First ever Pics of Jupiter

[jasonp]

Hello all, after not doing any astronomy for ages, as you may have seen me introduce myself yesterday I got my first proper scope today.

Cloud coverage pretty much 90% and awful conditions, here is my first ever attempt at Jupiter using my Skywatcher 200P and Canon EOS300D

Was not using RAW, this is just a mere JPG, Literatley just got the scope out the box earlier and had a quick attempt.

After taking about 5 shots this was one of the best before the clouds just completley covered the sky.

To my surprise ISO was set at 100 @ 1/3 sec.

Im pretty happy considering the poor conditions and the 10 mins i got to spend outside

[DrNeb]

Beautiful mate.. really nice. I'm also very new! was planning on the 250px dob.

are you using a eq mount?

how did it look in the eye piece? could you see the cloud bands?

[jasonp]

Thanks

Through the eyepiece at 36X I did yes, but the sky was really really bad when I took this it was through some form of mist / cloud.

The mount is the EQ5 im really impressed with it ( gave me a workout ) due to weight LOL.

I cant stress how poorly prepared I was to take this Pic, Camera setting were wrong.

If you are geting a 250Px youre in for a treat

[Quatermass]

Nice shot. I have been out lots with my new sky watcher 200p and I am really getting into taking shots of the moon have a quick look on my blog below to see what you can do with a mobile phone camera pressed up against the 2xbarlow with the 10mm lens in. With your cannon you should be able to get some cracking shots when focused on the edge of the terminator. Love my 200p so much having a great time with it. Try the moon for some cool shots Jupiter is great at the moment and I can using the standard eye pieces with the scope see clearly the bands on the planet. A good clear night after some rain and a dark sky viewing area really helps though.

[jasonp]

Thats really Impressive. I will have to give that a try I am a little confused over using the Cam and how to get better magnifications ?? From my understanding I am using the Prime focus method??

So I must be limited on my EOS and my T adaptor ??

I am really really new to all this so any help would be much appreceiated.

Thanks

[Quatermass]

I am just as new to it as you I have yet to get a t adapter and still cant decide if I should be looking to get a ccd camera so I have joined my local astronomical society to learn from the guys that are into all this first and of course the fantastic help from this great forum. But I would say that I think starting imaging with the moon is well worth it to start off. The 2x barlow with the 10mm lens is great for close up shots along the terminators edge. I got a moon filter but too be honest I concentrate on the areas around the terminator of the moon and prefer to use the eye piece with out the filter in unless I am looking at the whole of the moon and its full.

[salmja79]

Hi gents,

Just read your post and I’m relatively new to astronomy as well but wanted to tell you the tips I’ve picked up over the last few years. I have tried some astro-imaging using a Skywatcher 130 and my canon 500D at prime focus (with T-Adapter). I found a 2x (or 3x) Barlow useful for this method as the focuser on my scope has a high profile and I just couldn’t get an image focused on the camera without the Barlow. The Live View function on the camera has been a blessing for focusing.

Due to the atmosphere constantly moving, taking single shots is a game of chance as it’s rare for the atmosphere above to be perfectly still and usually you will end up with a slightly blurred image. Therefore a number of amateurs will use a webcam (ideal for shooting images of the planets) or shoot video with their DSLR. Download a program called Registax (free) and this will discard bad frames from your video clips and stack the good frames together to give you a final sharp image that’s generally better than that you could achieve by taking a photo. Any webcam will do, I use a cheapo one tha cost around 15 pounds, though there are some recommended on this site as they have high frame rates and megapixels, check out a Phillips Toucam webcams), just remove the lens from your webcam (normally this can be unscrewed) to expose the sensor. An old 35mm film canister with the end cut off is a perfect fit for a 1.25” focuser. Glue/tape the 35mm film canister to your webcam and you can then slot this whole assembly into the focuser in place of an eyepiece. You will get an image of your planet etc on your laptop screen. It’s then a case of focusing and shooting a video, loading this into Registax and then giving yourself a pat on the back.

I have loaded an image I shot of the moon using my Skywatcher 130 with Canon 500D at prime focus.

Hope this helps

Sal

[oldfruit]

All things cosidered, not too bad at all.

[Quatermass]

Hi gents,

Just read your post and I’m relatively new to astronomy as well but wanted to tell you the tips I’ve picked up over the last few years. I have tried some astro-imaging using a Skywatcher 130 and my canon 500D at prime focus (with T-Adapter). I found a 2x (or 3x) Barlow useful for this method as the focuser on my scope has a high profile and I just couldn’t get an image focused on the camera without the Barlow. The Live View function on the camera has been a blessing for focusing.

Due to the atmosphere constantly moving, taking single shots is a game of chance as it’s rare for the atmosphere above to be perfectly still and usually you will end up with a slightly blurred image. Therefore a number of amateurs will use a webcam (ideal for shooting images of the planets) or shoot video with their DSLR. Download a program called Registax (free) and this will discard bad frames from your video clips and stack the good frames together to give you a final sharp image that’s generally better than that you could achieve by taking a photo. Any webcam will do, I use a cheapo one tha cost around 15 pounds, though there are some recommended on this site as they have high frame rates and megapixels, check out a Phillips Toucam webcams), just remove the lens from your webcam (normally this can be unscrewed) to expose the sensor. An old 35mm film canister with the end cut off is a perfect fit for a 1.25” focuser. Glue/tape the 35mm film canister to your webcam and you can then slot this whole assembly into the focuser in place of an eyepiece. You will get an image of your planet etc on your laptop screen. It’s then a case of focusing and shooting a video, loading this into Registax and then giving yourself a pat on the back.

I have loaded an image I shot of the moon using my Skywatcher 130 with Canon 500D at prime focus.

Hope this helps

Sal

Thanks for that Sal really helpful I have been thinking about getting a webcam and messing about with stacking software so might just dig out my old webcam and get it altered for a crack at astro vids;)

[salmja79]

All things cosidered, not too bad at all.

Thanks, It's got me keen to upgrade my scope.......now all i need is some cash!!

[jasonp]

I will dig out my webcam at some point ( logitech quickcam pro 4000)

Finally have a home for the Skywatcher 200 after it was taking up soo much space this week indoors. It now lives in the outside cupboard, so no cooling off

Looks like tonight will be the first time I will get nice skies and I can not wait... More to come

[Quatermass]

I have an old logitech somewhere must dig that out and give it a go. Brilliant night last night found a dark site between Bungay and Halesworth check out the level of light pollution on this cool website..

DaylightMap