First ever Saturn 25/03/2011

[Rufusgj]

Hi All,

With all the gear arriving yesterday to power my mount and actually being able get outside with clear skies to try some imaging with the SPC900 here is my first attempt at Saturn.

Image taken under heavily light poluted skies (street light that is literally pointing down into my back garden) using Vlounge (couldn't get sharpcap working on laptop) Celestron C6 + TV 2xBarlow. 1min Mpeg converted to AVI and processed in Registax - 800 frames stacked.

I'm pleased with first attempt and can't wait to try again at a dark site! Had a few issues focussing - even with the crayford focusser attached to the SCT.

[Rufusgj]

My second processed image was without the barlow - a bit more detail can be seen.

[beamish]

It's a start, but don't use Vlounge or mpeg, try other free capture programs eg Firecapture or K3CCDTools the free version

[Rufusgj]

I never inteded to use Vlounge, but it was the first time I had used the camera and Sharpcap wouldn't install due to .net framework issues - I've solved those now so next time I expect to get much better results.

Thanks for the tip though.

Simon

[Taff]

Hi' Weldone on your first capture of saturn.Mark

[mario11]

nice tray

[prbaxter]

I think captures like this are more exciting than more detailed images sometimes. You really see what the viewer saw on night and can grasp the excitement that we all feel when we get our first view of something like Saturn.

Good effort. Be pleased with that. Thanks for sharing.

[Spikey]

That's a good effort for your first attempt.

[Rufusgj]

Thanks for all the comments,

I'm finding it really tricky to get the planet in sharp focus at the moment on the webcam. Can do this fine with eyepieces and make out Cassini Division really well!

Any help or tips would be much appreciated. Last night was a bit too windy when I tried so all my frames are blurred!

Simon

[prbaxter]

are you using any form of IR or red filter? that might help to get a sharper image.

[RogerTheDodger]

A good start there

[Rufusgj]

prbaxter - I've just got a Baeder UV/IR cut filter but i think last night was just too windy - hopefully some clear skies this evening or at the weekend. The image above was done without any filters.

Are there any other filters that may help?

Simon

[prbaxter]

the sky in your first image is very blue. Have you got the gain and saturation settings too high perhaps?

here is what I managed to grab from the telescope/spc900, preprocessing:

http://stargazerslounge.com/imaging-planetary/135218-saturn-19th-march-2011-a.html

also a bit of high level haziness may blur your image. I'd try again another night to rule out atmospheric disturbance.

[prbaxter]

I've run your image through photoshop and managed to sharpen it up a little, however there is a lot of trailing noise that has come through in the background which may be indicative of the viewing conditions.

[Rufusgj]

Thanks for that - I've had similar results using GIMP - you can spend hours and hours playing with these images! Great Fun!

I've just ordered a Bahtinov Mask to help with the focussing - so hope to post my results if we get a clear night this weekend!

I'm just trying to process some of the avi's from last night but I think they are a lot worse due to really poor conditions!

It's a steep learning curve but great fun!

Simon

[prbaxter]

if you want to put one of your AVI's online somewhere I could download it from then I wouldn't mind having a go at it.

It's cloudy here and I have none of my own to play with

[Rufusgj]

I don't have any avi's online but I do have the MP4 that the pic above was processed from (I had to convert it to AVI to use it in registax)

Saturn :: Video5.mp4 video by rufusgj - Photobucket

Simon

[prbaxter]

actually I reckon you've done as good as you can with that quality of video. There's loads of noise in the video and lots of movement. were you manually tracking? You do get the odd frame that is clearer than others which means there's scope for improvement.

The blue sky though, that's odd. I'd get the levels back down next time you have a go as any amplification will amplify noise as well as the objective. Sharpcap might solve nearly most of your issues!

[Rufusgj]

It was auto tracking - nexstar mount. Quite windy though and my back garden sits directly under a street light as well! So tempted to take an air gun to it!

Simon

[prbaxter]

stick a bucket over it or some sort of cover.

[Rufusgj]

Much better evening tonight - just captured over 10 mins of clips and had a quick play with registax. Very pleased with initial results, conditions better for seeing, collimation of SCT improved after a little tweeking. Still light pollution causing a problem in the back garden.

Image below taken with SPC900, 2x Barlow. 1000 frames at 10FPS, Gain 10 - Sharpcap.

Would love feedback on this one - how can I get it even better?

Simon