Uranus and moons in IR 15/9

[Dave882]

I've been putting the new Optolong IR685 pass filter through its paces to assess how useful it may be in planetary imaging. After some encouraging results on Mercury earlier in the evening (see previous post) I thought I'd have a go at something further out.

Uranus is said to come up ok with IR pass filters so seemed an obvious selection, especially since my previous efforts were not very good with OSC. Using the IR685 and my asi290mm (mini guide cam) here really neatened things up and I'm quite pleased with the improvement

I processed as normal in Registax and then did another version used the gamma planel to reveal the moons (thanks for the tip Andrew [Tulloch]). Another vid was done using the ASI294mc to get some colour, and I combined all of these in layers in GIMP for a final result. Should note that the rgb version was extremely poor again compared with the IR and really only useful for colour.

10” LX50
ASI290mm mini for IR
ASI294mc FOR rgb
captured with ASIAIR Pro
1.8x Barlow
ZWO ADC (for rgb only)

960sec , 2402 Frames @ 2.5fps
400ms exposures @ 500gain
AS!3 - 20% of
Sydney B6/7

Registax6 for wavelet processing
GIMP to colour & combine images

Thanks for looking!

EDIT- thanks to Dennis for his input it appears that I have captured a small magnitude 14.5 star photobombing the 4 moons. Guess I could have erased it pretty quick but left it there anyway for completeness. Miranda remains elusive so close to the planet.

[Stonius]

I missed the Gamma tip? Does it require 2 passes? Does it change the way the planet is rendered? I've always avoided messing with the gamma because i thought it would ruin things. If you can't be bothered explaining, you can just link me up with the thread you're referring to, I couldn't see anything on your excellent mercury image.



Cheers


Markus

[Dave882]

Hi Markus thanks for the comments. No probs at all! It’s may be easier than you think actually. In registax I did one version just normally optimising the planet. Save. Then start again but with the gamma panel shifted the histogram till the moons pop out. I then shifted the contrast/brightness sliders to further enhance and decrease background brightness. This completely oversaturated the planet but you just sub in the planet from the other image as layers when combining in gimp/ps/or other software. A few touch ups contrast/brightness and there you go.
Hope that helps

[Stonius]

Ah cool, I'll have to keep that trick in mind! Cheers


Markus

[Dennis]

Great results, especially for the elusive Miranda :thumbsup: which is never more than around 9 arc secs from the bright disc of Uranus.:)

Cheers

Dennis

PS - I think it is Ariel and not Arial?:shrug:

[yoda776]

This is the first time I have seen someone image Uranus (although an occasional checker of the forums). That is an impressive image capture of Uranus and 5 moons. Awesome job :thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Thanks Dennis!

Yep a bit of a typo there I’ll go back and fix thanks for the heads up!! Yeah the IR filter really reduces the flare from the planet - I’ve attached a single preview shot I was using to orientate myself (rgb &ir). It is possible I guess that the moon I have marked as Miranda is a rogue star? But seemed to be in similar location as predicted by the skyandtelescope.org tool. Thoughts?

[Dave882]

Thanks mate. The thing I love about this hobby is that there’s always something up there I’ve never seen before. Still getting that ‘ohh wow’ moment almost every tine I set up.

[Anth10]

Dave,
Glad you put the filter to the test on this one- your technique has brought this distant planet to our eyes- very scientific! Well done
Anth

[Retrograde]

Nice work Dave!

[Eris]

Very impressive results David. Well done. :thumbsup:

[multiweb]

Very nice. :thumbsup: Never tried Uranus. When is it up?

[Dennis]

Hi Dave

Thanks for posting those additional images.:)

Now the bad news - according to SkyTools 4 it looks like you may have a star, GSC 01223-0756 (Magnitude: 14.49), mistakenly identified as as Umbriel and Miranda is much closer to Uranus.

I've attached a screen capture from ST4 set for Brisbane on 15th Sept.

Cheers

Dennis

[Dave882]

Wow thanks for getting that info Dennis. That st4 data is fantastic- is it a paid app? The app I was using didn’t show any stars in the mix there but that definitely makes sense what you’ve shown there. So looks like I got 4moons and a rogue star after all. Still pretty happy about that! New update complete…

Looks like you’ve given me an excuse to have another go at this one this season- probably wait till it’s at opposition me thinks.

Thanks for your input.
Dave

[Dave882]

Thanks Marc- waaay too late right now. Opposition is on 4th November so probably Worth a shot then. Cheers

[leon]

Wow that is so good, what a splendid effort, well done.

Leon

[Dennis]

Hi Dave

SkyTools 4 (https://www.skyhound.com) comes in 2 flavours, Imaging and Visual and the purchase price ranges from $99 to $199 US depending on whether you are purely Visual or into Imaging.

The application is very rich in functionality and is a powerful tool, although the learning curve is steep as it is a very functionally rich planning tool rather than just a sky atlas.

I am just tinkering at the edges of ST4 and there is so much more that lies under the hood as you drill down.

Cheers

Dennis

[Zubenel]

Marvelous!It's a to do object and this is a good example. When identifying Pluto in an image I took recently ( Busy Field) , it was my discovery that plate solving does not do planets! So as Dennis has pointed out a good software program is essential for identification. I used Stellarium to flick which made it real easy to identify. Question , would the Moon interfere with imaging Uranus ?

[multiweb]

Cool - will keep an eye for it. :thumbsup:

[Dave882]

Thanks for the comments Wes, Leon, Anthony, Gerard, Pete, Matt. I’m glad to be able to bring something to light that was certainly new to me and maybe to some others as well.

Wes- good question about the moon glow. When doing a bit of research for this shot I did read that Uranus and Neptune (which I also had a go at on this night) can be approached almost like semi-dso imaging. And although I’m pretty new to it - I would have to agree. I think the moon glow was a major contributor to why my rgb data was so poor but my IR data was much cleaner. In fact I think going mono with rgb filter would be a good advantage for any light pollution /sky glow.
A few other findings:
rgb data was much better with my cooled asi294mc as opposed to the Asi224mc.
Data was better when my PA was better (I can’t explain this but seemed to make a difference)
There was a minimum exposure length below which the signal was not accurate and final stack colour balance was weird

It’s only my 3rd attempt at these so not drawing on masses of experience but perhaps a starting point nonetheless.
Cheers