Orpington Astronomical Society

Astronomy => Astrophotography => Topic started by: The Thing on Aug 15, 2011, 10:21:44

Title: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: The Thing on Aug 15, 2011, 10:21:44
LX90 8" UHTC, HEQ5, Moonfish 2x ED Barlow, SPC880 flashed to 900 webcam. Guided on a star with PHD (not a moon).
480/600 frames @5fps using SharpCap processed in Registax 6 using default settings and a fair bit of wavlets. No darks or flats.

A clear night at last! Juputer was 25 degrees high when I captured the avi. Hoping to do a lot more in a month or so when Jupiter is up all night. I was very pleased to get the moons in the shot.

This is full size.
(http://www.ancientlight.amateur-astronomy.org//images/Jupiter25d%202011_08_15%2001_37_24.png)

Sharpcap settings (it creates a txt file for each capture):

[Philips SPC 900NC PC Camera]
Resolution=640x480
Frame Rate (fps)=5.00
Colour Space / Compression=YUY2
Exposure=-7
Brightness=64
Contrast=32
Saturation=1
Gamma=0
ColorEnable=255
BacklightCompensation=0
Gain=57
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: MarkS on Aug 15, 2011, 10:41:48
Wow!  Very nice indeed!

It's a great scale and the processing gives a very natural looking result.  You must be really pleased with that image.

How was the seeing (atmospheric turbulence) - I guess it must have been pretty good to produce a detailed result like that.

Mark
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: The Thing on Aug 15, 2011, 11:43:20
Thanks Mark,

I am very pleased with the scale, getting two moons in is amazing.

This is the first webcam image I've done for ages. I got an SCT to 2" adaptor to take the ED barlow so the light didn't have to negotiate a diagonal as in all my previous attempts. I also made sure collimation was spot on and focused with a bahtinov mask on a nearby star. I started imaging when Jupiter was only +10degrees altitude to get some practice.

Seeing was not great, the planet was a bit like a blancmange on a bouncy castle with a herd of kids playing on it! I think Registax 6 has done an incredible job of pulling the pixels together. Guiding helped a lot and I was surprised to be able to see a couple of stars on the webcam. The scale of the guiding image was too small to use a moon - I tried.

Next trick is to find a better spot in the garden where I can polar align and see Jupiter when it's above the trees at the back of garden. Just south of your pond would fit the bill!
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: Mike on Aug 15, 2011, 11:45:48
Nice image Dunc. It's good to see people having a go at planetary images again.
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: The Thing on Aug 15, 2011, 11:59:25
Thanks Mike. Jupiter is going to be big this year. :D I hope others give it a go.
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: mickw on Aug 15, 2011, 13:17:55
Nice one Duncan
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: Mac on Aug 15, 2011, 14:49:00
Very Nice.

Love the colours.

Mac.
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: Carole on Aug 16, 2011, 08:22:33
Very nice Duncan.  Nice to see the SEB back again.  Where did you find clear skies last night, I looked out several times and it just seemed to be cloudy?

Carole
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: The Thing on Aug 16, 2011, 08:53:26
Thanks Carole.

It was completely clear in Beckenham from about 11:45 to 01:30 when some cloud started to appear.
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: Tony G on Aug 16, 2011, 09:09:21
Well done Duncan, and it's nice when you process something, and you get that little extra (Moons), which makes it even more worthwhile.  ;)

Tony G
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: PhilB on Aug 16, 2011, 10:02:29
Very nice. Jupiter's set to become an excellent target this time around.
Title: Re: Jupiter, Io and Europa (15 Aug 2011 1:37am)
Post by: Fay on Aug 25, 2011, 22:54:19
Really very good Duncan, I missed seeing this. I see you used the SPC, I have one but have not used it yet.