First image of Saturn

[Tony G]

Hi all,
just posting this image as it's my first of Saturn after some advise from the members at Mike garden session on Friday.
I used registax (still don't know exactly what i'm doing with it) and got this image which is at prime focus (no barlow was used as i seemed to lose the image with X2 and no image at all with X4, i must be doing something wrong!!!!!!)
Image taken on 21/01/06 with a toucam pro & skymax 150 pro.



Tony G

[JohnP]

Congrats Tony - I bet you were well chuffed...! Looks like you had good focus & you can see banding on the planet..nice one. When you start using X2 barlows & above things get a little tricky - You really have to make sure the image is bang in the centre of the eyepiece - the chip is so small that if there is any sort of an error it will not be on the frame. If it is just off frame then one tip I quite often use is to turn the brightness or gain up high & normally you'll see something bright on one edge if the planet is nearby. Tracking also becomes an issue at higher mags... things quickly move off screen if tracking is not accurate....

Cheers, Tony.

[Rocket Pooch]

Well done Tony, that is much better than my 1st attempt, everything looks fine with the image.  

If you want a better one next time get a barlow, this will help.

Chris

[Tony G]

The problem i've got is that the image is less defined once a barlow is introduced, for example when the X2 is fitted to the scope the image becomes "fuzzy" with noise and this is worse when the X4 is fitted as the image although central to the cameras field of view and can faintly be seen on the laptop screen is not good enough to photograph with the toucam.

Tony G

[JohnP]

Hi Tony,

Could be a number of things....

Focus - You need to ensure very accurate focussing when inserting barlows.

Collimation - THE DREADED WORD.......! If your optics are mis-aligned seeing will detoriate with higher magnification.

Seeing - Just might be that the atmosphere wasn't steady enough to go to higher powers.

ToUcam Settings - When you insert the barlows you need to readjust camera settings such as Gain, shutter speed etc. The image will definitely dim the higher the mag.

On the other hand you may have just had too many pints of the old apple juice...... Seriously though, best bet is try & make it to the Feb DSC & I can see if I can help out - should be able to get Saturn & Jupiter....

Cheers,  John

[Tony G]

John,
the tracking and collimation all seem perfect, so i'll try again on another clear night and will definately see you at DSC, have already booked the Friday and Monday off back at the beginning of December, so if i dont' work out what is wrong i will be seeing the toucam guru, the fountain of all webcam knowledge.

Tony G

ps Fay, if you read this, i will be passing some of this info onto you as soon as possible.

[Rocket Pooch]

Hi Tony,

I think with those scope you can't really go wrong much with collimation, you have to believe me on this one though, when I put a 3x barlow into the LX90 the best the image will get is like the single frame below.



If you take 1,000 of frames like that one and let the software do its work then the images get good.  



Next time you are out, bung in the 2x and take 2-3 minutes of image after you think the focus is as good as you can get, then see what it looks like after using registax.

For Saturn, do 10fps, 75% gain and set the shutter speed to where you can see the planet, but not the sky.  

Chris

[Tony G]

Thanks for that Chris,
the first still is very much like the image i was getting so i thought the final image wouldn't be that good so i took the image without the barlow, you live and learn, i will try that the next time i'm out.
Thanks again all, for all your help

Tony G

[Whitters]

Tony, excelent first image, good luck with the barlow.

[JohnP]

Tony - if you get an image like the one Chris posted above with your 2nd attempt I will be well jealous.... Good luck & I look forward to it.

John.