Have a go at trying to spot the JWST

[tomato]

Sorry if this a bit of a fraudulent post, as I can't be certain the JWST is on here.

This is an animation of 4 frames covering around 40 mins taken at 20:45 to 21:25 on 29.12.21 with the  Esprit 150/QHY268c, resolution 0.714 arcsec/pixel,  each sub 120 secs. The scope was pointing initially at RA 06 hrs 08 mins 55 secs, DEC -0 deg 13 mins 44 sec, I say initially because I was imaging through frequent clouds and the guiding was lost on numerous occasions, hence the drift evident in the animation. Please have a go and do reply if you find anything, needless to say I have been looking for a while and found no likely candidates...  

 

 

[Laurieast]

Not finding it, tried for ages. 

[Stuart1971]

1 hour ago, tomato said:

Sorry if this a bit of a fraudulent post, as I can't be certain the JWST is on here.

This is an animation of 4 frames covering around 40 mins taken at 20:45 to 21:25 on 29.12.21 with the  Esprit 150/QHY268c, resolution 0.714 arcsec/pixel,  each sub 120 secs. The scope was pointing initially at RA 06 hrs 08 mins 55 secs, DEC -0 deg 13 mins 44 sec, I say initially because I was imaging through frequent clouds and the guiding was lost on numerous occasions, hence the drift evident in the animation. Please have a go and do reply if you find anything, needless to say I have been looking for a while and found no likely candidates...  

 

 

I found something but have no idea how to mark it up on the gif…🤔🤔

[Stuart1971]

Ok, so two images one with the white elongated mark showing and one without, this is actually flashing completely on and off in the gif, I realise the whole gif goes dim and bright, but this mark actually goes on and off, it sits between two stars as I have marked up…and is in the left bottom quarter around the middle of that area…

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by Stuart1971

[adyj1]

Just been trying to screenshot that flashy thing on my phone @Stuart1971

 

[Laurieast]

 

 

Screen shot of flashing something. 

 

Edited December 31, 2021 by Laurieast

[Stuart1971]

26 minutes ago, adyj1 said:

Just been trying to screenshot that flashy thing on my phone @Stuart1971

 

Yes, it’s not easy, I managed it above, but best seen in the original gif…not really sure if it’s anything or not….🤔🤔

[Stuart1971]

8 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

 

 

Screen shot of flashing something. 

 

The colour does look different doesn’t it…? 🤔🤔

[Stuart1971]

If you zoom right in on the gif, when it disappears, watch for it coming back, it actually appears slightly higher and then comes forward….very odd….🤔🤔

[tomato]

Thanks for having a look, to quote the West Midlands vernacular, I go boz eyed after a while.

Here are the 4 jpegs, if this helps.

 

[tomato]

15 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

 

 

Screen shot of flashing something. 

 

I think that one looks like a cosmic ray hit to me.

[Laurieast]

All three of these are blinking. Top right quadrant of original image.

Edited December 31, 2021 by Laurieast

[Laurieast]

@tomato Do you know what your field of view was? 

[tomato]

29 minutes ago, Laurieast said:

@tomato Do you know what your field of view was? 

Yes the Esprit 150/QHY268c combination gives a 1.26 x 0.86 degree FOV.

[david_taurus83]

Where did you get your initial co-ords to aim for? According to Sky Safari it should have been at RA 06H-11M-06S, DEC -00°-16M-01S around that time and its just outside your fov.

 

[tomato]

Thanks for this, it could explain a lot. This is the site where I obtained the co-ordinates from for my local time and location:

https://unistellaroptics.com/observe-jwst/

Maybe not the most reliable?

Is that my image you have overlaid the grid? May I ask how you solved it, as I couldn’t solve it using the Pixinsight Imagesolver script no matter I hard I tried.

[david_taurus83]

18 minutes ago, tomato said:

Thanks for this, it could explain a lot. This is the site where I obtained the co-ordinates from for my local time and location:

https://unistellaroptics.com/observe-jwst/

Maybe not the most reliable?

Is that my image you have overlaid the grid? May I ask how you solved it, as I couldn’t solve it using the Pixinsight Imagesolver script no matter I hard I tried.

I've just checked that website v Sky Safari for my own location and it's currently 2' out on RA and 8' on Dec. So not far off. A decent fov should be able to grab it.

I also couldn't solve in Pixinsight. I used nova.astrometry.net to blind solve and once it gets the result you can download the image in fits format from the table on the right hand side. I didn't know you could do that until this evening. Wasted half an hour with Pixinsight solver. A bit daft how it can't blind solve.

[david_taurus83]

Also, would the parallax difference be much between our locations in the UK?

[tomato]

I blind solved the image successfully with Astrometry.net and then used the co-ordinates of a named star in the FOV to try and solve it in the PI script, but it still wouldn’t have it. 
 

I’m not sure how much effect the parallax would have, I used my post code in the unistellaroptics site and it seemed to identify my location.

I had both scopes imaging on the dual rig so I will produce a deeper animation, but I am coming round to the conclusion that I wasn’t imaging the required location on the sky.😵‍💫

[david_taurus83]

29 minutes ago, tomato said:

I blind solved the image successfully with Astrometry.net and then used the co-ordinates of a named star in the FOV to try and solve it in the PI script, but it still wouldn’t have it. 

In the results page on Astrometry, you can download your solved image as a fits file and the coords are already embedded when you open it with PI. I just used the Annotation script without solving it again in PI.

[tomato]

Brilliant thanks! I was trying to work out how I could get the solved image annotated in PI.

[tomato]

Thanks to @david_taurus83 I have annotated the animation FOV. Based on the co-ordinates I used as David has indicated, the JWST lies just outside the FOV...

Now I have to wait for the clouds to shift and of course the scope will be that much further away, but might be a bit more reflective if the sun shield has deployed?

 

 

[kirkster501]

It would be easier if you registered the frames before making the video.  That's what I did on my capture of JWST.

Yes it will be getting fainter and fainter.  I am not sure what the magnitude of it will be at L2.  Long exposures would be needed I imagine.

Edited January 1, 2022 by kirkster501

[kirkster501]

Here was my capture of it with TEC140 and Atik 460 on 29th December.  Coordinates from the JPL Horizons Ephemeris tool and I am acquainted well with this tool and have captured other stuff like asteroids from it.  It is 100% the JWST.

This video also in the JWST terror thread.

 

 

[tomato]

Thanks for the video, great work!  I have had another go at imaging it tonight but not holding my breath, given how faint it was on your capture. 
 

I don’t have much faith in the ephemeris tool I was using either, moral of that tale is don’t use the first hit that comes up on Google.