We've had such good seeing lately in Melbourne (when the clouds are absent), I'd almost forgotten what bad seeing looks like - until last night. Were it not for the rare coming together of the GRS and Oval BA, plus the NEB/NTZ eruption I probably would have given up long before. However, at around 7:45 there was a slight lull in the wind and I got a half-decent image. I had to work hard for it, and it's oversharpened more that I'd prefer, but it's an image of the event. There is still a lot more data to go through, but this is probably the clearest.
Next was Saturn, its inner moons were forming a nice line so I captured that, plus a nice closeup of the planet. Saturn never fails to disappoint, I always try to extract as much detail as I can.
After not enough sleep, I got up for Mars, and got my best image of the red planet so far. It's still not as sharp as I'd like, but I got a clear view of Olympus Mons which I haven't imaged before.
Lastly I had a go at Uranus which was close by, and also managed to extract (L-R) Ariel, Umbriel (just), Titania and Oberon from the noise with some extreme levels work.
All images taken with a Celestron Evolution 9.25" SCT @ f21 with 2x Barlow, ASI 224MC, stacked in AS!3 with 3x drizzle, sharpened in Registax, final touches in Photoshop Elements, Jupiter at captured size, Saturn and Uranus 150% captured size, Mars 200% captured size. Moons of Saturn and Uranus shown larger and brighter than actual.
Nice pics, I tried to get Uranus last night but couldn't get it on the camera. Was able to view it with an eyepiece at 240x and could see one moon. Problem was I couldn't see it in the finder scope, sky was pretty bright from the moon so you did well to get it.
Thanks Nick, I got lucky with Uranus. After I finished one image with Mars I just typed "Uranus" into the handbox and (for the first time ever) Uranus just appeared on the screen!
Normally I use my 8x50 RACI finder (which can just detect Uranus) and SkySafari on my phone to point at Uranus and then just slew around until it appears on the screen.
I found it using the GoTo, first time I've used it. Did a 2 star alignment ( I used Bellatrix and Hamal) then selected Mars and it was fairly close in the finderscope, but not dead on. So then I selected Uranus, and couldn't see anything in the finderscope. (got a new finderscope, 9x50 with illuminated reticle, got sick of not being able to see the cross in the dark). Swapped out the camera for a 5mm eyepiece and Uranus was in the field of view, but near the edge. I centered it, then switched back to the camera- but couldn't get it on screen with the higher magnification. Did that a few times hoping to get lucky, but couldn't get it. I think I need a dark night when I can see it in the finderscope, then I should be able to get it. Also had a look at Neptune while I was at it with the GoTo, but didn't even try to get it on camera. I'll keep trying for Uranus.
Given the significant difference in weight between the camera and the eyepiece, it's not a surprise that the planet doesn't appear on the screen when you change over. There will be a slight shift in angle that the OTA is pointing, which is enough for a tiny target like Uranus. Maybe try on a larger target like Jupiter and see how much of a shift you get.
I don't even try with an eyepiece any more, rather I just try to align the finder as best I can with the camera, then once I'm pointing at the planet with the finder, just slew around until it comes up on the screen. Neptune is much harder, as it's rarely visible in the finder in the suburbs of Melbourne.
Yeah I wasn't really surprised either, but I was hoping to get lucky as it must have been close. I can get my finderscope pretty well aligned with the camera, works fine for Mars, Saturn and Jupiter but they are easy to see. Maybe a more powerful finderscope would be better for Uranus and Neptune. Something like 20x, could even mount a rifle scope on there.
Thanks all, I like being able to extract the moons of the planets by playing with the "levels" tool in Photoshop, the moons of Uranus are right on the edge of my equipment's sensitivity without going to extremes .
I still hope to catch Phobos and Deimos one day, but haven't been able to yet.
Great series. The seeing was the best on Sunday here in Sydney. The best I have seen in years. Last night wasn't too bad but it degraded quickly around 20:00.
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The seeing was the best on Sunday here in Sydney. The best I have seen in years. Last night wasn't too bad but it degraded quickly around 20:00.
