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View Full Version here: : My Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact videos finally processed


kinetic
13-10-2013, 05:42 PM
Well....these results have taken about 19 years to process :rolleyes:

In 1994 I was experimenting with mini CCD cameras at the eyepiece of my
8" homemade Newtonian.
During the week of about the 18th to 22nd July ' 94 the largest fragments
of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 were hitting Jupiter.
These largest impact sites were easily seen by amateurs around the world,
including myself and a friend from suburban Adelaide.
We observed them from our respective backyards and chatted via those
chunky old analogue cordless phones :)
His scope was a homemade 10" he built, inspired by my own 8".

Later in that same week I made these videos with the PCB camera at
the eyepiece in an eyepiece projection arrangement.
Composite video was recorded direct to VHS tape using my Grandpa's
old portable VHS recorder. Camera output was about 520 TV lines res
but the VHS process degrades that down to 240 TVL.

I took 4 videos, 3 with 9mm Ortho eyepiece projection and a 4th with
a 12mm.

I have no exact details of recording times except for a hand made sketch
I did on the night of the biggest impact, I think that was called G or K fragment.

19 years later I fed these VHS videos into the USB digitiser of the home PC.
Registax 6 did the rest, a crop, wavelets and rotate and histo adjust of
AVI #3 of 4 is shown here.
Also shown is the handmade sketch.
The artifact in the result is the frame edge, the highest quality AVI has
Joop right at edge of the frame.

I will attempt to process all 4 videos and post them up.
Edit: added results AVI#1 of 4, AVI# 2 of 4
shows 2 moons, maybe I can narrow down the time. Impact scar at 6oclock.
Rotation evident between videos.

Steve

jjjnettie
13-10-2013, 05:56 PM
How cool is that. :)
I'm looking forward to seeing them.

Lee
13-10-2013, 08:49 PM
That's great... like astrophotographic archaeology!

h0ughy
13-10-2013, 09:23 PM
wow that's digging up the past - fantastic

Peter Ward
13-10-2013, 09:47 PM
OMG ! has it *really* been that long a time???

I witnessed the early impacts with friends ( G'day Col & Chris if you are reading this) through my C-11 at the time....(still a great scope IMHO) and also grabbing some images (attached) with a...wait for it..... ST4-X CCD :)

I recall seeing what looked like a "shock wave" extending from the impact site. A fantastic time for sure.

Thanks for jogging fond memories !

PeterM
13-10-2013, 09:53 PM
Now that has brought back memories. I remember viewing the G impact fireball plume and the impact site as it rotated into view, with Greg Bock and then we drove into Surfers Paradise, setting up our scopes just near the famous Surfers Paradise beach sign, showing passers by the impacts and conducting and ABC interview.
Brilliant work Steve
The links below may be useful.

http://astroimg.org/articles/SL9-Amateur-SeptOct1994.pdf
http://www.science-bbs.com/16-astro/9b29c2e894968824.htm

cometcatcher
13-10-2013, 10:09 PM
I remember it well. I was also shooting video through my newly completed 16" dob. I got pics in the local paper.

As for the images I took... can't find em!

kinetic
14-10-2013, 07:27 PM
thank you all for your comments,:thumbsup:
Pete those links were fantastic, what a great write up and set of drawings!
Incredible shots Pete W!
Thanks!

Here is another go, I definitely achieved more this time than the initial rough go.
Forgive the artifacts and onion rings, clearly a low dynamic range set :)

I also find that:
Almost no time elapsed between AVI 1 and 2, 2 moons visible.
Some time elapsed between AVI 1/2 and AVI 3, one moon disappears behind
Jupiter and a wide FOV/ framing reveals a more distant 3rd moon.
This might help me nail down the night.
I know, from what was recorded either side of the original VHS tape that
it was in the week following the Sunday night special on 60 mins ( a link later
of that great episode)
The 60 mins special with the late , great Gene Shoemaker, was on or around the night after
the biggest fragment impact, so that would put it around Sun 24th July or later.
I recorded Apollo 11 25yr anniversary news items on the same tape in the preceding week.

Not a very accurate documentation of such a memorable recording eh :rolleyes::lol:
I know I would have written it all down somewhere but it is long gone.
It will be a bit of fun trying to narrow it down.
I'm not sure if Stellarium moon predictions are very accurate winding backwards that far
but I have a few candidates for the moon arrangement
so far.....will keep the thread posted.

Steve

h0ughy
14-10-2013, 07:43 PM
WOW Peter now they are wonderful shots - would have been bordering on cutting edge at the time Eh? Fantastic. Given your processing skills now and the software advancements, if you can find your data would it warrant a repro?:D