer]

The seeing wasn’t the greatest and I think I overprocessed this. I used a 2X barlow.

Getting the focus right is really hard and I don’t think there’s a way to get it crisp and sharp (in truth it might be my eyesight at this point as I start to get older).

I’m sure it could be a bit better but it was my first try and I can say I did it. 1.75 billion miles away and I did that, that’s such a genuinely good feeling at the end of any day forever more.

Edited November 29, 2021 by Maideneer

[Laurieast]

This is my next target. Nice colour!

[Maideneer]

6 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

This is my next target. Nice colour!

In truth I processed it to look this way, maybe it's just because I'm not good at what I'm doing yet the object appeared totally white to me rather than that blue with the white cap.  RGB Balance in Registax is to thank here lol.

[inFINNity Deck]

Difficult object, mine (taken with C11 EdgeHD)  is not much better (and over-processed): http://www.dehilster.info/astronomy/uranus.php

Nicolàs

[Maideneer]

5 minutes ago, inFINNity Deck said:

Difficult object, mine (taken with C11 EdgeHD)  is not much better (and over-processed): http://www.dehilster.info/astronomy/uranus.php

Nicolàs

Great pic! I have so many questions for you lol.

1) You really only captured at 35ms?  Mine was all the way up to around 800ms!
2) I'm so hesitant to use my ADC right now.  I just wish there was a smoother way.  Any adjustment or touch as you know can get the object out of view in a heartbeat. So I didn't use one here. Do you find it hard to use?
3) Do your raw files capture the planet as white in color?

[inFINNity Deck]

Hi Maideneer,

yes, thanks to a gain at 435 I could get the exposure as low as 35ms (remember I used an 11" scope). And, yes, I did use an ADC. If I remember well I 'trained' myself using Mars, so a nice bright object, by adjusting the ADC and re-centring Mars using live view. For centring Mars I can use the original 9x50 Celestron guidescope. Then I examined how much my mount veered off when giving a slew-command to that object. The difference in RA/DEC I then used to get Uranus in my field of view.

I then recorded 5771 frames of which I stacked 200 in AutoStakkert!3 using 1.5x drizzle. The outcome was poor, but the colour was definitely there. I did quite some processing to make it look like a planet, but definitely over-processed it to make it look a bit presentable...

This is what the best frame looks like in AS3 (view @ 200%):

So definitely colour in there, but not much of a planet yet. If I export that frame it is B&W (@100%):

Nicolàs

PS: here is Mars of that evening: http://www.dehilster.info/astronomy/mars.php#1836

Edited November 29, 2021 by inFINNity Deck

[inFINNity Deck]

Oh, and this is the raw stack from AS:

So still blueish.

Nicolàs

[tony4563]

Loving these images guys. Well done