First planet pic

[Averton (P and C)]

This is our first attempt at a planet image. The subs were taken on 2 April around 6am. 130mm F5 scope, GSO x3 Barlow, and a Prostar PS-LPGUIDE-C2 camera. We have spent much time playing around with them and this is about as good as we can achieve. The subs were stacked with Autostakkert, then wavelet sharpening & colour correction was done with Registax, and the final cropping was done with GIMP. The final sticking point has been the moons which were there in the image but virtually invisible. In the end we made 2 layers of the same image, one with a layer mask around each moon (definitely cheating cos it makes them very round) and then exposed as much as possible. They do look a little fake. Not sure if this is an acceptable practice or not.

Clare & Peter

[Ukastronomer (Jeremy)]

Show off

[Averton (P and C)]

Thanks Jeremy.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Ooohhh!

Nice work, Dynamic Duo!

It's possible to also see Ganymede just about to appear from in-front of Jupiter, just below the GRS! Neat capture Clare and Peter!

I've managed to see a few satellite transits over the last couple of weeks just out of sheer dumb luck. The satellites really stand out stark when located right on the limb of Jupiter, and also the easiest way to identify the disk that forms them instead of just a pinprick point, some colour variation from Jupiter and the slightest of surface details, really no more than the smallest of shade variations, and a most exciting thing to see altogether!

Alex.

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Nice effort Clare & Peter,

A couple of tips from a fellow beginner if i may....

1. If you dont yet have a bhatinov mask for focussing, definitely a must. Do your focus on a bright star first then slew to your planet & you wont need to adjust focus & it should be as good as you'll get. Theres a chap in Melbourne who prints masks on a 3d printer, look up bhatinov mas on ebay... his product is very good & way cheaper than retail. If he doesnt have the size you need he will work with you to design one to fit.

2. It wasn't clear fm your post if you were doing stills or video. If your not already doing so, use video for planets/lunar. 2 - 3 minutes of video, stack the best frames in autostakkert or registax, sharpen using wavelets in registax (also free) & youll be even more pleased with your results....

Hope this helps

Cheers

[Averton (P and C)]

Thanks Alex. We did notice Ganymede even though it doesn't stand out greatly against Jupiter itself.


Thanks for the tips Carlton. We have looked at Bhatinov masks but just have not got around to obtaining or making one yet. Focusing is definitely an issue for us. Our scope has a helical focuser which also rotates the camera so it is a challenge. The subs were individual tif images from the camera and we have not yet tried video so this is another thing to give a go. The video might be a help as these subs were untracked so Jupiter was just drifting through the FOV. Thanks for your help.
Clare & Peter