Jupiter 8th Oct. Better Seeing

[CraigT82]

• KIT: SW 300p on AZ-EQ6 (in AltAz mode). ASI485mc.   ZWO ADC.    Baader Q barlow 2.25x (working at 3.4x).    Astronomik L2 filter
• CAPTURE & PROCESS: 18x90sec captures in FC.   Best 40% stacked in AS3.   Image derotation.   Sharpening in Astrosurface. Finishing in Gimp.
• DETAILS: Image scale 0.12"pp/5200mmF/17.   Planet at 36 deg.   Derotated to 22:03 UTC.  Seeing varied 3/5 to 4/5.   Transparency 8/10. Captured from Taunton, UK

Thanks for looking & Clear Skies!

[neil phillips]

6 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

• KIT: SW 300p on AZ-EQ6 (in AltAz mode). ASI485mc.   ZWO ADC.    Baader Q barlow 2.25x (working at 3.4x).    Astronomik L2 filter
• CAPTURE & PROCESS: 18x90sec captures in FC.   Best 40% stacked in AS3.   Image derotation.   Sharpening in Astrosurface. Finishing in Gimp.
• DETAILS: Image scale 0.12"pp/5200mmF/17.   Planet at 36 deg.   Derotated to 22:03 UTC.  Seeing varied 3/5 to 4/5.   Transparency 8/10. Captured from Taunton, UK

Thanks for looking & Clear Skies!

Lovely Craig the seeing does look good. So did you use a luminance filter in the mix ? How would you rate your 300p ? Colour looks a little yellow. But i can't fault the detail You pulled more out than me

[CraigT82]

Thanks Neil, yes the seeing was good and steady at the start of the session at about 10.45pm so I rattled off 30 mins worth of vids and then went back in for a nap. Came back out at 2am to get a shot with GRS and Europa but I couldn’t get focus at all and the image was dancing all over the place so packed up and went to bed. 
 

I’m using the Astronomik L2 as my UV/IR cut, purely because that was the only filter in stock when I was shopping for one, literally the only one! Usually use a Baader but not fussed about the brand really so pretty happy with this.

Yes I do like a slightly warmer tone to your ultra white/ bluish preference, we’re all different beasts ain’t we?! 
 

I think the extra aperture was really put to use last night not often it does get the chance here in the UK but the old girl really stretched her legs. Not bad for a 300 quid scope. 

[neil phillips]

11 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Thanks Neil, yes the seeing was good and steady at the start of the session at about 10.45pm so I rattled off 30 mins worth of vids and then went back in for a nap. Came back out at 2am to get a shot with GRS and Europa but I couldn’t get focus at all and the image was dancing all over the place so packed up and went to bed. 
 

I’m using the Astronomik L2 as my UV/IR cut, purely because that was the only filter in stock when I was shopping for one, literally the only one! Usually use a Baader but not fussed about the brand really so pretty happy with this.

Yes I do like a slightly warmer tone to your ultra white/ bluish preference, we’re all different beasts ain’t we?! 
 

I think the extra aperture was really put to use last night not often it does get the chance here in the UK but the old girl really stretched her legs. Not bad for a 300 quid scope. 

For sure Craig its why i want to get a 12" for next year. You might remember i had a 300p.  with Jupiter being so high. I was wondering about the 12 stella lyra gso dobs. I wonder who has the most consistent mirrors between sky watcher and GSO  at the moment probably potluck ? Would love that mount your using. But i may have to stretch to dob tracking. The goto on the SW dobs look good and the Orion sky quest goto also.

Not sure how stable they are, or tracking stability though. is the most concern. Still processing what i got last night. But i don't think i got anything as tight as what you got. 12" When its performing well will always pull more out. Often the blur factor can hinder large mass produced optics. But cant see that here with you. Its certainly in the right hands that's for sure. Top job. 

[Kon]

Great image and nice details.

[CraigT82]

1 hour ago, neil phillips said:

For sure Craig its why i want to get a 12" for next year. You might remember i had a 300p.  with Jupiter being so high. I was wondering about the 12 stella lyra gso dobs. I wonder who has the most consistent mirrors between sky watcher and GSO  at the moment probably potluck ? Would love that mount your using. But i may have to stretch to dob tracking. The goto on the SW dobs look good and the Orion sky quest goto also.

Not sure how stable they are, or tracking stability though. is the most concern. Still processing what i got last night. But i don't think i got anything as tight as what you got. 12" When its performing well will always pull more out. Often the blur factor can hinder large mass produced optics. But cant see that here with you. Its certainly in the right hands that's for sure. Top job. 

I’d be surprise if you got a dud mirror from either Synta or GSO these days, those guys have got their optical production and QA pretty fine tuned I think. More likely that the cell it is in is either poorly designed or poorly executed. The cell on my 300p was not working properly when I got it but a bit of fettling sorted it. 
 

I have seen some superb images for people using tracking dobs so one of those would be a great place to go I think, having motors on both axis with variable speed is a real boon compared to and EQ platform where only the RA is driven and is just either on or off.

[AbsolutelyN]

Fantastic image Craig, inspirational. Had a quick go last night myself as seeing was very good about 22:30 but then I had to go out and by time got back had deteriorated. Got my best Jupiter yet but this is on another level. Well done. 

[CraigT82]

19 minutes ago, AbsolutelyN said:

Fantastic image Craig, inspirational. Had a quick go last night myself as seeing was very good about 22:30 but then I had to go out and by time got back had deteriorated. Got my best Jupiter yet but this is on another level. Well done. 

Thanks Tristan, I doubt in another league TBH your Mars images from 2020 were pretty awesome not to mention your deep sky and solar work with the 250PDS! Just lucky I had decent seeing really and was able to get out there, that's half the battle with planetary just being in the right place at the right time

[geoflewis]

Lovely Jupiter Craig, the detail is really good and your processing is excellent.

[CraigT82]

16 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Lovely Jupiter Craig, the detail is really good and your processing is excellent.

Thanks Geof 👍🏼

[Pete Presland]

Terrific image Craig, excellent details visible right across the disc.  The seeing was certainly very good last night from most of the reports i have seen.

Aperture always seems to pay off, but usually mostly when the conditions allow.  I have been tempted to get a C11, but not sure it would be much better than my C9.25 on most nights.

[neil phillips]

2 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

I’d be surprise if you got a dud mirror from either Synta or GSO these days, those guys have got their optical production and QA pretty fine tuned I think. More likely that the cell it is in is either poorly designed or poorly executed. The cell on my 300p was not working properly when I got it but a bit of fettling sorted it. 
 

I have seen some superb images for people using tracking dobs so one of those would be a great place to go I think, having motors on both axis with variable speed is a real boon compared to and EQ platform where only the RA is driven and is just either on or off.

Yeah, dual drives are definitely the way to go, I think. Can you imagine next year. how high it's going to be. Should be fun

[AbsolutelyN]

19 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Thanks Tristan, I doubt in another league TBH your Mars images from 2020 were pretty awesome not to mention your deep sky and solar work with the 250PDS! Just lucky I had decent seeing really and was able to get out there, that's half the battle with planetary just being in the right place at the right time

I've not really done any planetary since so quite rusty and was using a quattro so less focal length.  This is the best I could manage but I could only get this level of detail in the red channel and seeing deteriorated fast after this. Just ordered a ADC which might hopefully help out a bit. Are you using WInJupos to de-rotate? That's an area I've never looked into.

[CraigT82]

3 hours ago, AbsolutelyN said:

I've not really done any planetary since so quite rusty and was using a quattro so less focal length.  This is the best I could manage but I could only get this level of detail in the red channel and seeing deteriorated fast after this. Just ordered a ADC which might hopefully help out a bit. Are you using WInJupos to de-rotate? That's an area I've never looked into.

Nice that's definitely got potential, just gotta catch a period of good seeing and you'll be laughing.

Yes I use winjupos it's a godsend really, it's pretty easy really, the key is to get nice sharp images to feed into it as they are much easier to measure with the outline frame.

[CraigT82]

Had a reprocess of this data on my lunchbreak today, this time used only 10% of frames rather than the 40% of the original posted image.  I think it's an improvement: a bit less 'wispy' for want of a better word.

 

Top new, bottom old

 

[geoflewis]

49 minutes ago, CraigT82 said:

Had a reprocess of this data on my lunchbreak today, this time used only 10% of frames rather than the 40% of the original posted image.  I think it's an improvement: a bit less 'wispy' for want of a better word.

It's definitely an improvement Craig. Limiting to 10% has allowed a lot more detail to pop out.

[symmetal]

Another cracking image Craig. 😀 I actually prefer the original over the 10% stack personally, it doesn't look as 'processed'. 😉

Alan

[CraigT82]

1 hour ago, symmetal said:

Another cracking image Craig. 😀 I actually prefer the original over the 10% stack personally, it doesn't look as 'processed'. 😉

Alan

Thanks Alan appreciate the honesty! I think a 20% stack might be perfect but I can’t face going through the whole process again, might just overlay one on the other in gimp and combine these two

[Space Cowboy]

Impressive detail on the poles! 

[neil phillips]

On 10/10/2022 at 20:06, CraigT82 said:

Thanks Alan appreciate the honesty! I think a 20% stack might be perfect but I can’t face going through the whole process again, might just overlay one on the other in gimp and combine these two

Have to agree with Alan. The old looks finer. less bloated and over smooth. Like the difference between HF  and  LF data. The new process looks more like low frequency bolder appearance.

On the poles you nailed it first time Craig. Either way it's one hell of a capture. I knew i wanted a bigger scope for next year. But work like this pushes me back to bigger scopes no question. 

 

[CraigT82]

Here is a middle ground, 50/50 blend of the first two in Gimp

 

And here are first two for reference.  

[symmetal]

4 hours ago, CraigT82 said:

Here is a middle ground, 50/50 blend of the first two in Gimp

Viewed at a distance the new blend looks best, but viewed up close I still prefer the original one. 😛

Alan

[CraigT82]

11 hours ago, symmetal said:

Viewed at a distance the new blend looks best, but viewed up close I still prefer the original one. 😛

Alan

Haha thanks Alan… It’s usually the case that no matter how many times you pour over the data the first quick process you did is the best! 

[barkis]

You certainly have the setup for Imaging Jupiter, and most of what I see here is pleasing indeed. So much detail captured.
Processing is always challenging, and expert I certainly am not, but you have some fine results, from your data.
As said, you must decide what is satisfying to you, and be very happy with that.
The James Webb doesn't have the   conditions scopes on earth have to contend with, so what you have achieved is pretty remarkable.
Good stuff. 👍
Ron.