14yr old with 6inch SE beats 60 year old with 8 inch SE!! 60 year old NOT happy! :-)

[Mark2022]

2 minutes ago, Kon said:

Yes an overkill. As Mandy said you will not get more out of it you just amplifying the bad conditions more. If you unscrew your barlow and scew the lens on your camera it will roughly be 1.5x.

Keep an eye on the maps and try when it's higher up.  Make sure you cool the telescope too. I let mine cool for 1hr.

The scope has been out there for about 2 hours so far waiting on me. I already have a UV/IR filter screwed to the camera so I don't think I can screw the barlow to the UV/IR  filter. I'll see what I can do about that.

[Mandy D]

8 minutes ago, Mark2022 said:

Yes, I've recently been checking out the jet stream and the crap that came over from Canada with Storm Agnes. I lived in SE Asia for 10 years - wish I was back. They don't live under a jet stream!

You  say (as Mandy does)  that F15 is the right focal  ratio and that could be  correct but I don't have a  1.5x barlow and my best results are with the  2x. Then again, if that were  the  case,  how does the  14 year old achieve what he does with  a 3x barlow? 3.75 microns with an ASi 224 rather than  2.9 with the SVBony?

He has 3.75 μm pixels amd is at f/30 with a 6SE. He is pushing well beyond the resolution limit of his telescope. This is part of the reason his image is still not perfect. He should be at f/18.75 or thereabouts.

[Mark2022]

1 minute ago, Mandy D said:

He has 3.75 μm pixels amd is at f/30 with a 6SE. He is pushing well beyond the resolution limit of his telescope. This is part of the reason his image is still not perfect. He should be at f/18.75 or thereabouts.

Yes I just had calculator on that. Well, damned good result for being so oversampled(?).

[johnturley]

10 hours ago, Mandy D said:

I've no doubt you are, but you will not, except, maybe, perhaps under truly exceptional seeing max out the benefits of 2x Barlow on an f/10 with 2.9 μm pixels. Physics is working against you, here. Scale your image to 75% and it will be closer to 1.5x Barlow and some of the blurriness will disappear. I doubt you have gained extra detail (byond a 1.5x Barlow) by using such a long focal length with that size pixels and that scope under the seeing you appear to have at your location. A 3x Barlow is simply going to give you a harder time focusing and controlling vibrations, etc. But, of course, this is my opinion only and you are free to go whatever way you like.

It's a bit like saying that a magnification of 50-100x with a 6-12in telescope on Jupiter will reveal all the detail that it present, but most people consider it more aesthetically pleasing when viewing conditions permit, to view it with a magnification of 200 - 300x. 

John 

Edited October 2, 2023 by johnturley

[Elp]

When image processing you should try and denoise before sharpening otherwise you'll also sharpen any noise, but it depends on the quality of the data in the first place. The comment above mentions an artifact in their image, I'd say this is from over sharpening but you can already see their image appears sharper (you can mitigate the halo artifact around the planet by deleting it, painting it out or masking it off).

Regarding Barlow to begin with I wouldn't go over a 2x. I've owned a Meade TN and they're very capable, much better than a bog standard Barlow, if you want to go even better a TV Powermate is even better but none will punch through poor atmospherics. I don't have a 3x at hand but the 2x with my C6 is plenty enough with the 224.

Stacking percentage will depend on the quality of the data. Autostakkert after analysis organises the frames and outputs a quality graph so you can judge the percentage to stack based on the sessions data.

[Mark2022]

Is ELP an Emerson Lake and Palmer fan? For all you proggers out there (me too), the "Lunar Musick Suite" for your enjoyment and thanks for the help (not) - Only joking! 👍

 

[Elp]

1 minute ago, johnturley said:

aesthetically pleasing

Also, if you bin2 the image (half the image size) you might find it actually looks a little better (but small on the viewing device), certainly works when I'm looking at smallish nebulae.

[johnturley]

3 minutes ago, Elp said:

Also, if you bin2 the image (half the image size) you might find it actually looks a little better (but small on the viewing device), certainly works when I'm looking at smallish nebulae.

Binning didn't give good results on planets when I've tried it.

John

[Nigella Bryant]

The difference of good and bad seeing from me. Same scope, camera, software, etc, etc. Especially from 51° North plus and near the coast.

[Mark2022]

Just now, johnturley said:

Binning didn't give good results on planets when I've tried it.

John

John, do you have a pic of your Astro Systems 14 inch? I bought an 8.5 inch way back when when i was just out of uni at about 21. The wife was so happy when i sold it! I won't  curse!

I won an Astro Systems caption contest soon after and had a choice of a Celestron SCT and £1000.  I took the £1000 because it would pay for the honeymoon and I'd already bought the Reflector. Patrick Moore handed me the cheque when he was  in Edinburgh! Good times!

[Mark2022]

3 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

The difference of good and bad seeing from me. Same scope, camera, software, etc, etc. Especially from 51° North plus and near the coast.

Big difference Nigella. Love that crisp detail on the good seeing one though it does have  that slight look of the pencil drawing effect I mentioned to Mandy earlier. I'd be mighty pleased with that  however.

[johnturley]

4 minutes ago, Mark2022 said:

John, do you have a pic of your Astro Systems 14 inch? I bought an 8.5 inch way back when when i was just out of uni at about 21. The wife was so happy when i sold it! I won't  curse!

I won an Astro Systems caption contest soon after and had a choice of a Celestron SCT and £1000.  I took the £1000 because it would pay for the honeymoon and I'd already bought the Reflector. Patrick Moore handed me the cheque when he was  in Edinburgh! Good times!

This is possibly one of the best photos taken at the time I had an Astro Physics (early pre-Starfire) 6in f8 Refractor piggybacked. I now have an Esprit 150 piggybacked, it might surprise some, but the Esprit 150 is much better colour -corrected, and gives sharper images. 

John 

[Mark2022]

1 minute ago, johnturley said:

This is possibly one of the best photos taken at the time I had an Astro Physics (early pre-Starfire) 6in f8 Refractor piggybacked. I now have an Esprit 150 piggybacked, it might surprise some, but the Esprit 150 is much better colour -corrected, and gives sharper images. 

John 

Beautiful!  

[Mark2022]

3 minutes ago, johnturley said:

This is possibly one of the best photos taken at the time I had an Astro Physics (early pre-Starfire) 6in f8 Refractor piggybacked. I now have an Esprit 150 piggybacked, it might surprise some, but the Esprit 150 is much better colour -corrected, and gives sharper images. 

John 

Is that a dIY chair I see there?

[johnturley]

3 minutes ago, Mark2022 said:

Is that a dIY chair I see there?

It was made by a carpenter friend some years ago, based on a design in a old Patrick Moore book, but I don't use it now as its rather bulky.

John 

[Mark2022]

Just now, johnturley said:

It was made by a carpenter friend some years ago, based on a design in a old Patrick Moore book, but I don't use it now as its rather bulky.

John 

So what do you use now? I was thinking how I might build one but I don't have the tools and skills but I'd give it a try. It doesn't look that bulky.

I'll give you a laugh: I was even looking at how big you can buy "Lazy Susans" because I've just built (built isn't  the word really - it's just laying one brick on top of another) a "Todmorden" pier in a flip top roof  'shed' I built and I thought "Wouldn't it be fun to have an observing chair on top of a Lazy Susan so, when you slewed to a different object,  you don't have to move your bum an inch!"

[Andy ES]

35 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

The difference of good and bad seeing from me

Nigella, I think we have only ever seen good seeing from you.

 

[Nigella Bryant]

16 minutes ago, Andy ES said:

Nigella, I think we have only ever seen good seeing from you.

 

If only Andy, if only, lol 😆 

[AstroMuni]

19 hours ago, Mark2022 said:

I know there are guys on here who know the secrets of achieving this sort of result but it always seems to be "seeing" and ADCs and this and that. This 14 year old just points and shoots!

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉

[AstroMuni]

19 hours ago, Mark2022 said:

I know there are guys on here who know the secrets of achieving this sort of result but it always seems to be "seeing" and ADCs and this and that. This 14 year old just points and shoots!

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

[AstroMuni]

19 hours ago, Mark2022 said:

I know there are guys on here who know the secrets of achieving this sort of result but it always seems to be "seeing" and ADCs and this and that. This 14 year old just points and shoots!

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

[AstroMuni]

19 hours ago, Mark2022 said:

Frustrated! 😂 There are people on this forum saying "You won't achieve the detail of an 11 inch or 14 inch with an 8 inch" and then this little dude comes along and says "Check this out: 6 inch!".

I know there are guys on here who know the secrets of achieving this sort of result but it always seems to be "seeing" and ADCs and this and that. This 14 year old just points and shoots!

 Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

[Nigella Bryant]

Just now, AstroMuni said:

Perhaps its just time to admit that there are (more) things to learn from our younger generation and get on with it 😉 LOL

Don't have to repeat it, we get it, lol. I maybe nearly 65, but, lol.

[AstroMuni]

2 minutes ago, Nigella Bryant said:

Don't have to repeat it, we get it, lol. I maybe nearly 65, but, lol.

Apologies.. dont know what happened there 😞 Nothing happened when I pressed submit button, but looks like it did do something after all 🙏 Perhaps the fact that I am not too far from reaching that age too LOL

Edited October 2, 2023 by AstroMuni

[Nigella Bryant]

2 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Apologies.. dont know what happened there 😞 Nothing happened when I pressed submit button, but looks like it did do something after all 🙏 Perhaps the fact that I am not too far from reaching that age too LOL

Sign of aging, lol 😆