Nearing Opposition

[Anth10]

Hi Earthlings,
The Red Planet surface at 60 degrees longitude, with Valles Marineris at the bottom and Mare Acidalium the dark mass at the top.This image was my first real go at eyepiece projection with my 60D using 2minutes of movie crop and basic staking/processing. The seeing conditions late Sunday night was fair to good and an opportunity taken given the cloudy and unsettled conditions Melbourne has dished up of late...I will try using a filter next time to see if I can extract better contrast and natural colour from the modded Canon.

[glend]

Did you use Astrostakkert for the processing?

[Anth10]

Indeed Glen,
Pipp initially to arrange and centre each individual frame that made up the video sequence followed by Autostakkert. It seems very efficient and gives you a good look at the quality graph to assist in deciding on the percentage of data to finally include.

[Mickoid]

Another great shot Anth, first time with eyepiece projection - what a start. With a result like that it looks like you'd been doing it for years! That custom 10 inch Newt really grabs the detail. Nice processing too, this result would hold it's place in the main image forum. Best DSLR shot of Mars I've seen so far.

[Anth10]

Thanks Michael it is a nice mirror, great clarity given time to acclimatise of course.With such a weighty Newt and camera is certainly is a challenge to get it it all working especially manually focusing with the object darting across the live view. Its always rewarding when you can see the image come to life after the processing routine. I am happy using the DSLR while learning more about the science behind it. CCD imaging would be something to look forward to one day though I must admit.

[Camelopardalis]

That's a nice shot Anth :thumbsup: