Jupiter and Saturn under Moon glare

[Startrek]

Seeing was good on Tuesday night with a low Jetstream so decided to do some planetary imaging on Jupiter and Saturn
Moon was around 95% and shining like a flood light across my OTA
Grabbed a small tarp and slung it up to provide some shadow across the OTA


8” f5 newt
EQ6-R Mount
Canon 600D with 5 x Powermate
ISO 800
Captured via BYEOS on 5 x zoom to achieve 1:1 pixel ratio
1500 frames AVI file
Stacked in Autostakkert 3 ( best 30 % on quality estimator )
Processed in Registax 6

This is my second attempt at planetary imaging with the 8” f5 newt

Thanks for looking , comments most welcome

[xelasnave]

You are doing very good but I am sure you can do even better.
I say that because I recall a story of a leader who routinely rejected the work presented to him, even though the guy had done his best, merely to wring the very best out of the guy producing the work.
Come on you can do better.
Seriously great images.
Alex

[Mickoid]

I admire your persistence in chasing these planets as they recede in size and brightness, Martin. I haven't done any planetary work for weeks. Of course, partly due to the horrid weather we've been having down here in Melbourne and watching them both move into the western quadrant of the sky. I just haven't got the motivation to do any more this year so good on you for keeping us up to date with the state of these wandering gasballs. :thumbsup:

[Startrek]

Thanks Alex and Mick
This planetary stuff is more demanding than DSO imaging as it’s hit and miss plus a lot of luck
I’m limited to about 2000 frames max ( 60sec ) as the planet starts to wander off to far out of my focus box . I’m capturing at 30fps
I had know idea these would turn out so good considering a near full moon across my scope
Cheers

[Mickoid]

It's important with planetary imaging that you still achieve reasonable polar alignment so that you can keep the planet in frame for as long as possible. Maybe try keeping the planet centred in the frame by toggling the image left right, up and down with your hand controller. Don't worry if it wanders around a bit within the frame because a program called Pipp will take your recorded video frames and produce an .avi file that centres the planetary image and keeps it rock steady within the frame.

[Startrek]

I don’t use the hand controller anymore as I’m navigating with EQMOD on my laptop via the keyboard and mouse which sits on a little table next to my mount
Im using BYEOS for capture which creates an AVI file that gives you both individual jpegs and video.To be honest I haven’t tried to see what happens if the planet drifts out of the small focus box in the centre of the view port
Maybe I’ll try and see what happens.Theres guys who shoot up to 5000 frames on BYEOS so maybe it’s just me being conservative
My PA is pretty good as I can images a 2.5 mag star at 3 x mag for 3 or 4 minutes and it doesn’t budge an inch off the crosshairs in Alignment mode in BYEOS
Lots more to learn about planetary imaging but having fun along the journey

[foc]

Some good work there!
Persistence is a key, sometimes seeing will vary greatly over a night or locally be effected more in one part of the sky by a hot building etc.