Mars Imaging Tips ?

[johnb]

Hi

I hope to try and image Mars this weekend im using

Skywatcher Explorer 250 OTA, Skywatcher EQ6 Pro SynScan, Philips SPC900NC ( I do have a 2x Barlow)

Looking for any tips, in particular what’s a good length of time to capture im assuming the longer the better ?. And are there optimum settings within K3ccdtools.

Regards

John B

[astrokat]

[ATTACH]31754[/ATTACH]

i cant help with this one though am interested in doing this aswell all my attempts are poo lol so any advice would be wicked im not sure what im doing wrong my be not a long enough focal lengh !!

[greenkat]

Hi Astrokat

I think you just have a touch of over-exposure there.

Try taking shorter exposures

Greenkat

[astrokat]

the shorter the expo the brighter it gets im using the software provided ic not sure what setting this should be on though with jupiter i was using 30fps then when i tryed wit\h mars at 30 it gets bright do i have to refocus

thanks toby

[greenkat]

Hi Toby

Not sure what equiptment you are using, but if you can use a higher frame rate (more frames per second) that might help.

You could also try using a moon filter to take some of the brightness out of mars so it doesnt over-expose.

[arad85]

the shorter the expo the brighter it gets im using the software provided ic not sure what setting this should be on though with jupiter i was using 30fps then when i tryed wit\h mars at 30 it gets bright do i have to refocus

thanks toby

The 30fps is the video rate. The exposure is determined by the slider. Last night I had it between 1/30th and 1/54. The 1/54 is a shorter exposure than the 1/30... If you are doing this right, the image will dim as you shorter the exposure. If it gets brighter - either you have some of the auto gains set to on, or you're not changing the right thing.

[astrokat]

is there a better program to use the dmk with im not doing some thing right that for sure

[arad85]

I love ICCapture.... The most versatile image capture program for webcams I have seen (not looked at the other high end stuff). Stick at it Toby and try clicking on the different options and see what they do to the image...

[Helen]

Just a couple of things with ICCapture Toby (just in case...). Can you see all the tool bars? if not you can get them up by going into view>toolbars>toolbar manager

You should then see various sliders along with values. You'll need to uncheck the auto box to be able to play with the settings though. The exposure value is the important one - equivalent of shutter speed.

HTH

Helen

[astrokat]

thank you very much i will have a play that should make it easyer ive just been clicking debayer and setting fps lol

toby