Noob assistance required!

[Adaaam75]

Hi guys (when I say guys, that includes the girls too!)

I feel like i'm missing something obvious but I have scoured YouTube and can't find the obvious solution.

I have a ZWO 462 colour camera attached to a Baader Flipmirror attached to my Celestron 9.25. I tried to image Jupiter last night using Sharpcap and after aligning with Starsense (eventually, even though the sky was clear) I located Jupiter through the eyepiece and the camera and then focused using my Bahtinov mask via Sharpcap.

The live view via the laptop was blurred however I expected this having watched many imaging videos, but I was confident Jupiter was in focus. I also had a dew shield and heater to protect from moisture and started capturing. I packed up for the night and processed this morning and there was little to be done with the blurry results much to my disappointment. Seeing was good.

I did focus using Jupiter but had the "Star shape" to ensure the lines were in the middle and there was no dew on the corrector lens. What could have caused poor images considering Jupiter was so sharp through the eyepiece on the Flip Mirrior? I know there are issues if the camera's sensor is too far away from the scope but it's literally on a flip mirror which is directly connected to the scope with an adaptor.

I've added some images to give you an idea of what I'm on about. Any advice would be welcomed.

PIPP wouldn't even recognise some of the files??

Adam

[ONIKKINEN]

9 minutes ago, Adaaam75 said:

The live view via the laptop was blurred however I expected this having watched many imaging videos, but I was confident Jupiter was in focus. I also had a dew shield and heater to protect from moisture and started capturing. I packed up for the night and processed this morning and there was little to be done with the blurry results much to my disappointment. Seeing was good.

I did focus using Jupiter but had the "Star shape" to ensure the lines were in the middle and there was no dew on the corrector lens. What could have caused poor images considering Jupiter was so sharp through the eyepiece on the Flip Mirrior? I know there are issues if the camera's sensor is too far away from the scope but it's literally on a flip mirror which is directly connected to the scope with an adaptor.

It looks out of focus to me.

You really ought to focus using the live view through the camera and not with another method using a flip mirror, and you should take out any bahtinov masks (the star shape thing?). Focus is very important with planetary imaging and there is no such thing as spending too much time focusing, only start the recording when you are absolutely sure the image cannot be focused any better and even then you should re-check focus after every recording or at the very least after every second one.

[Cosmic Geoff]

You need to focus Jupiter via the laptop screen - you can use software aids or just focus on the cloud bands (I do the latter).  It may not look sharp but just focus for maximum sharpness. Alternatively temporarily brighten the image and focus on a moon. 

Your flip mirror assembly should have a separate focus adjustment for the eyepiece. However it does not matter if the eyepiece view is out of focus as you are only using it to line up the scope with the planet.

In short, the eyepiece and the camera are NOT parfocal.

[Adaaam75]

Right, that is reassuring in one sense guys, but I was under the impression the Bahtinov mask was a more accurate way of focusing than live view? Certainly last night I tried focusing via the laptop live view but there was little difference visually through small rotations of the focuser and I knew those small changes could make the difference between in/out of focus so I reverted to the mask.

I think I'll give the live view another go and focus on a star/moon, maybe this will help? Also, I did have doubts on using Jupiter when focusing as it's so big and maybe a star with the mask might produce more accurate spikes and focus?

 

[Kon]

I was out last night to do some imaging but the seeing was awful even in IR with overhead Jetstream. My images were too soft. Tuesday and Wednesday are looking promising this week.

As others said, always focus on features on the planet. I check my focus every 2-3 captures or so unless seeing is really stable.

 

What time did you image? Try when Jupiter is as high to reduce the atmospheric disturbance.

[Kon]

I just noticed in your pipp that you had 30fps at 800x600. The 462 should be around ~150fps at 10ms on this ROI. What exposures were you doing?

[Adaaam75]

On 07/01/2024 at 16:59, Kon said:

I was out last night to do some imaging but the seeing was awful even in IR with overhead Jetstream. My images were too soft. Tuesday and Wednesday are looking promising this week.

As others said, always focus on features on the planet. I check my focus every 2-3 captures or so unless seeing is really stable.

 

What time did you image? Try when Jupiter is as high to reduce the atmospheric disturbance.

I could only get it as focused as the image seen on PIPP, I couldn't focus any clearer. I'm wondering if there was condensation on the camera lens/flip mirror....

[Adaaam75]

On 07/01/2024 at 17:07, Kon said:

I just noticed in your pipp that you had 30fps at 800x600. The 462 should be around ~150fps at 10ms on this ROI. What exposures were you doing?

I'll be honest I'm not sure, I played with the exposure time to keep the gain down keeping it at an appropriate level of brightness. 150fps @ 10ms? That's good to know.

The seeing was okay where I was and it was still through the eye piece, I'm wondering if if was moisture on the camera lens/mirror but they weren't exposed at all. I'm just guessing 🤷🏻