Placidus
19-12-2020, 02:23 PM
Our gear (FLI PL16803 on 20 inch PlaneWave CDK) is not quite the right thing for planetary imaging. We're used to staring at a galaxy and taking one hour subs and stacking 20 hour's worth. In short, we haven't a clue.
But a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get Jupiter and Saturn in the same frame.
At the earliest point where we could actually take a photo without being blinded by the sky glow, the fourth Jovian moon was clearly visible and well resolved, but once things were under way, it had disappeared behind Jupiter, so only three.
The planets were also very low in the sky (as everyone knows), so seeing was only about 3.5 sec arc, versus 1.8 or so up in the zenith.
Stack of 20 one-second shots. Jupiter "held back" in processing so that the bands were visible.
We tried 0.1 second shots, which is the shortest we could do, but down so low in the sky there was no advantage.
For those who don't know us, all robotics (motor control electronics, firmware, control software), and all imaging acquisition and processing software designed, built, written by us.
Our more usual sort of stuff is here (https://mikeberthonjones.smugmug.com/).
Best,
Mike and Trish
But a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get Jupiter and Saturn in the same frame.
At the earliest point where we could actually take a photo without being blinded by the sky glow, the fourth Jovian moon was clearly visible and well resolved, but once things were under way, it had disappeared behind Jupiter, so only three.
The planets were also very low in the sky (as everyone knows), so seeing was only about 3.5 sec arc, versus 1.8 or so up in the zenith.
Stack of 20 one-second shots. Jupiter "held back" in processing so that the bands were visible.
We tried 0.1 second shots, which is the shortest we could do, but down so low in the sky there was no advantage.
For those who don't know us, all robotics (motor control electronics, firmware, control software), and all imaging acquisition and processing software designed, built, written by us.
Our more usual sort of stuff is here (https://mikeberthonjones.smugmug.com/).
Best,
Mike and Trish