First Saturn image

[spendrey]

Ok, I've got a lot to learn before I can get an image anywhere near as good as Chris' one below but here's my first attempt at imaging Saturn.

[Ian]

well it looks well exposed and is clearly saturn so you're off to a good start. What equipment did you use? It looks a little pixellated, saturn is bright enough to use a barlow when imaging.

This also looks like this is a stack of images, how many raw frames did you use and which software? Perhaps we can give you tips on using it.

[spendrey]

I used an 8" newt with a Toucam and 2x Barlow.
I think there were about 120 usable raw images which I processed in Registax and enlarged and sharpened in microsoft photo editor (hence the pixellated look).
I didn't polar align and therefore was not tracking the object. I guess if I did I would get more frames to use which might help?
Any advice you can give would be very much appreciated!

[JohnP]

Hi Simon,

Congrats on getting Saturn - The pixelation is certainly a little strange - You can enlarge images in Registax - It might do a better job.

Cheers, John.

[Ian]

Tracking isn't essential, it's just a trial of patience to focus on a moving target and then try and capture enough frames.

Is getting drives for your mount an option? They are almost as essential for imaging as the telescope itself, (and the camera, and clear skies, and night time, and .....)

[Mike]

I think for planetary stuff that focus is probably the most important thing to get spot on. If you can capture some frames that are as sharp as possible it goes a long way. Obviously the sharpness of the image will also depend on the atmospheric conditions so there is also lots of trial and error.

[spendrey]

Thanks guys, I've been using the video capture software that comes with the Toucam but need to persevere with K3CCD Tools (the last time I used it, it just hung). Do you use this and if so do you know what size resolution the avi file is that it creates?
I do have motors on my mount (HEQ5) but haven't polar aligned so have not been tracking the objects I've been imaging, maybe that will help.
I agree I must try focusing a bit better. I may need to collimate again too. Chris collimated my secondary mirror pretty well a couple of weeks ago but I guess it may need redoing again and my primary mirror has always been a bit out.

[JohnP]

Simon,

I use K3 all the time. You can select what resolution you image at but obviously the bigger the better - I use 640 X 480 (the largest. I image at 5fps & end up with avi files of approx. 135Mb in length.

Cheers, John

[Whitters]

What f-ratio is your scope?

[spendrey]

Interesting, so K3 images at 640 x 480 then? I've only been able to use the software that came with the Toucam so far and as far as I can see that will only image at 320 x 240. Maybe that's why my images are losing some clarity when I resize them then. I will reinstall K3 this weekend and try that.
My scope is a 1000mm f/5 by the way.

[Ian]

I believe that the software the Toucam comes with will allow you to change the resolution, but K3CCDTools is worth getting to work. Particularly version 2 although you do have to pay for it.

Look out for a menu option "Video format". This will allow you to change things like the codec and resolution. It may also offer some compression options.

[JohnP]

The Philips S/W does allow imaging at 640 X 480 also - at least the vesion I got with my Toucam Pro a few years back. Like Ian said though K3 is great & definitely worth the effort to get to know.

John

[spendrey]

Thanks I'll take a look at K3 v2 and investigate increasing the image size with vRecord which comes with the Toucam too. In fact I found a good user guide for it here:
http://www.hkedcity.net/iclub_files/a/1/98/webpage/Hot_Topics/ToUcam_guide1.doc