Jupiter animation

[lukebl]

Hi all,

I've had a plan to image Jupiter over a period of nights, and then join the images together in an animation to get a complete rotation of the planet.

This has failed completely due to cloud, variability of seeing, exposure settings, boredom or whatever. However, here's my attempt at 2 hours-worth this evening, based on 100-second movies shot every 15 minutes. It's a bit jerky as the seeing varied from fair to diabolical. There was a period around 21:10 when the seeing was really good, but deteriorated rapidly towards the end.

Just wondered if this is about the best that can be achieved with a 200mm Skywatcher, 3x Barlow and an SPC900 webcam. Or could I do better if I sorted out my collimation/webcam settings/seeing?

Any comments would be welcome.

Best wishes,

Luke

[Kokatha man]

They're very respectable images Luke.....wouldn't mind seeing a couple more singles from the animated sequence posted.

Collimation is one area where huge improvements can be made if the scope's collimation is out, and refining your capture settings is also beneficial.....but I have to say that collimation and seeing are "king" as they say.....

Allways check collimation before starting any imaging session is the mantra!

Without in any way down-grading your images I am sure there are considerable advances you can still make with your scope in the above.....as you've noted, seeing can vary over a session and it is not unusual at all to find at any one specific timespan seeing can suddenly improve (or degrade!!!) markedly - that's why we have to be prepared for the long haul during a night's imaging session....!

I'm still searching for that night of top seeing even though it is well past opposition.....everyone sets bar heights that they hope (and/or pray:rolleyes:) they can top that "next time".....but full marks for this effort!!!:)

[lukebl]

.....but full marks for this effort!!!

Many thanks for the kind comments, although I can't possibly approach the quality of the fine images you've been posting. ...not unless I get some new kit and move to some clearer skies in the southern hemisphere!

Kind regards,

Luke

[lukebl]

Here's another version with a bit of tweaking on curves and contrast.

Regards,

Luke

[Stardust]

well it looks pretty good to me, I had my first go last night and would have been very pleased if it had turned out like yours.

[AztecastroMcJ]

nice1

like 2nd animation best

James

[Clayton]

I love the sharpness and detail you have captured.:headbang:

And wondered what adjusting the levels would achieve:icon_scratch:

I hope you don't mind me tinkering??

[lukebl]

I hope you don't mind me tinkering??

Many thanks, Clayton, tinker away!

I'd like to get better detail, but I think I'm getting to the limit of my webcam/scope/seeing combo, particularly with Jupiter so low in the sky.

... or could I still get more?

Regards,

Luke

[oceanheadted]

That's a great animation. Where are you?