Embarrassing Jupiters webcam clinic

[Space Cowboy]

The 200 auto will make a big difference Tom! Extra aperture means more light so that more focal length can be used gaining that much more detail. I'm guessing the 200 is f6? You will need a 4 or 5x barlow to get the f25-30 range needed. Or a 3x barlow plus an extension tube which can be another barlow with the lens removed will produce the desired 4-5x increase in fl.

What cam settings did you use for that Jupiter shot as there are onion rings visible which can mean either video compression from having too high a frame rate i.e over 15fps or gain too low i.e under 50% or even gamma too high (best to keeop gamma at 0).

[tomlines]

That was through the 130p with a 2x barlow so i will definatly invest in higher mag barlow, any suggestions?

i think i remember playing with the gain so it may of been too low/high

if i remember rightly i avoid high fps. possibly around 5, i think the 'onion ringing' was just my heavy hands on wavelet settings in registax

i have read as much as i can while at work

some very quick questions if possible

IR filter for this cam........worth getting?

will it work ok with the new scope? it is an f6 but to be honest i dont really understand the f-ratio stuff when capturing through a scope

are there any perticulaer (relatively cheap) 4 or 5x barlows you would recommend,

by the way your webcam images are ridiculous!! when i purchase my 200 auto, if i can get any where near that i would be so happy.

is it even worth considering deep space with this cam?

would it pick up the orion nebula at all?

sorry for so many questions. just getting excited for my new scope and its capabilities :-)

regards and many thanks again

[Russe]

Please help. What r 'onion rings?'

[tomlines]

ONONS IN BATTER ...........

I DIDNT WANNA SOUND STUPID BY NOT KNOWING BUT IM GUESSING IT WAS THE LINES YOU SEE CIRCLING THE IMAGE

IF YOU LOOK AT THE PLANET THERE IS A CIRLCE WITHIN A CIRCLE WITHIN A CIRCLE. LIKE ITS KINDA TOO BRIGHT

WELL THIS WAS MY UNDERSTANDING. THERE IS A VERY GOOD CHANCE THIS IS WRONG AND NOW I AM IN DANGER OF LOOKING EVEN STUPIDER THEN BEFORE LOL

[Russe]

[DrRobin]

Hi Tom,

If you can get your hands on a Tal 3x Barlow, they are supposed to be good and not too expensive. I like the Televue barlows but unless you find a good 3x at a decent price they do tend to be expensive.

Your 200mm scope will give lower exposure times over your 130 due to the large aperture, quite by how much on Jupiter, I am unsure, but it will allow you to use a fater frame rate.

Imaging allows you to use much higher magnification than visual, I recently used a 5x Barlow on a Skywatcher 200 mm with no problem at all.

As regards deep space, I recently took a photo of the Orion nebular using 90 second exposures, but a fair bit of detail was visible on 2 second exposure used whilst trying to set the focus. If you took a reasonable quantity of 2-3 second exposure and stacked them using Deep Sky Stacker then I think you would result in a half way decent image.

[Wilfred]

This is my 2nd attempt at Jupiter, the first was a grey stripy blob.

I have managed to get some colour but I can't seem to get the focus right. I am using a motor focuser and even on the slow setting its difficult to achieve proper focus.

Have to keep practising I suppose.

http://stargazerslounge.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=80100&stc=1&d=1329690273

[DrRobin]

Hi Wilfred,

Try over exposing and focus on one of Jupiter's moons. It's much easier to get sharp focus on a moon than trying to focus on one of Jupiter's features. Just remember to turn the exposure back down before you start your imaging run.

[Chiefwiggum]

Using a skywatcher 150p, philips SPC900 and skywatcher 2x barlow.

[tich]

I've got a 200P on an EQ5 GOTO mount & the last image of Jupiter I managed to get I used two 2X stacked Barlow lenses. With Registax I managed to get this image;

This is what I used to get the image;

[Stargazer Jack]

Very good image tich, what settings did you use?

[tich]

I think from memory I used settings similar to this. I recorded around a 1000

frames then stacked them, I sharpened the image up a bit using the

wavelets & then I finally done an RGB alignment all using Registax. The

webcam settings are only a rough guide as you may need to tweak them a

little before recordning the image.

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=10.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-6

Brightness=66

Contrast=39

Saturation=27

Gamma=0

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=38

[Stargazer Jack]

Thanks for them. I am struggling to get the right settings for my telescope so hopefully these should help as I keep getting onion rings on my Jupiter.

[Wilfred]

Thanks Dr Robin I will try that next time I can get out. It's been cloudy since then so no chance to get out. I gets a bit addictive this doesn't it. I have had the scope for a few years but have only just learnt how to set up the polarscope and how to polar align properly. Now I can track things it's suddenly become so much easier.

[JB80]

Can anybody point me to a good avistack tutorial for jupiter. I have just tried a reprocess of an old avi and bumbled my way through but I had made a few mistakes. I could find a couple using the Moon as an example but not the planets.

I think I'd like to use it more if I knew how.

[tomlines]

hi guys, back to this thread again :-)

with my 200 dob on auto tracking, how long an exposure do you expect i can take?

its finally been delivered and iv done some afocal stuff but wanna get back on jupiter before its gone

thanks

[Viv]

Hi all,

This is my first Jupiter, error of ony 5fps (will know better next time).

Picking up so many tips from this thread, thank you for all the help posted.

Pleased to have picked up a couple of the bands. Am starting to record a basic how to, with all the setting, more pratice, pratice, practice .........

[ccbmedic]

Firstly guys, apologies if im sounding like a parrot and repeating things already asked.

Im toying with the idea of selling my 127 Mak as I think planets and lunar isnt my thing however before I get rid of the 127 I thought I'd try a little webcam imaging using the 880 flashed to 900. So from this here are my questions.

Should I be seeing colour in my final stacked images?

A barlow will obviously make jupiter bigger...Is there a real difference in quality of barlows? i only have a cheapy from fleabay.

The images I have so far taken vary because obviously Im tinkering with different settings within sharpcap to at least try to achieve the best image. I have attached an image taken when I first got the 127 for crimbo and the second attached image was taken lastnight.

I have never truly got colour in my images even though I notice plenty of other people do using pretty much the same set up. Is this down to the seeing or my own ham fistedness?

In an ideal world I would love to keep my 127 as it was a gift for Christmas but if its not playing ball then alas its no good to me.

Any assistance would be of great help to me and I thank you kindly for any replies.

Regards,

Chris

ps...No IR filter....Should I be really using one and does it make a dramatic difference to what Im capturing already?

First Jupiter.bmp

[DrRobin]

Hi Chris,

Yes you should see colour. What settings are you using on Sharpcap? Looking at your image there is a bit of colour in your image, try boosting the saturation. Do you see more colour in the AVI?

I found that the Televue Barlows are very good and I understand the TAL barlows are good as well. A Celestron Ultima barlow should also be good.

For lower priced barlows I have a Revelation Astro 2.5 (actually gives 2x) which I like. I tried the 5x and it was so dark it was unusable, that was on a fast scope as well.

I would suggest that an IR filter is essential. IR and visible light converge at different points so it will make you image appear out of focus.

Hope this helps?

[littlebeagle]

I'm starting to get the hang of it just as it moves away, in order taken over the last couple of months.

[astrosphinx]

A very useful thread but I've not had an opportunity to read every post in detail and suspect by some of the replies my question has already been touched on so apologies for any repetition.

I've had an XLT150 reflector for a couple of years and recently upgraded to a SW 200PDS, one of the things I've noticed with my webcam imaging is a reduction in object size - reviewing my avi's Jupiter is notably smaller. Obviously a barlow x2, x3 or x5 will correct this to a certain extent.

Is there a mathematical reason for this, is it the FL (750mm on the 6" and 1000mm on the 8") ? Thanks in advance for any responses.

[Charlie_132]

Could someone explain how to stack a image and what software to use stepe by step ?

I have a logitech 4000 ccd with astro adapter fitted. Managed to find venus last night, couldn't get a good quality picture with the webcam and telescope alone. It just looked like a D at a angle. I'd like to see it as good as I see it through the telescope

[tich]

I found this tutorial on how to use registax on

there are others on there too which might help. As for Venus that is a tricky one to get right due to the brighness.

The best I've managed is this but I had to alter the saturation settings etc as it was quite orange to start with.

[Russe]

Well done

[neil phillips]

I found this tutorial on how to use registax on

there are others on there too which might help. As for Venus that is a tricky one to get right due to the brighness.

The best I've managed is this but I had to alter the saturation settings etc as it was quite orange to start with.

Actually that video is really rather wrong, first he doesnt even bother to optimize, second centre of gravity is often better than choose align point. third its often better to use multi points, which was the whole point of registax 6 over 5 ? 4th he uses the top wavelet which often unless the image is extremly smooth will tend to bring out the noise more than the detail. Im not sure if Darryl has done a reg6 tutorial on here but if not maybe at some point ill try to at least correct the shortcomings of this video by posting something up. This would be handy for a first day at school, type stack. but better to learn the correct way from the outset. even if it is a little more work.