Io shadow + Red Spot

[Quopaz]

I ended up getting the GoTo/Synscan dobsonian upgrade kit for my 10" dob. Put it all together last Saturday. Drilled the 2 extra holes, had to take the primary mirror out to get at it etc. but it went together pretty well. Then of course had clouds and rain for the next 5 nights! But last night (early this morning) I gave it it's first run and was pretty impressed. Easily beats what I was doing before with the drift and manual tracking. Actually tracked pretty well. I made a level block to sit it on out of a big piece of red gum I cut with the chainsaw. Lined it up with North and used the sidereal tracking mode so I didn't have to do a star alignment. So much easier than what I was doing before. It was a clear sky, but it was quite windy which downgraded the seeing conditions. But I managed to get Jupiter on the camera after half an hour or so of trying and realigned the finderscope. (there was no moon to sight in on) After that it was easy. Ended up with this pic of Jupiter with the red spot and Io's shadow. Also got some video of Mars and Saturn but not processed yet. Can't wait to see what it can do in really good conditions.

[Quopaz]

Quick attempt at processing something out of the Saturn and Mars vids:

[Saturnine]

Good results considering the conditions ( when are they ever good ), I'm sure you'll get better results the more you do it. Increases the chances of getting a patch of good seeing sooner rather than later. What camera are you using for the videos, probably mentioned before but can't recall.

[Quopaz]

I'm using a Canon 60D in the 640x480 crop mode. Just having a break between filming now. I just did the red spot with Europa's shadow, and in about an hour or so the red spot will be gone but there should be 2 shadows, I'm hoping. Trying not to go back to sleep. Conditions much the same as yesterday, clear but a bit windy. You're right, it's rare that conditions are perfect. Especially when there's a double shadow or something like that.

[Saturnine]

Hi
Am taking some video myself atm, Red Spot and shadow transit, seeing is reasonably good but a NW breeze is buffeting the scope at times. Hoping to catch the second shadow coming onto the disc in a little while.

[Quopaz]

How did you go? I'm finished now. Got 4 or 5x 3 minute vids with the 2 shadows, but they weren't there for long. Hope you got it.

[Tulloch]

Nice images, it certainly makes a difference when you are able to track the target!

[Saturnine]

Well the seeing was quite good to start off with about 2:00 am but slowly deteriorated and by the time Ganymedes' shadow was entering the disc the seeing had gone to crap. Didn't even bother moving over to Mars later on, packed up and went to bed.
Have a bit of processing to do now, a quick one just as an example. Europas' shadow just entering the disc.

[Quopaz]

That's pretty good, I've got a lot of processing to do too. One thing with taking lots of frames is it takes longer to process, but the results are better too. Yes Andrew it's so much better with tracking, it's almost like a luxury after trying to do it without it!
I just processed one with the double shadow, had over 11000 frames. Took the best 90% in PIPP, then stacked with AS2! 10, 25, 50 and 80 % of that. This was the 80% I think. Others may come up better but will take time. One shadow on each side, much further apart than the last 2 times and no red spot:

[Quopaz]

The earlier one, when the red spot was still there with the first shadow. Before the red spot disappeared and the second shadow came along:

[foc]

Good stuff, there are great images on the planets out there from big reflectors, so I am looking forward to seeing some from you when the wind is not blowing and the jetstream is still.

[Quopaz]

Thanks Ross, with this double shadow there was only about a 20 minute window when the shadows were in good spots, and not right on the edge. So I was stuck with whatever the conditions were at the time. Could have been worse. Hoping to get a good Saturn when conditions are ideal. This pic captured the moons a bit better:

[Quopaz]

Had a go at making one of those animated gifs of the last double shadow. It's not perfect, but at least it worked and it sort of shows how they weren't both visible together for very long.