Embarrassing Jupiters webcam clinic

[drewk1]

and another:

Would using a Barlow improve things?

I have the webcam straight into the focuser.

[Space Cowboy]

You've got some good detail there well done! A barlow brings out more detail but without tracking you will find the extra focal length very difficult to control. Looks like colour balance needs some attention in Registax select auto RGB balance on the wavelet page.

[drewk1]

Thanks for the comments.

I'll have another play with Registax as i'm understanding it a lot more now, just need to fully read the manual and understand the effects of all the options.

Looks like the rest of the week is going to be cloudy here so lots of time to learn the software side now.

[TheThing]

Here is my effort: -

Lots going wrong here!

This is my first attempt at LRGB imaging with a mono modified SPC900 - except I forgot to capture the L image! Taken with a SW200p using SharpCap. I took 30 seconds per channel - about 750 frames - at 30fps. Stacked in Registax following Odd Dob's brilliant guide.

Too much moisture in the atmosphere - light pollution from London was making the sky orange, plus my scope was out of collimation - schoolboy error!

I was under the impression that anything more than 2 mins total exposure time would leading to blurring as Jupiter rotates, but perhaps I am mistaken in this? Would more frames and longer avis give me better detail?

Obviously the L image would be of help!

[Stargazer51N]

Hi, I've been reading all the tips (and tutorials) in this fantastic thread and I now have a few questions ...

1) I'm using SharpCap. I can't find some of the settings posted on here (e.g. exposure) in the SharpCap camera control panel. Should I be using the camera settings tab or WcCtrl to set up my SPC900 during capture?

2) Assuming that I should be using WcCtrl, do the figures given in the threads refer to % or actual values (i.e. do I need to tick the 'Show raw units' box in the WcCtrl options)?

3) My scope has rack and pinion focusing. Does anybody have any tips for easier focusing?

4) Would I be better of using my Celestron SLT refractor (102, 660, f6.47) instead of the (150, 1200, f8) newtonian reflector?

5) Any comments on how to improve my image (below) would be very welcome.

First attempt at capturing Jupiter. Second go at processing in Registax 5.1 following Kokatha Man's excellent tutorial - thanks.

Bresser Messier N150, 1200, f8 reflector on driven EQ mount

Philips SPC880 flashed to SPC900

Tal 1.5x Barlow

Sharpcap settings

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=10.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-6

Brightness=64

Contrast=32

Saturation=0

Gamma=21

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=255

Gain=12

[Space Cowboy]

Here is my effort: -

This is my first attempt at LRGB imaging with a mono modified SPC900 - except I forgot to capture the L image! Taken with a SW200p using SharpCap. I took 30 seconds per channel - about 750 frames - at 30fps. Stacked in Registax following Odd Dob's brilliant guide.

Too much moisture in the atmosphere - light pollution from London was making the sky orange, plus my scope was out of collimation - schoolboy error!

I was under the impression that anything more than 2 mins total exposure time would leading to blurring as Jupiter rotates, but perhaps I am mistaken in this? Would more frames and longer avis give me better detail?

Obviously the L image would be of help!

Yeah that image is either out of focus/collimation, affected by dew or your scope was not properly cooled.

My first impression was that it needed more wavelet processing, what settings did you use? I have updated the Registax tutorial list below might be worth trying those settings.

30fps is way too much for the USB 1.1 spc webcam and will cause video compression issues. Best to use 10 fps and take a longer AVI i.e 1 minute per channel. 3-4 mins is best for Jupiter though I see on here Big Als latest superb shot with the spc was 10fps over 5mins!

Some folk have had success using 20fps but 30fps is too much for sure.

[Space Cowboy]

Here are some useful links:

Webcam control settings program (works with different capture programs)

WcCtrl - Description

Webcam imaging tutorials:

Digital Astrophotography Beginner's Guide - Article

Webcam Astrophotography Tutorial for Planets

More Registax tutorials :

Starizona's Guide to CCD Imaging

Dave's Astronomy Pictures - Techniques: Registax Tutorial for Planetary processing

Avi video cropping (very good to use when a Planet has drifted during capture, crops and fixes image to help stacking in Registax)

Webcam Astrophotography by Emil Kraaikamp - Castrator

Registax 6 tutorial :

http://www.sunspot51.com/Registax6/Registax6.htm

Kokatha Man's excellent Registax 5.1 tutorial:

http://stargazerslounge.com/primers-tutorials/110593-registax5-1-dbk21-colour-cam-tutorial.html

[Space Cowboy]

Hi, I've been reading all the tips (and tutorials) in this fantastic thread and I now have a few questions ...

1) I'm using SharpCap. I can't find some of the settings posted on here (e.g. exposure) in the SharpCap camera control panel. Should I be using the camera settings tab or WcCtrl to set up my SPC900 during capture?

2) Assuming that I should be using WcCtrl, do the figures given in the threads refer to % or actual values (i.e. do I need to tick the 'Show raw units' box in the WcCtrl options)?

3) My scope has rack and pinion focusing. Does anybody have any tips for easier focusing?

4) Would I be better of using my Celestron SLT refractor (102, 660, f6.47) instead of the (150, 1200, f8) newtonian reflector?

5) Any comments on how to improve my image (below) would be very welcome.

First attempt at capturing Jupiter. Second go at processing in Registax 5.1 following Kokatha Man's excellent tutorial - thanks.

Bresser Messier N150, 1200, f8 reflector on driven EQ mount

Philips SPC880 flashed to SPC900

Tal 1.5x Barlow

Sharpcap settings

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=10.00

Colour Space / Compression=YUY2

Exposure=-6

Brightness=64

Contrast=32

Saturation=0

Gamma=21

ColorEnable=255

BacklightCompensation=255

Gain=12

That is an excellent image! I'm surprised it looks so good as your Gain setting is too low and Gamma too high this can cause contrast issues and sometimes onion ringing though yours looks ok. Generally gamma should be set at 0 and gain above 50%. I always used the WcCtrl program as i found the percentage settings easier to follow and used the same settings no matter which capture software I was using the only thing you need to watch is that the frame rate is the same on wcctrl and the capture program.

I would stick with the Newtonian scope as planetary imaging is all about aperture and focal length (the bigger the better). Your refractor will produce a very small image.

Using a Bahtinov mask to focus on a near by star is a popular method of focusing. Focusing on one of Jupiters moons is another good method (best to have max gain to enhance the moon when focusing then return to capture setting). increasing the frame rate to 20fps will also help focusing (then return to 10fps for capture).

Glad you are finding the thread useful

[RogerTheDodger]

I think this thread is brilliant, thanks for the advice on mine BTW

[Stargazer51N]

Thanks for your feedback Space Cowboy. I guess I just got lucky with my first go! Changing the frame rate during focus and focussing on one of the moons is a great suggestion - I'll try those next time I get a chance

[listy]

great imaige

[scarecrow]

here is my second attempt. I think my problem is i have never collimated my scope since i have had it so thats something i need to get sorted. Was using my new 2.5x barlow and that improved the size. I had a problem with the camera tho as it wouldnt run in lx mode. It said it was not configured to use so if anyone has some info on that, that would be great.

It was also london skies so i was not really expecting much anyway

[Space Cowboy]

Very good scale there! You only need lx mode (long exposure) for deep sky imaging and the cam would need to be modified for that purpose.

Collimation could be an issue for sure as this will make focusing more difficult.

What webcam are you using?

[scarecrow]

Its a SPC900NC flashed from telescope house. Im sure it worked the first time i tried it but could be wrong.

[Space Cowboy]

Ok well, as long as you have gain above 50% and gamma 0-10% you should get some very good shots.

[moriniboy]

Heres my go with my 150P, 2 x powermate and SPC880 / IR filter

How can I get more detail?

Jupiter 2.bmp

Sorry photo does not seem to want to attach, will update later

[tiredboy]

Great thread (will read through it all later, especially once I've had some attempts myself).

As a slight tangent, something that may be useful when determining how good our images are would be a "this is my picture of Jupiter using xxxxxx and SPC880 (or similar)" thread. If people posted their photos and (scope details) as a beginner such as myself it would be easier to see if we were on the right lines (trying to compare my images from a small scope against something much better just means I expect too much).

[Space Cowboy]

Heres my go with my 150P, 2 x powermate and SPC880 / IR filter

How can I get more detail?

More focal length will give the extra detail. Most planetary imagers shoot at f20-30. Your scope is f5 so 2x is only giving f10 you would need a 4 or 5x barlow or maybe a 3x barlow with extension tube (this can be a barlow with the lens removed).

[Space Cowboy]

Great thread (will read through it all later, especially once I've had some attempts myself).

As a slight tangent, something that may be useful when determining how good our images are would be a "this is my picture of Jupiter using xxxxxx and SPC880 (or similar)" thread. If people posted their photos and (scope details) as a beginner such as myself it would be easier to see if we were on the right lines (trying to compare my images from a small scope against something much better just means I expect too much).

Glad you like the thread In general folk do quote their setup when posting images but I know what you mean. Often it can be the other way and people don't realise the potential of their equipment.

[zimzimma]

Hello,

I have brought spc900nc from astronomiser, it has lx and amp off mods which work great. Jupiter is being more of a problem though. I took this video the other week comprising of approx 600frames(but thnk i had setting at 25fps +) pp in PS. I just cant get the detail others can on here. I was using the revolution x2 barlow with baader contrast/sky glow filter. I know this because I keep thinking that its the skies above pollution etc but good old rodger the dodger has proved me wrong again as he only lives down the road from me and produced another excellent image on here.......gggrrrrrr, ha ha good on ya mate. Any tips greatly appreciated.

[Space Cowboy]

Your not far off with that image just a couple of tweaks and you will be knocking out some nice images. Its hard to say where you are going wrong without knowing what settings your using. The image is over exposed for one thing though not sure if thats to do with processing. Colour balance is good. You really need a 4 or 5x barlow assuming your using a 8" newt is that f5 or f6?. Anyhow you want to be imaging between f25-30 to really pull some detail out.

I don't think a sky glow filter is really necessary for planetary imaging...light pollution is not an issue with these bright objects. All you need is a UV/IR filter.

Obviously stable seeing is going to make a big difference and making sure your imaging when Jupiter is over 40 degrees alt.

[Barry]

This was captured on 287 Sept with an SPC880, separate capture for the moons. On previous attempts I could only get a bright white disc so there is some improvement. Focussing is still really difficult though.

Jupiter and Moons.bmp

Barry

[Barry]

This was captured on 287 Sept with an SPC880, separate capture for the moons. On previous attempts I could only get a bright white disc so there is some improvement. Focussing is still really difficult though.

[ATTACH]70630[/ATTACH]

Barry

Even more embarrassed now - trying a jpeg.

[Space Cowboy]

Looks pretty good to me Barry! What scope and settings are you using?

[Barry]

Looks pretty good to me Barry! What scope and settings are you using?

Thanks, Space Cowboy. I used a Celestron 5SE with an SPC880 on SharpCap. I think it was 10 or 15fps, no gamma, exposure very low. I used the slider for exposure so I don't know what the individual exposure time was.

The hardest part was focussing the 5SE accurately. I also tried a 2x barlow but could not find Jupiter with it!

Barry