Venus UV clouds (my best so far) (2/4/23)

[Kon]

I finally managed a proper imaging session with my asi462mm this afternoon. I removed the AR window prior to any captures and it made a huge difference. I managed to shoot the UV filter at 3ms and gain 300 with ~280fps! Seeing was awful as the IR filter was showing really bad boiling but despite this I think I have got my best UV clouds so far. I think I have the colour balance right but happy to receive feedback on the processing and colour. 8" Dob, manual, asi462mm, Astromania UV and IR pass filters. I also added the UV capture as luminance on top of the IR-sG-UV as it made it look sharper. UV and IR-sG-UV

[Ibbo!]

Lovely.

[Mr Spock]

That looks pretty good 👍

[geoflewis]

That's excellent Kostas.

[neil phillips]

Getting some good results. Be careful with that AR window gone. Dust on chips is sometimes a real headache. Not sure their really is any standard definition of correct colour for a UV IR capture. I think most tend to think of it as somewhat false color imaging. Probably because its outside of the visual spectrum. But i know what you mean. Colour as in it appears generally for this kind of work. As such your balance here is similar to Emil Kraaikamp. Not a bad thing

Edited April 3, 2023 by neil phillips

[Kon]

3 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Getting some good results. Be careful with that AR window gone. Dust on chips is sometimes a real headache. Not sure their really is any standard definition of correct colour for a UV IR capture. I think most tend to think of it as somewhat false color imaging. Probably because its outside of the visual spectrum. But i know what you mean. Colour as in it appears generally for this kind of work. As such your balance here is similar to Emil Kraaikamp. Not a bad thing

Thanks for the feedback and advise on the sensor (I will keep it in mind; I have kept a filter on as well as the dust cap, and bagged away). I think, I am pleased with this colour as I have seen others that are more greenish, orange etc etc. I did a google search on the Venus cloud colours from probes and this hue was closer to what I saw (thanks for the comment about Emil, I had not come across his site). But like you said, not true RGB so 'open to interpretation'.

[Kon]

3 hours ago, neil phillips said:

Getting some good results. Be careful with that AR window gone. Dust on chips is sometimes a real headache. Not sure their really is any standard definition of correct colour for a UV IR capture. I think most tend to think of it as somewhat false color imaging. Probably because its outside of the visual spectrum. But i know what you mean. Colour as in it appears generally for this kind of work. As such your balance here is similar to Emil Kraaikamp. Not a bad thing

ps I would love to see a Venus session with your new setup.

[neil phillips]

Just now, Kon said:

ps I would love to see a Venus session with your new setup.

Because of heat and cooldown. The 12" may not actually be the best choice. Big scopes like that need to stabilize. Probably the cassegrain or my orion would likely fair better.

I  may try at some point

 

 

[neil phillips]

Just now, Kon said:

Thanks for the feedback and advise on the sensor (I will keep it in mind; I have kept a filter on as well as the dust cap, and bagged away). I think, I am pleased with this colour as I have seen others that are more greenish, orange etc etc. I did a google search on the Venus cloud colours from probes and this hue was closer to what I saw (thanks for the comment about Emil, I had not come across his site). But like you said, not true RGB so 'open to interpretation'.

Another good practice is, when you do change filters. Do it with the camera facing downwards. Dust likes to fall downwards. Not up

[Space Cowboy]

Fabulous images Kostas! Those early season sessions are bearing fruit now.

[Kon]

2 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

Fabulous images Kostas! Those early season sessions are bearing fruit now.

Thanks Stuart. Yes very pleased to have got my setup ready for planet season.

Have you tried your new filter yet?

[Space Cowboy]

17 hours ago, Kon said:

Thanks Stuart. Yes very pleased to have got my setup ready for planet season.

Have you tried your new filter yet?

Yes I've had 2 brief sessions with Bessel U & qhy5ll mono but am struggling to get below 50ms at max gain. That's at f15.  Seeing has been poor to boot. Bit of a head scratcher because I know this cam is capable of much faster shutter speeds with a UV.

What you are achieving is quite remarkable considering you have an 8" scope manually tracked. If there was a Venus imaging competition on here I'd be giving you the trophy now.🙂

[Kon]

13 hours ago, Space Cowboy said:

Yes I've had 2 brief sessions with Bessel U & qhy5ll mono but am struggling to get below 50ms at max gain. That's at f15.  Seeing has been poor to boot. Bit of a head scratcher because I know this cam is capable of much faster shutter speeds with a UV.

What you are achieving is quite remarkable considering you have an 8" scope manually tracked. If there was a Venus imaging competition on here I'd be giving you the trophy now.🙂

Thanks for the kind words. 

I am very pleased with the camera as with my colour I had to go to 40-60ms too.

I am not sure why you are struggling to get it below 50ms with the mono. When I had the mono on loan I was getting 9ms easily and I could have gone lower I think.i suppose thin clouds would have an impact, if there were any.

I suppose the #47+IR cut you have doesn't show the same issue?

[Space Cowboy]

On 04/04/2023 at 23:20, Kon said:

Thanks for the kind words. 

I am very pleased with the camera as with my colour I had to go to 40-60ms too.

I am not sure why you are struggling to get it below 50ms with the mono. When I had the mono on loan I was getting 9ms easily and I could have gone lower I think.i suppose thin clouds would have an impact, if there were any.

I suppose the #47+IR cut you have doesn't show the same issue?

Only got the #47 🙂 I'm convinced it's a camera driver issue. There is no up-to-date driver.  I'll try it with sharpcap next time.

Clear tonight  👍

[Pete Presland]

Very nice details visible there Kostas, love seeing the UV Venus images, difficult to capture but worth the effort.