Mars and Uranus under very windy conditions (7/1/23)

[Kon]

It was my first imaging for 2023 albeit awful windy conditions last night. I could not resist the clear skies after the dreadful start to the year with rain and clouds. Despite the wind, the seeing was good but my Dob was vibrating like crazy. I managed Mars and Uranus in colour and IR. Mars is showing some clouds in the southern hemisphere and the north polar hood has shrunk a lot since I last imaged it.  8" Dob, manual, asi462mc, 2.5x TV powermate, UV/IR cut and IR pass filters. Mars is shown at original capture size and Uranus at 200%.

 

[JeremyS]

Super 👍🏻

[yelsac]

Lovely image Kon

I still think It's phenomenal that we can even see cloud detail on such a small target 👍

[Kon]

42 minutes ago, yelsac said:

Lovely image Kon

I still think It's phenomenal that we can even see cloud detail on such a small target 👍

I am still amazed that we can see clouds and changes in the poles with our moderate equipment from our gardens. Even the motion of moons across Jupiter are mesmerising, at least in my eyes.

[Space Cowboy]

Terrific images Kostas! Love the processing on that Mars shot! How on earth you've got Uranus on a windy night with manual tracking I'll never know! The manual magician strikes again! 😉

[Kon]

2 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

Terrific images Kostas! Love the processing on that Mars shot! How on earth you've got Uranus on a windy night with manual tracking I'll never know! The manual magician strikes again! 😉

Thanks Stuart. Awful conditions but nice to be out. The video you sent me has helped a lot to get a nice routine. It's a shame Uranus was not in a phase to show the difference between north and equatorial difference in IR..

[Space Cowboy]

20 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Stuart. Awful conditions but nice to be out. The video you sent me has helped a lot to get a nice routine. It's a shame Uranus was not in a phase to show the difference between north and equatorial difference in IR..

A consistent routine is certainly vital. Obviously every image is slightly different data wise but getting a good foundation is important. Very easy to stray from one extreme to another. 

[Kon]

53 minutes ago, Space Cowboy said:

A consistent routine is certainly vital. Obviously every image is slightly different data wise but getting a good foundation is important. Very easy to stray from one extreme to another. 

Yes absolutely. Having a baseline and then do changes as different data will behave differently. I think it is key on how far you can or can't push in Registax will be key to more post processing quality.

[Trevor N]

Brilliant images. Well done 

[geoflewis]

Superb images Kostas.

On 08/01/2023 at 14:27, Kon said:

I am still amazed that we can see clouds and changes in the poles with our moderate equipment from our gardens. Even the motion of moons across Jupiter are mesmerising, at least in my eyes.

On 08/01/2023 at 14:41, Space Cowboy said:

Terrific images Kostas! Love the processing on that Mars shot! How on earth you've got Uranus on a windy night with manual tracking I'll never know! The manual magician strikes again! 😉

I completely agree with you that it is amazing what we can see / capture with amatuer equipment from our gardens and also wholeheatredly agree with Stuart's comments - a magician at work indeed....!!

 

[Kon]

11 hours ago, geoflewis said:

Superb images Kostas.

I completely agree with you that it is amazing what we can see / capture with amatuer equipment from our gardens and also wholeheatredly agree with Stuart's comments - a magician at work indeed....!!

 

Thanks for your kind words! In my first proper year of planetary imaging, I found Mars the most exciting due to the change in dynamics over a short period time. Looking forward to next season as I have learned a lot of new things that I would love to try.