Saturn + Jupiter 03/03/05

[Comet Hunter]

First productive night out since dealing with both the size of my files and also the dust issue I had from last week....

Saturn images were taken around 10pm local time (02/03/05) recorded with K3CCDTools, 10fps, 250sec avi, usual adjustments in Registax3..

http://comethunter.com/images/030305saturn.jpg

Jupiter images were taken around 4am local time, 10fps 60sec avi. The first time I've captured a shadow :cool:...
http://comethunter.com/images/030305jupiter.jpg

The larger file sizes made a huge difference to the detail in the shots, however the dust removal turned into a massive disaster :mad2:. The can of air didn't do squat so thought I'd try to wipe it off with a cotton bud :doh: - (un)luckily they only show up when using the 3x barlow...

http://comethunter.com/images/030305dustyjupiter.jpg

Deciding now whether to just get a Toucam or make the step up to the astro CCD I was planing..... Anyway no more huge scale pics from me for a while :(

[janoskiss]

Beautiful shots! That little Jupiter of yours has got everything! Real shame about the crud on the sensor though.

[iceman]

Wow they are just fantastic CH, your best to-date!

I got up this morning to get the Jupiter GRS+Europa transit, but it was cloudy for me :(

Excellent stuff. I'm sure there's a way to clean your CCD though..

[Comet Hunter]

I think I've been spoilt with the barlow, Saturn in partcular seems too small to really show the detail clearly without straining your eyesight.

Stepping up from 7mb to 300-400+mb files is the main contributing factor to the overall improvement, thanks to the Pondering Paul for pondering about my file size :cheers: ...

I had a look at the camera earlier and it looks as though there is two screws coming up from the underside of the circuit board that holds the bracket that the original lense screwed into - I'm not sure if that has a cover in/on it or if it goes straight through to the CCD - hopefully it has a cover....only problem is the last time the adapter broke off I made sure it wouldn't come off again easily....triple superglued... :whistle:

[Striker]

Great stuff Andrew......you must be pleased.....and yes Paul is a great help......

[rumples riot]

Nice shots, really impressive.

[[1ponders]]

Great shots Andrew. I especially like the Jupiter shot. Brilliant detail and colour for its size. Mind you the saturn is no slouch of a shot either, though there seems to be a little too much red and the red and blue looks like it might need a touch of estimate in the RGBshift box in Registax. Nice and sharp though. :cool2:

I know what you mean about the can of air. Even following the directions I got a squirk of propellant on the chip cover. Didn't realize it until I tried to take some shots Grrrr. I had to make sure it was fully dry so they wouldn't smear when I tried to remove the spots with a clean cotton wool bud. Stubborn buggers they were too. I can't really be sure, not being a techie guru or anything like that, but my chip appears to have a clear cover over it. At least I hope it has the way I gave it a clean. My images don't seem to have suffered from it. What's the surface of your barlow like?

I'm glad my suggestions re avi size is working out for you.

[ving]

hey! great pics!

nice and clear and plenty of detail :)

[bird]

Andrew - go down to your local petrol station and see if they sell "demineralised water". It's very common here in the ACT, the brand is "Diggers".

Then go to a chemist and buy a pack of 50 or 100 q-tips (cotton buds on a stick).

Soak them in the demin-water and carefully wipe across the ccd. You'll find that this water doesnt stick at all, and the dust will be gone.

This water leaves no deposits either.

Bird

[Comet Hunter]

Thanks guys, I'm very happy with the nights results, despite not being able to get any barlowed shots :tasdevil: - was a quality night!!

Paul, I run all my shots though the RGBshift estimator, but usually leave them at that, I just had a fiddle shifting the blue manually, but all it does is move it from the back to the front of the planet - doesn't really find a middle/balanced out ground anywhere...:confused: The barlow is fine, almost like new:astron:.

Bird, thats the same as de-ionised water isn't it? Already got the q-tips (we/I call'em cotten buds) thats what got me into this mess in the first place :ashamed:

Here's a 1800odd frame stack I just finished (avi wieghed in at 1gig :eyepop: - talk about chewing up the real estate on my hard drive :D)

http://comethunter.com/images/030305saturn2.jpg

I miss my barlow already :bashcomp:

[iceman]

Send me your barlow, i'll try to make use of it :)

When using compressed air, make sure you give a good squirt or 2 into the air to get rid of the wet stuff that comes out if it's been sitting around unused for a while.

When the air comes out clean and clear, that's when I use it on the CCD and I haven't left any wet deposits yet..

That latest Saturn is even better CH, top stuff! :2thumbs:

[Comet Hunter]

Yeah, I figured out giving it a pre-squirt before a real blast after it was too late :whistle: :o

I might try and rip the QC apart tonight...

[Striker]

Andrew,

You will have to change your Avatar now....update.

[Comet Hunter]

Sir, Yes Sir!

:lol:

Woohoo, the bracket does have a cover on it - CCD itself is safe and clean. The CCD side of the cover/lense has a redish tinge to it on some angles - wonder what effect it's having on the imaging ....:confuse3:

[[1ponders]]

Aye it does Andrew :D You'll be looking for an 120 gig drive for your laptop next. :)

[bird]

Andrew - I've seen several posts on other forums (fora??) advising not to use compressed air to clean optics, mostly cause you never quite know whats going to come out with the air! There's the danger that a speck of dust or something will come out in the airstream and scratch the thing youre trying to clean..

Demineralised water is different to de-ionised water. Demineralised means that there's no minerals (impurities) left in the water, so it literally dries spotless. Also, it doesn't "wet" the cover of your ccd when you're trying to clean it.

With a q-tip soaked in the stuff I found it easy to just move the drop of water around on the ccd cover, and it picked up all the dust.

regards, Bird

[Comet Hunter]

Ok thanks Bird! Will pick some up tomorrow...

Just for interests sake heres a comparison of the Quickcam suite software I was originally using and the K3CCDTools I used for the pics in this thread - taken within minutes of each other....

K3CCDTools (400odd meg avi)..

http://comethunter.com/images/030305jupiter.jpg

QC suite (1.95meg avi :eyepop: )...

http://comethunter.com/images/030305jupiterqc.jpg

QC avi is Here (http://comethunter.com/images/030305jupiterqc.avi) for those interested in having a play - 2MB!

As hard as it is to replicate post-processing end results, there's not a great deal in difference between the two...considering the 3-400meg file size difference.....

[ballaratdragons]

I can see a lot of difference Andrew.

QC is much clearer. Good Stuff!

[ving]

great pics there andrew. you should be happy with them :)

wd gg

[Comet Hunter]

Well I got some de-mineralised water today and spent the arvo trying to clean the lense - Seem to have gotten most of the crud off, unfortunately due to the size of the lense trying to remove all of it only results in adding more as the q-tips take up over 2/3 the area of the lense. I've tried various methods, including various 'soakingness' of the q-tips to full on flooding the lense hopeing gravity will help clense it as the water flowed down to the lowest edge but so far no luck in cleaning the lense to a satisfactory level :confuse3: I'll keep trying to get those remaining bits but I'm over fiddling with things to get them to work correctly.....time for an upgrade to even up the playing field 'round here I think :evil::whistle::D

[iceman]

heh sounds like a bit of a drama Andrew.. For < $200 the ToUcam is good value, I just hope you get better results like you're hoping, if you take that plunge.

Have you got an IR filter?

[Comet Hunter]

Yeah, I just dont have the patience for the dodgy patching things together anymore - not being able to find the superglue last night to refit the adapter was the breaking straw!!!

I feel the results will be there - I'm yet to see any QC shots that are anywhere near what I've seen from a Toucam, especially with a barlow thrown into the mix...

As for the IR filter, no I dont have one yet.. I ultimately plan on going DSO + astrometry and was planning on the astronomik set of filters from bintel when the time came - might just get the IR now and the rest later when I'll need them..

[iceman]

yeh the IR filter will help keep the dust out! Have you got a threaded adapter or are you using a film cannister?

Just don't get the blue $60 IR filter, get a decent neutral colour one. By the time you add the ToUcam, threaded adapter + IR filter, you're spending about $250 or $300.

[Comet Hunter]

I was using a film canister on the QC - main reason I dont have a filter already. I got a price from the guy in S.A $192 to my door for the camera + threaded adapter. IR filter from bintel is $110+postage.