First play with SPC900...

[Keiran]

Hi all,

This is the first night in a very long time that i have had clear skie.... So, i decided to give my new SPC900 first light.

Jupiter... 2x barlow, stacked in registax 5 and 6000 frames.

Thanks Guys

[TheThing]

Nice one Keiran. Good first attempt. Was that with the 200?

[jgs001]

Nice one Kieran, it's a good start. 6000 frames, how long did that take ? It may be, that you have got surface blurring thanks to the rotation of the planet coming into effect (I reckon that's 10 minutes at 10 fps).

[Keiran]

Well it was alittle over 6000 frames, at 30 fps, and it was i think somewhere around 4 mins... i dont really know what i am doing with a webcam yet, does it make any difference with what frame rate you use.

I took this with my 200p, but i think it needs collimating, and it was a last min decision...

[jgs001]

Ah ok... the spc900 is USB1.1, which means that the video stream gets compressed on transfer to the PC and you lose detail if you go beyond about 10 fps. I was calculating based on the 10 fps level. I don't think in four minutes you get rotation issues (from what I've been able to work out).

[TheThing]

Maybe try a slower fps rate next time? I took my last image at 10 fps.

[Keiran]

ah thanks... so keep it to 10fps or lower, and what about amount of frames.... is there a maximum time the ccd should be active?

[jgs001]

I normally only capture about 1000 frames. I think I did 800 frames last time I used the SPC900.. but I reckon up to 1500 would be fine.

[TheThing]

For Jupiter it's more of a time issue. As it rotates so quickly, you need to keep capture time down to sub 10 mins, otherwise the rotation will cause blurring.

Get as many as you can in that time with a lower frame rate.

[Keiran]

Thanks people.... If its clear tonight ill give it another go.