Solar Imaging

[Kenny]

I did some solar imaging outside my house this afternoon with Doug and Rose then processed in the kitchen drinking tea and coffee together. By my reckoning I've captured AR2268 which is a large sunspot group approaching the face of the Sun from the left (the right in this inverted photo).

OAS Coronado Solarmax 60 scope on HEQ5 Pro mount using my Celestron NexImage Solar System Imaging Camera.

94 seconds video at 20 fps captured with AmCap and processed in Registax.


This version is 92 seconds with 2X Barlow and captured with SharpCap 2. There are faint horzintal lines across the picture. Not sure if this is caused by the frame rate being too high at 20fps (previous OAS advice on my Jupiter attempt) or the image settings in SharpCap being different from the other image which was captured using AmCap.

[Kenny]

24 hours later... AR2268 approaches.

50 seconds at 20 fps captured with SharpCap 2 and processed in Registax.


These images are getting better than the original CCD photos I posted before Christmas. Better focus, lighting and levels (putting a jacket over my head helps!), but frustratingly not the detail I would like, plus the prominences aren't showing as well. I've tried adusting the filter knob on the front of the Coronado. Looking through the viewfinder shows some more detail but not much. I think I am pushing the capabilties of the Coronado and my cheap CCD camera.

[The Thing]

That looks good to me Kenny. It looks a little soft but I don't know the capabilities of the Coronado - I've been spoilt by looking through Robert's and Mark's Lunts.

You should try Autostakkert2! to do the frame selection and stacking, it's much easier than Registax, more robust, far faster and generally produces better results. It will probably sort out those horizontal lines, it's one of two options on the Advanced menu.

...Select video(s) (does a load at once with no extra effort from you!), Analyse, Set alignment points (one button), then Stack. Use the 4 little boxes to set the stack size e.g 50% of the frames. You can set 4 values for this and it will produce a seperate output image for each value and each video so you can select the best. Then load the final image into Registax for wavelet sharpening.

Happy imaging!

[Carole]

Well done Kenny, you are coming on.

(putting a jacket over my head helps!)

Oh yes, that's the difficulty with solar imaging.  I made a box which fits over the laptop with a slot at the bottom for my hands, and a small "letterbox" for me to peer through, that worked quite well and kept all reflections out.

Haven't done much solar imaging for a while. 

Carole

[The Thing]

Or you need one of those fancy gaming goggle setups.

[Kenny]

Thanks. I really appreciate all the enouragement and support.

Just did a quick glance at the first and 3rd captures. There's a horizontal and vertical 'flare' (I presume they are flares) in the middle of both images. Not only has the Sunspot group moved round the face of the Sun, but those 'flares' have as well. Surprised they lasted 24 hours...

p.s. I will re-try AutoStakkert. I didn't like it from a usability perspective the first time I tried a month ago.

[Kenny]

You should try Autostakkert2! to do the frame selection and stacking, it's much easier than Registax, more robust, far faster and generally produces better results. It will probably sort out those horizontal lines, it's one of two options on the Advanced menu.

Duncan - I had a go at reprocessing these shots (and my Moon shots) using AutoStakkert. I found AS severley cropped the edge of the images as compared with Registax. Have you had any problems with that?

[The Thing]

It's not a problem, it only stacks good stuff and since the subject in the video frame moves around the edges have relatively little data compared to the middle so Autstakkert leaves it out. This is not a problem with planets as they only occupy a relatively small portion of the frame and no part should ever fall off the edge.

When you open the video(s) select Surface not Planet and check Jumpy Recordings. Set the Stack Size to Expand. Also try setting the Noise number to a higher setting to make Autostakkert less picky. After Analyse it will expand the stacking area and indicate the area of the image that occurs on every frame which will be smaller than the original frame.

If you fiddle with the Image Size sliders to enlarge the stacking area (it will show as red space) you should get more in the result as all the data will fall in the enlarged area rather than bits falling off the edge as the image moves around if you follow, This is a good way of expanding/contracting the canvas for better framing as well,