Another from last Saturday, although I held back on some of the processing. I just noticed that the ones I took with WX Astrocapture are only 5 fps whereas the K3ccdtools are 30fps. must remember to check that next time, lost a fair bit of data without realising it.
Io is in the corner again, though not much detail. Having another look, I think this might be my best result so far? What do you think?
Thanks for looking.
Chris
Image Details;
Object: Jupiter
Elevation: 48 degrees
Date: Saturday 15/08/2009
Time: 11:26 UTC ( 21:26 AEST)
Seeing: 7-8/10
Scope: Skywatcher FlexDob - 12 inch
Mag: 3 x ED Barlow
Camera: Philips Toucam SPC900NC
# of Frames: 190
CMCapture & Processing: K3CCDtools, Virtual Dub, PCFE, Astra Image Pro, Registax 4, Gimp.
Last edited by Screwdriverone; 23-08-2009 at 10:15 PM.
Reason: fixed the AEST time
Yes I think this is your best and I reckon you even have the remnant of the Wesley impact just starting to come into view in the North polar region from the west, sort of top right and just down from the pole.
Yes I think this is your best and I reckon you even have the remnant of the Wesley impact just starting to come into view in the North polar region from the west, sort of top right and just down from the pole.
Top Stuff, especially with a Dob.
Regards
Trevor
Thanks Trevor, I see the WIS is spread out a lot now, its good I got a chance to capture it, now all I have to do is get a bit more resolution from some more data next time or perhaps that 5 x Powermate I think might help. I also might experiment with an extension tube and the 3 x ED barlow to size things up a bit.
Thanks for the compliment.
Cheers
Chris
Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman
Nice work Chris, top image.
Thanks Mike, I am getting there, slowly, but encouraging nonetheless, do you think the Toucam has any more resolution in it, ie if I get a 5x Powermate there will be much of a difference? The seeing seems to have been pretty good when I took these so I am not sure if the limiting factor is size or resolution here, considering I have a 12" mirror? I would be interested in your (or anyone elses) tips here for getting any more details out of the planet's face. I know more data helps, but I have noticed that with the field rotation and the time between good passes with the dob, that I have to throw a lot of twisted frames out in the stacking. Perhaps I am not doing the registax alignment thing right as it seems to "blur" the planet if the rotation is too extreme when I stack 4 or 5 passes together.
Any tips would be great.
Thanks
Chris
Last edited by Screwdriverone; 24-08-2009 at 11:46 AM.
Hi Chris, I use a 5x powermate for planet imaging and found that it makes a huge difference. I had a Meade 3x barlow before but it was completely useless compared to the powermate. I can definitely confirm that a ToUCam can indeed capture a lot of details. Here is a link to my best Jupiter image: http://www.geocities.com/hwy37/solar...r26042006.html
I haven't been able to surpass it since, but have come close on a couple of occasions. I think this is pretty much as far as a ToUCam+powermate will stretch.
Hi Chris,
Just a thought regarding the 5x Powermate, you can have to much of a good thing, depending on how you intend using it. Sounds like double dutch, doesn't it.
With my imaging setup I was after about 5x and tried a 5x Powermate. The image scale it provided was enormous, Jupiter no longer fitted on my CCD chip. I use a filter wheel, that combined with the nose ring adapter for my DMK had the surface of the CCD chip 70mm from the top surface of the 5x Powermate. For your interest I have attached the Nagler graph for the performance curves of their Powermates.
You will notice that at 70mm from the top surface of the 5x Powermate it is delivering 7x.
As the 5x Powermate was not suitable for my system I thought about a 4x Powermate, however if you look at the curve for that, any extension from the top surface has very little effect and at 70mm above its top surface it is only delivering 4.5x.
Eventually I settled on a Televue 3x Barlow, I have attached the Nagler performance graph for the TV Barlows for your interest.
Note that at 70mm from its top surface it is delivering 4.5x and at 100mm a little over 5x. I have turned up on my lathe a 30mm extension to give me that 100mm overall from the top surface. This allows me to image Jupiter with enough of the CCD chip unused above and below the planet to allow me to image it and keep it on the chip quite easily.
All of the images I have been posting over the past month or so have been with this setup, Given good seeing the images are sharp as a tack with stunning resolution.
I know a lot of people with 10 and 12" Newts are using the 5x Powermate, but it was not suitable for my system a 16" F4.5 scope with a DMK.
Hi Chris, I use a 5x powermate for planet imaging and found that it makes a huge difference. I had a Meade 3x barlow before but it was completely useless compared to the powermate. I can definitely confirm that a ToUCam can indeed capture a lot of details. Here is a link to my best Jupiter image: http://www.geocities.com/hwy37/solar...r26042006.html
I haven't been able to surpass it since, but have come close on a couple of occasions. I think this is pretty much as far as a ToUCam+powermate will stretch.
Good luck with your imaging. Yours look quite like mine did before I got the powermate, so there's lots of potential.
Hi Rolf,
You have some nice images there, I think that's what I was kind of expecting the Toucam could do based on your pics. Thats sort of where I want to be able to get to with what I have, before I decide to invest in something more. Thanks for the confirmation of its performance, I will definitely ask the Father's Day committee for special dispensation on this item.
Cheers
Chris
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quark
Hi Chris,
Just a thought regarding the 5x Powermate, you can have to much of a good thing, depending on how you intend using it. Sounds like double dutch, doesn't it.
With my imaging setup I was after about 5x and tried a 5x Powermate. The image scale it provided was enormous, Jupiter no longer fitted on my CCD chip. I use a filter wheel, that combined with the nose ring adapter for my DMK had the surface of the CCD chip 70mm from the top surface of the 5x Powermate. For your interest I have attached the Nagler graph for the performance curves of their Powermates.
You will notice that at 70mm from the top surface of the 5x Powermate it is delivering 7x.
As the 5x Powermate was not suitable for my system I thought about a 4x Powermate, however if you look at the curve for that, any extension from the top surface has very little effect and at 70mm above its top surface it is only delivering 4.5x.
Eventually I settled on a Televue 3x Barlow, I have attached the Nagler performance graph for the TV Barlows for your interest.
Note that at 70mm from its top surface it is delivering 4.5x and at 100mm a little over 5x. I have turned up on my lathe a 30mm extension to give me that 100mm overall from the top surface. This allows me to image Jupiter with enough of the CCD chip unused above and below the planet to allow me to image it and keep it on the chip quite easily.
All of the images I have been posting over the past month or so have been with this setup, Given good seeing the images are sharp as a tack with stunning resolution.
I know a lot of people with 10 and 12" Newts are using the 5x Powermate, but it was not suitable for my system a 16" F4.5 scope with a DMK.
Just some food for thought.
Regards
Trevor
Wow, lots of food to digest there Trevor. I was thinking also that the image scale the 5x might bring will make runs across the chip a lot shorter as the magnification level will have Jupiter scooting past the dob before you can say CHEESE!, I may have to give it a go I think and see if I can come up with some dodgy (read CHEAP) way of doing some tracking on the axes to keep the thing on the screen. Thanks for taking the time to explain, it really does help.
thats a beautiful pic there Chris well done keep em coming
Thanks Jen,
Should have some more soon, I am bitten again I tells ya!
Cheers
Chris
Quote:
Originally Posted by bird
Nicely done Chris, that's a very good image.
cheers, Bird
Hiya Anthony,
I am pretty happy with this one, seems I captured your famous WIS too as pointed out by Trevor, I am hoping to get some more image scale with a 5x Powermate soon, so stay tuned!
must remember to check that next time, lost a fair bit of data without realising it.
