Jupiter + Saturn 09/10 Jan

[cgarry]

After the weeks of bad weather I finally managed to get a look through my new (new to me anyway) C9.25.

The session was plagued with problems such as sinking tripod legs, dew on the primary mirror and flat power tank. However, I still really enjoyed it and was really impressed by the scope. The flat power tank actually forced me to take a break (well go to bed!) for a few hours to charge the tank, without which I would probably not have got the shot of Saturn.

So onto the images:

Jupiter 08/01/2011 18:19 (Loads of dew on primary mirror):

Saturn 09/01/2011 05:41:

Cheers,

Chris

[oldfruit]

Looking at your images, if these were taken with all the problems you mentioned then i would love to see your results when the conditions are better.

[cgarry]

I am hoping for a another chance at Jupiter tonight without the dew problems. I think the Jupiter image is a little bit soft because of the dew.

In fairness the conditions for Saturn were excellent, no dew and the best seeing I have seen in ages. I spent some time looking at Saturn through a 10mm Radian (x235 magnification) and the view was spectacular easily seeing 4 moons. I even spend some time using an 8mm TV Plossl (x293 magnification) which in moments of stillness gave breathtaking views.

[iamzoso60]

Fine images. I too have a C9.25 which i haven't had chance to use yet, but we have clear skies and I've just put scope outside to cool. Hope I can get some images like yours.

[cgarry]

Fine images. I too have a C9.25 which i haven't had chance to use yet, but we have clear skies and I've just put scope outside to cool. Hope I can get some images like yours.

Thanks for the reminder, I had forgotten to put my scope out to cool.

Good luck with your C9.25 first light.

Cheers,

Chris

[cgarry]

And another Jupiter image from this evening with clear mirrors:

Jupiter 09/01/2011 17:59:

Cheers,

Chris

[astroman001]

Some promising results there, especially as you had some issues. Well done.

regards

Peter

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Nice first try, especially with dew problems. I suppose you mean you had dew on your corrector plate. If so, a dew shield (I have the Celestron) works wonders. I do not feel the need for any active dew control. I store my C8 in a cold Garage, which keeps it out of the way of the missus and reduces cooling time a lot.

Cheers

Michael

[cgarry]

Nice first try, especially with dew problems. I suppose you mean you had dew on your corrector plate. If so, a dew shield (I have the Celestron) works wonders. I do not feel the need for any active dew control. I store my C8 in a cold Garage, which keeps it out of the way of the missus and reduces cooling time a lot.

Cheers

Michael

Thanks. The dew was actually on the primary mirror. I think the inside of the tube got damp because I stored the OTA in my very damp unheated conservatory in anticipation of a clear night. I do have a dew shield and dew heater but the flat tank made the dew heater a bit useless!

In the end I left the diagonal off for a while to allow drier air to get in. It cleared up after a while so I must have done something right.

Looking at the Saturn image, it seems to have come out a bit blue. I guess that is down to my processing, more practice needed.

Cheers,

Chris

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

It is also a matter of getting the colour balance right at capture. If a channel is underexposed fiddling with the settings afterwards leads to quantization artefacts. It looks a bit like the colour balance was set to indoor lighting/ incandescent light, rather than outdoor/sunlight which is a better starting point (but still needs fiddling). In wxAstrocapture I set the balance such that the histograms of all colour channels use almost the full dynamic range (but do not saturate). If set in this way, postprocessing can be used to get the desired balance afterwards.

[cgarry]

I use SharpCap to capture the video and I can't see a setting for colour balance. There is a "Colour Space / Compression" setting that I have never understood or changed. It has always been set to I420, whatever that means!

Is it worth giving wxAstrocapture a go?

Cheers,

Chris

[resonator77]

I like the saturn Chris

nice one

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I use SharpCap to capture the video and I can't see a setting for colour balance. There is a "Colour Space / Compression" setting that I have never understood or changed. It has always been set to I420, whatever that means!

Is it worth giving wxAstrocapture a go?

Cheers,

Chris

The colour space simply sets the way colour information is stored. I420 is a format Registax and the like understands, so no change needed there. Usually there is a camera settings menu item, and the colour balance (I think in SharpCap the term is whitebalance) of the camera can be set there. wxAstrocapture is certainly worth a go. It is free, and I like its simplicity.

[cgarry]

I like the saturn Chris

nice one

Thanks Ramis, I think having an excellent scope helps a lot!

The colour space simply sets the way colour information is stored. I420 is a format Registax and the like understands, so no change needed there. Usually there is a camera settings menu item, and the colour balance (I think in SharpCap the term is whitebalance) of the camera can be set there. wxAstrocapture is certainly worth a go. It is free, and I like its simplicity.

Good information, thanks. I have found the white balance setting in SharpCap and it was set to auto, I think setting this to Outdoor will solve the blue planet problem.

Now I just need to cassini division to show itself and I will be happy. Of course this requires the clouds to clear at some point...

Cheers,

Chris

[cgarry]

I managed to drag myself out of bed first thing this morning in an effort to improve on my Saturn efforts. This time I had the white balance set to Outdoor instead of Auto.

Saturn 19/01/2011 05:31.

I am pleased that the nasty blue colour has gone now, but I have still not managed to capture any more detail. Maybe I am being unrealistic hoping to capture the Cassini Division at this time, with my kit from my location. I shall check the scope's collimation when I get a chance, just in case!

Cheers,

Chris

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The kit should be OK, given that I have got the Cassini Division with my C8 in the past. A bit more aggressive wavelet filtering can bring out a lot more detail.

[oldfruit]

I managed to image Saturn yesterday morning and have similar results to you, i think my focus was a little off and i dont think i took enough frames in my capture plus i have been told it looks a little under exposed. Just finding my feet really.

I will attatch my effort as a comparison, but you have a slightly bigger scope so i`m sure we will be seeing much improved efforts from you in the near future, as i hope i will be getting too.

sat 2.bmp

[cgarry]

I managed to image Saturn yesterday morning and have similar results to you, i think my focus was a little off and i dont think i took enough frames in my capture plus i have been told it looks a little under exposed. Just finding my feet really.

I will attatch my effort as a comparison, but you have a slightly bigger scope so i`m sure we will be seeing much improved efforts from you in the near future, as i hope i will be getting too.

It is quite reassuring that we are getting similar levels of detail, that makes me feel I am not doing it completely wrong! When I get a cloudy night I shall spend some time playing with the processing and see if I can bring out a bit more detail as michael.h.f.wilkinson suggests.

I'm sure we will have results to rival Damian Peach in no time!

[oldfruit]

Reassuring for me too. To be honest though there are a lot of different settings for capture etc etc. I did not spend enough time on the focus and i am kicking myself now.

Processing is as you say about adjusting the wavelets and all the other bits. A lot to take in but i can honestly say i find the imaging side is becoming addictive. I was up again at 3am today but it was cloudy, so i went back to bed. Looking good for here tomorrow morning though.

Wishing us both luck for our next captures.

[cgarry]

It has been a while, but I finally got some more time in on Saturn. This is my latest effort:

Saturn 08/03/2011 01:43 AM.

I decided to post in this thread rather than create a new one so that the image could be compared to my previous attempts. I know Saturn is better placed than it was back in January when the previous images were taken, but I think the improvement in detail are mainly down to collimating the scope.

Cheers,

Chris

[oldfruit]

Much better image. You have captured the storm on the disc well too.

[cgarry]

Much better image. You have captured the storm on the disc well too.

Thanks oldfruit, I think I am finally starting to get the hang of this now. Though there is always more to learn!

Cheers,

Chris

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Very nice capture. I could not resist trying to modify the colour balance a bit, stretching blue and reducing green a bit, as it seems a bit greenish to me.

[cgarry]

Nice work Michael, you have definitely improved the colour. It was a bit strong in the original.

Cheers,

Chris

[4lefts]

fantastic images cgarry - it's really great to see the progress over a few weeks. wish i could do that.