First outing with NexImage -Jupiter at Salisbury SP

[AllanJ]

The first time I have used NexImage CCD, at the Salisbury Star Party. Scope was NexStar 4SE, with a 2xBarlow.The avi used was 40 sec at 10 fps. When it rained next day I manually selected the best looking 220 frames out of 400, then stacked 100 in Registax.

Allan

[Demonperformer]

Excellent first image

[TheThing]

Oh, that is sweet Allan! Well done, excellent first attempt. Isn't it satisfying to get something captured, but to get such a goody is a double result.

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Good first image. Why not let Registax loose on the whole batch, and let it select the best say 85%? That would improve your photon count, which reduces the noise. I also think you could try the RGB align of Registax, as I think there is some atmospheric dispersion affecting the image (red edge along bottom, blue edge along top).

Still good first go!

Cheers

Michael

[AllanJ]

Michael - thanks for the advice. I did the Registax processing on the full set initially, but then deselected frames where the belt didn't look very strong, and this gave me what seemed a more featured image. I'll try the RGB align later today.

Cheers,

Allan

[LostNSpace]

Lovely image Allan with your new toy

Mark

[russ]

Excellent first image Allan. Bet you can't wait to have another crack at it.

We did have a chat at SSP, can't remember which day though. Think it may have been Thursday.

[AllanJ]

I have done a complete reworking of the image with Registax 5 (I only had version 2 on my netbook), and I think it is somewhat improved.

Allan

Jup05Reg5a.bmp

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

S/N has improved, but at the expense of contrast and sharpness. Maybe tweak the wavelets in registax a bit, and increase the contrast with whatever image processing tool you prefer.

[AllanJ]

Michael - how's this?

I think I'll stop for now.

Allan

Jup05Reg5b1.bmp

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Looks better! The background could still be darker, I've got this from GIMP, using the color->curves menu item. I simply set the bottom end of the linear curve to slightly below the minimum grey level in the image. This stretches contrast linearly.

[AllanJ]

Thanks again Michael. I had played a bit more with the image last night, despite saying I was going to stop, and I had darkened the background. I also used a touch of Gaussian blur on a circular selection area covering the planet to remove a bit of graininess that had crept in, and this smoothed the features somewhat; since there wasn't a lot of non-linear detail it didn't seem to matter at that scale. Overall what surprised me was the difference between the processing by Registax 2, which came bundled with NexImage, and Registax 5, which I have now put on my travelling netbook as well as my desktop.

Next time I try Jupiter, I hope to do it with my 10" scope.

Allan