Saturn in bad seeing with a QHY5L-IIC

[coldlegs]

Saturn in bad seeing with a QHY5L-IIC

After reading the post by Ray(Shiraz) http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=105057
and calculating the resultant F number for my F5 newt
and QHY5L-IIC combo (3.75 X 5 = F18.75) I bought a 4X powermate to give me F20 and set out to see what the result was like. Then the clouds moved in (mumble,mumble,mumble) and three weeks later they finally parted. On 9/05/2013 with the seeing best described as
"Whoa - settle down boy!" I decided to at least work out where my 10k step/cm DIY electronic focuser needed to be at F20 so set to work and also took a few videos.
Set the colour to "force GRBG" as suggested by U.K.Cowboy (Stuart)
(http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=106212)
and exposure to about 30ms (30fps) with gain at 45% as saturn wasn't very bright with a lot of high altitude misty stuff above Adelaide.
Here's where Autostakkert showed its stuff. Somehow it pulled a reasonable image (for me at least) of Saturn out of what would normally be considered complete rubbish.

Well done Emil!!

Now if I can get a night with great seeing I might be able to get an image like this.

http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=3677.0

One can dream!

Cheers
Stephen

[U.K.Cowboy]

Good effort Stephen. I reckon you need higher gain, 45% is very low for Saturn. I use 80-100% gain to get the frame rate and shutter speed as fast as possible when seeing is bad and take a 6 min avi to get well over 10 000 frames. What size is your scope? An IR 742 pass filter works wonders in these conditions but that depends how large your scope is.

[coldlegs]

Thanks Stuart. The scope is a DIY 10"/F5 serrurier truss newt that I'm breaking in and the camera has a Baader IR filter on it. Interesting to read your recommendations for the QHY5L-IIC. I was too nervous to use above 70% as it seemed too noisy but I'll give it a go next time. Also need to install the latest Ezplanetary software as it split the files after 1.8gb which is a nuisance. What are your recommendations for Gamma settings?

Thanks for the info.

Stephen

[EricB]

Good effort, Stephen, especially if it's the first time you use your setup.

I am really struggling to get any detail on Saturn with my x5 Powermate here in Adelaide. Your x4 TV isn't far off.

Like Stuart, I think you could crank up the Gain to get to at least 65 fps.

Can I ask you where you got your the QHY5L-IIC? In Australia?

Cheers,

Eric

[U.K.Cowboy]

Cool you have same size scope as me. You would remove the IR cut filter and replace it with a IR 742 pass filter which dims the live image somewhat but produces a much sharper image in poor seeing. Normally people use them with mono cams but I was impressed how well it worked with my colour QHY cam. Obviously you get a weird coloured image which looks better in greyscale but on bad nights at least you have a sharp image. You can combine the IR pass image with a colour shot in winjupos though the resulting image is not as natural looking as a colour shot in good seeing.

I don't touch gamma just leave it on the default setting.
So the new version of EZ planetary does not split the avis? As you say its a pain dealing with part 0, 1,2 etc.
Firecapture will work with the QHY cams but you do need a laptop with a good spec.

[coldlegs]

Eric
Thanks Eric.
Theo at http://www.gamaelectronics.com.au/QHY5L2.html
sells them.
Cheers
Stephen

[coldlegs]

Stuart
Not sure if the new software does more than 1.8gb yet. I'll give it a go tomorrow and see if it does.
Cheers
Stephen

[EricB]

Thanks Stephen!

Eric

[Shiraz]

Pretty good for the conditions Stephen. When seeing is bad the image will be poor plus it is impossible to focus reliably - double whammy. FWIW, I have found that seeing can be OK if the 200hPa winds are below about 50 kts - above that and good seeing is rare. Monday night could be worth a try down this way - if the clouds stay away long enough. http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/charts/viewer/index.shtml?type=windbarb&level=200hPa&tz=AEDT&area=SA&model=R&chartSubmit=Refresh+View

Your image shows a bit of colour fringing - was it taken at low altitude?
Regards ray

[coldlegs]

Thanks for the info Ray although I'm not sure about Monday night as this doesn't look good.
http://www.farmonlineweather.com.au/satellite/infrared-bw
The synoptic indicates a large high above us Thursday but I'm not holding my breath as lately all the clouds have been skimming the southern states non stop. Terrible astronomy weather and yes it was "kinda low".
Cheers
Stephen