I love my 5x powermate. And I love good seeing. This morning I got up at 1am, hopeful for good conditions as the jetstream predictions were that it would be clear for a change.
I set the scope and platform up, put an eyepiece in, and could tell immediately that the seeing was good! Without wasting another moment, in went the ToUcam and the 5x powermate.
I could see straight away that the data I was capturing was my best yet, even the raw frames were fairly crisp.
While the seeing was good, I decided to re-do the experiment I tried a few weeks back - the IR filter versus no-IR filter debate. At first the results were inconclusive, but hopefully I've proved (to myself, at least) that the IR filter is a good thing. You can see from the blue channel without the IR filter that it's all a mess around the edges, and I couldn't align it properly. It's somewhat visible in the green channel, but not as much. With the IR filter in place, they're all properly aligned. I also still have the problem of white balance without the IR filter, I just can't get what I feel is the right colour.
I took an image with the 3x as well, just for kicks. Last week I would've been very happy with that image at 3x, but now i've got the 5x there's no looking back I love the larger image scale, it allows you to capture finer details.
Anyway i'm very happy with these images and it's been worth the 3 hours sleep a night, but i'm hoping for lots of jetstream for the next few days to let me get some rest I'm still not pleased with the colour, not as reddy/brown as I think it should be, but i'll work on that one next
great sequence, really shows what each processing stage does. thanks from all the the noobies!
the bleeding in the blue i have noticed myself in mine, it seems like the blue circle is bigger, making the polar caps unrealistically large: is this right?
was there rotation in that time between filter and no filter?
Excellent shots Mike!!! It is very interesting to see the difference between imaging with no IR and with IR filter. The Filter is certainly the way to go
Hi Mike - well done mate, those are definitely good results. My attempts with a 5x powermate this morning didn't fare so well, glad one of us got some good data.
Great shot Mike, Now for some bad news. I am going to use my 5x tonight, weather looks favourable. Look out for some shots tomorrow. Image scale will be nearly double your size, but I don't know how I will really go.
As for your shot, nice colour rendition and image scale is very good. Interesting to compare my shot from two days ago and yours. Very similar in size given that I used the 2.5x and the rotation is also very similar. Although I took mine nearly an hour earlier. Very good. BTW Jet stream is getting better rather than worse. Time to make hay while Mars shines.
My best mars ever! 11th Oct
I love the larger image scale, it allows you to capture finer details.
"use the force Mike use the force " 
