Jupiter last night

[Mickoid]

Reasonable seeing in Melbourne last night so I took a few video grabs of Jupiter before the clouds rolled in. It was evident that the seeing was improving the later it got as this was the last take of about eight and each one improved in quality.

I'm at least getting practice for Mars while this dust storm prevails, I just hope it clears in time for opposition.

This shot was taken with the unmodded Canon 550d on an EQ5 mount using my 8 inch f5 Newtonian. A 12.5mm eyepiece in conjunction with a Televue 2.5x Powermate was used to give an effective enlargement of 200X and shot in Video Crop mode at 50 fps. Workflow is my usual planetary processing - PIPP, AutoStakkert, Registax and resize/colour correction in Photoshop.

[cometcatcher]

Looks great! Lots of detail.

What are your future plans for planetary imaging? Astro cam of some sort or happy with the DSLR?

[Mickoid]

Happy with the DSLR at this stage. More important things to spend my money on and while I'm able to achieve reasonable results with the DSLR camera I feel there isn't a huge improvement without also buying a larger telescope to warrant the cost of an Astro camera.

Call me lazy if you want but I just don't like having to take extra gear out each time I want to photograph something, if I had a permanent setup, it would be a different story. My mount and scope sits in the loungeroom and it goes back there after each session. I don't even use my HEQ5pro mount for planetary because it's heavier than the EQ5. Yeah, I'm lazy!

[PKay]

Good one Mick :thumbsup:

[Anth10]

Your planetary images speak for themselves I think Mick. You have mastered the dslr and this image shows that clearly. Very smooth and as mentioned plenty of detail and contrast, well done again.

[Mickoid]

Thanks Kevin, Peter and Anthony, I'm not sure I've mastered the DSLR but I am learning what does and doesn't work to give the best result. It's partly getting to know your equipment and what it's capable of achieving given the right combinations and methods. The more you try the more you learn and that requires building up the motivation and enthusiasm to get out there and give it a go at every opportunity. Not always easy this time of year out in the cold. My family think I'm crazy.

[cometcatcher]

Hey I know where you're coming from! I'm lazy too! I had to build myself an observatory otherwise I wouldn't be bothered setting up every time. I hated that more than anything else. Love the observatory, but it took all my astro cam money. I'm going to get a planet cam soon but my deep sky cam will have to wait a while. I just hope my DSLR lasts long enough before I kill it.

[Mickoid]

Good on you Kevin, you certainly have got your monies worth out of that 1100d. Dam good camera that one, I admire what you get out of it. I think you'll have to wait until it dies to get your deep sky cam because you won't be able to sell it with the shutter count value it must have! :lol:

With the DSLR we can take shots of friends and family during the day and deep sky Ha nebulae at night. Can you do that with a dedicated Astro cam? :question:

[cometcatcher]

No but I have 4 DSLR cameras for daytime. Two are full spectrum modified. All of them are old now. They all have very high shutter counts!

I like daytime IR though and I love the Canon for that so I really don't want to kill it. Maybe I should get a DSO cam first to take the strain off the 1100D as soon as possible.

[xelasnave]

Very nice image and I would not be in a rush to change things particularly as you are getting such good results and you are happy.
I am torn between dslr and going narrow band be ause it will mean more work.
Alex

[Mickoid]

And more work may take the fun out of it. Thanks for your compliments and words of advice.