Stonius
19-08-2021, 01:34 PM
I know buying new gear can bring on cloudy weather, but can buying a 16" Goto Dob bring on a lockdown? Seems that way.
The last few years have been tough in terms of astronomy. I live in an apartment, so getting out in the world with my telescope is the only way I get to experience the stars. Sometimes my GF is co-operative, but TBH, using her place as an observatory feels a bit wrong on the few nights a week i get to see her. Priorities and all.
Between family commitments or lockdowns, it can be hard.
So I figured since I don't really enjoy star-hopping all that much and I can't get to a dark sky site that often, AND I have 3 Telescopes that aren't really set up for planetary, I decided to get at Hubble Optics 16" Goto. It's replacing my current 16" which doesn't track and isn't an ultralight.
It arrived a month ago. Or most of it did. They forgot the motor controller which will be arriving imminently, and now we have not only a lockdown, but a curfew as well! I imagine it's to stop people having parties, rather than standing in a big empty field at night by themselves, but rules are rules and fines are fines.
So, long story short, I reworked some old data taken on my old Push-to 16" from 2018, taken with my Canon 5D MkIV. Essentially, I'd set the camera running, let the planet drift through the field, reset, repeat. It leaves a lot to be desired. The planet distorted as it got to the edges, then there was the jiggling as the scope settled. I can't even remember if I used EP projection or powermate.
The result was a few videos of various lengths, never more than about 300 usable frames. I spent a lot of time in PIPP limiting the frames to just the good ones, which made a big difference to the resulting quality. Strangely, PIPP seemed to have a better algorithm for judging the quality. Autostakkert would introduce some weird ones in it's ordering. Playing with Autostakkert settings made the ugly square lines on the limbs disappear - mainly noise Detection and AP size being the main variables. Then I decided to experiment with WinJuPos, just to get the hang of it. Then a little more tweaking in Photoshop and here you go.
Probably the best image I've ever taken of Jupiter under less than ideal conditions. Hopefully not the best I'll ever do - this lockdown has to end sometime, right?...right? ugh. I'm aware it's not the sharpest, but considering the circumstances I think I pulled everything I could out of that equipment and data.
Looking forward to getting this new scope out so I can spend more time just looking, really looking. And hopefully getting some brag-worthy pictures of Jupiter sometime.
Markus
The last few years have been tough in terms of astronomy. I live in an apartment, so getting out in the world with my telescope is the only way I get to experience the stars. Sometimes my GF is co-operative, but TBH, using her place as an observatory feels a bit wrong on the few nights a week i get to see her. Priorities and all.
Between family commitments or lockdowns, it can be hard.
So I figured since I don't really enjoy star-hopping all that much and I can't get to a dark sky site that often, AND I have 3 Telescopes that aren't really set up for planetary, I decided to get at Hubble Optics 16" Goto. It's replacing my current 16" which doesn't track and isn't an ultralight.
It arrived a month ago. Or most of it did. They forgot the motor controller which will be arriving imminently, and now we have not only a lockdown, but a curfew as well! I imagine it's to stop people having parties, rather than standing in a big empty field at night by themselves, but rules are rules and fines are fines.
So, long story short, I reworked some old data taken on my old Push-to 16" from 2018, taken with my Canon 5D MkIV. Essentially, I'd set the camera running, let the planet drift through the field, reset, repeat. It leaves a lot to be desired. The planet distorted as it got to the edges, then there was the jiggling as the scope settled. I can't even remember if I used EP projection or powermate.
The result was a few videos of various lengths, never more than about 300 usable frames. I spent a lot of time in PIPP limiting the frames to just the good ones, which made a big difference to the resulting quality. Strangely, PIPP seemed to have a better algorithm for judging the quality. Autostakkert would introduce some weird ones in it's ordering. Playing with Autostakkert settings made the ugly square lines on the limbs disappear - mainly noise Detection and AP size being the main variables. Then I decided to experiment with WinJuPos, just to get the hang of it. Then a little more tweaking in Photoshop and here you go.
Probably the best image I've ever taken of Jupiter under less than ideal conditions. Hopefully not the best I'll ever do - this lockdown has to end sometime, right?...right? ugh. I'm aware it's not the sharpest, but considering the circumstances I think I pulled everything I could out of that equipment and data.
Looking forward to getting this new scope out so I can spend more time just looking, really looking. And hopefully getting some brag-worthy pictures of Jupiter sometime.
Markus