Jupiter (I am almost ashamed) and some questions.

[oernulfs]

Posting a couple of images. I'm using a C9.25, a 2,5x powermate and a DBK 21 color camera (640x480 pixels). Seeing U.K. Cowboy's superb images :thumbsup: makes me feel ashamed of posting these :(

Stacked in AS2 and processed in registax 6 and nebulosity.

How much will the number of pixels help in getting more details? Anyone with any ideas or experience on this? And any camera to recommend?:help:

[rustigsmed]

hei oernulf,

i'm not sure about the pixel / camera question, you might be best off asking in the astroimaging and equipment section.

of course with planetary how much detail you can get is quite dependant on the jetstream / atmosphere at the time.

you've got some good details there, keep at it!

Cheers,

Russ

[Quark]

With planetary imaging, things you have control over such as collimation, focus and primary mirror temperature are just so important to the end result, however, regardless of the camera the most critical thing is the quality of the seeing. A fine telescope with a state of the art camera and an experienced operator will still not produce hi-res detail in poor seeing.

[BlackWidow]

I think your images are not too bad. Looking at the softness of the image I would agree it's mostly seeing conditions that have done that.. Lets face it, most of Australia has not had the best conditions this year with lots of high level winds. As said you will never be able to get good images with anything if the conditions won't allow it.

Still think with good conditions you are pretty well on the money..

Mardy

[EricB]

Hi Ørnulf,

Don't despair. In order to get one good image, you will have to go through many more sessions during which you will get ordinary images. Planet imaging is very much seeing dependant. Where I live I would say that 8 times about of 10 seeing conditions are not good enough.

My first jupiter wasn't half as good as your!

Stuart has had very good results lately, but he has worked very hard on his technique.

You have a good scope and a decent camera, you will get better pictures.

Cheers,

Eric

[oernulfs]

Thank you for the encouragment.

I know that the seeing is cruical. The planet was "shaking" during the session.
I also have to work on the collimation bit, even though I fell quite confident that the collimation was decent.

And here in Norway good seeing is like wallabies. I.e. quite rare :)

[Paul Haese]

I've been planetary imaging since 2004. One thing I can say is that you cannot make a silk purse from a sows ear. If you are in control of all the hings you can be in control, then the only thing is the seeing. elevation plays a huge part in planetary imaging. Given you're in Norway then take advantage of the high elevation of Jupiter because soon it will start heading back down our way. Still a good image all the same. Similar to images i got when starting out.

[U.K.Cowboy]

As the guys have said seeing is king and you have the potential to get great images with your setup. Check my flikr site all the jupiter shots are taken with the dfk/dbk cam. I'm not convinced the qhy5l is any better for jupiter after doing a comparison test a few days ago.
I would say try fewer alignment points in as!2 as in poor seeing too many can produce alignment cracks. Only 2 aljgnment points will do the job.

[Sebbie]

Hi Ørnulf, you may also wish to consider imaging at a higher f ratio to increase the size of planetary disk on the camera chip (eg. 4x Barlow).

With Jupiter high in Gemini that should not be a problem on most nights..

[oernulfs]

Thank you Stuart and Sebastian.I will try 2 alignment points in Autostacker 2, and I will try my 3x Televue barlow.

I won't give up :)