Jupiter, Europa transit 8/10 - first light DMK/Astronomik

[arad85]

Crikey, this imaging malarkey with filters is complex! First pass of Jupiter taken with a DMK21 and C9.25. This was probably the worst nights seeing I've had - looking at the videos looks like watching a jelly wobble!

Anyway - RGB, -> registax -> Astra Image deconvolve/wavelet -> PS for a slight tweak gives below.

Must say I'm pleased with the moons - they are from the image sequences alone - no cutting and pasting - and if you look closely you can see the motion of the moons between the different runs (all R/G/B completed within 8 minutes). Hopefully, not overprocessed but my monitors aren't properly calibrated so...

Anyway, I'm pleased with it - just seems a tad more natural than a bayered chip would give... Now just need to work on the processing.

As to settings: Brightness: 46, Gain 670-800 depending on channel, Shutter 1/60th, framerate 60fps, gamma 100, captured with IC Capture

[arad85]

To give you an idea how bad seeing was, here's a representative frame from the R channel...

[johnh]

Great to see you getting started but seeing is the biggest disappointment and unfortunately a regular thing, but when seeing is steady the mono cam will show its unique quality.

Not a bad image but that red frame looks terrible so you managed miracles with the result you got. With Jupiter I use 45 sec per channel so avoid rotation smudge, you will need to brighten the blue as scattering always makes it dimmer so using the histogram curve you can equalise it with the red/green.

John.

[resonator77]

is it possible to take shots such as yours above with Nextimage CCD celestron?

I have been attempting on several occassions but to no avail:(

some great images you got there:)

[beamish]

Well for wobbly-jelly seeing that's some result !!

Karlo

[rawhead]

Very nice Some really fine detail in there. You got me yearning for RGB...

Cheers

Jon

[legion48]

A great result given the conditions.

I have a B+W chipped SPC900 (along with the colour one) and I'm thinking of trying this RGB thing. I'm told it's best not to stint on the filters though?

[arad85]

Thanks for all the positive comments It really does look like a jelly wobbling in the raws - hats off to Registax! Also, that was a quick process - I'm packing for a few days away and wanted to see what it was like before I left...

Tony: I was lucky as I was able to pick up my wheel and filters second hand (thanks johnh ) and that enabled me to buy a DMK. Without the second hand filters, I wouldn't have been able to stretch to a DMK. Glad I did as I'm really pleased given the starting point... Even applying some wavelets in Registax as a test (I didn't use wavelets in registax at all for these - but in astra image) showed far better detail than I am used to with the SPC900.

I also imaged a luminance (I have LRGB filter set) and that was total pants, so I didn't bother using it.

@johnh - will have a play with the processing again when I get back - thanks for the tip about blue and thanks for the filters/wheel!

[Brinders]

is it possible to take shots such as yours above with Nextimage CCD celestron?

I have been attempting on several occassions but to no avail:(

some great images you got there:)

Yes, I believe so, although it very much depends on good "seeing", collimation and luck! See my image from earlier this week here:-

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/88781-jupiter-october-5-2009-a.html

Also, I found that K3CCD Tools for some unaccountable reason gave better captures than wxAstroCapture.

Brinders

[resonator77]

Yes, I believe so, although it very much depends on good "seeing", collimation and luck! See my image from earlier this week here:-

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/88781-jupiter-october-5-2009-a.html

Also, I found that K3CCD Tools for some unaccountable reason gave better captures than wxAstroCapture.

Brinders

I cant get my K3CCD to work, it will not recognize Neximage Celestron CCD as a device:icon_scratch:

any advice you could give on that?

[legion48]

.

Tony: I was lucky as I was able to pick up my wheel and filters second hand (thanks johnh ) and that enabled me to buy a DMK. Without the second hand filters, I wouldn't have been able to stretch to a DMK. Glad I did as I'm really pleased given the starting point... Even applying some wavelets in Registax as a test (I didn't use wavelets in registax at all for these - but in astra image) showed far better detail than I am used to with the SPC900.

I'm wondering if I should just get a colour version as I rarely get more than an hour per session to image and using filters would eat into the little time I do get. I know that RGB is the way to go but surely a colour DFK would be an improvement on a colour SPC900? I could even sell my mono SPC900 to part fund the purchase.

[Brinders]

I cant get my K3CCD to work, it will not recognize Neximage Celestron CCD as a device:icon_scratch:

any advice you could give on that?

I have had no problems with K3CCD Tools. Make sure you have clicked on Microsoft WDM Image Capture under the drop down menu "Video Capture" and select "Preview" under the same menu, so that you can see the image on screen to focus and capture.

It may be obvious, but the Neximage needs to be conected to a telescope via the visual back on an SCT or the draw tube of a refractor. Try focusing in and out, as sometimes an image way out of focus will not show up on screen. With an SCT, you can have problems with image shift as you focus and the image of your subject may disappear off screen. I find an 8mm eyepiece at prime focus (i.e. without the star diagonal) usually helps to get the image centred and almost in focus once it is substituted for the camera.

Finally, play around with brightness and gain to make sure you can see an image on the laptop screen. Once you have you can, adjust those settings again to get a correctly exposed image. Slight under exposure is best as the image will brighten when the AVIs are stacked in Registax.

Hope that helps,

Brinders

[Clayton]

Nice shot:icon_salut:

I'm wondering if I should just get a colour version as I rarely get more than an hour per session to image and using filters would eat into the little time I do get. I know that RGB is the way to go but surely a colour DFK would be an improvement on a colour SPC900? I could even sell my mono SPC900 to part fund the purchase.

Kokatha Man uses the one shot colour camera, and has quite a bit to say on plus's and minus's on various forums. The bottom line is that the end result is pretty much the same. His images are to dream for IMHO and that is testament to the capabilities of the OSC camera. Personally I wouldn't hesitate unless I was into Deep Sky stuff with exotic filters.

[resonator77]

I have had no problems with K3CCD Tools. Make sure you have clicked on Microsoft WDM Image Capture under the drop down menu "Video Capture" and select "Preview" under the same menu, so that you can see the image on screen to focus and capture.

It may be obvious, but the Neximage needs to be conected to a telescope via the visual back on an SCT or the draw tube of a refractor. Try focusing in and out, as sometimes an image way out of focus will not show up on screen. With an SCT, you can have problems with image shift as you focus and the image of your subject may disappear off screen. I find an 8mm eyepiece at prime focus (i.e. without the star diagonal) usually helps to get the image centred and almost in focus once it is substituted for the camera.

Finally, play around with brightness and gain to make sure you can see an image on the laptop screen. Once you have you can, adjust those settings again to get a correctly exposed image. Slight under exposure is best as the image will brighten when the AVIs are stacked in Registax.

Hope that helps,

Brinders

Thanks for the advice Brinders:icon_salut: