DBK31 first light.. Jupiter 30-08-08 Brisbane.

[AlexN]

Took me 4 or 5 days to get a first light image with this camera due to the weather It brought with it...

It took me a bit of mucking around to find a codec that looked any good (and I still dont know if i got it right...) but RGB32 came up looking the best, so from there, I ran off about 13x 90sec AVI's most of which were ruined by the less than optimal seeing.. however these 2 images were clearly better than the rest...

The color isnt right.. I think I had the saturation too high in IC Capture..

IC Capture is not as user friendly as K3CCD in my opinion... more powerful in its options, but not as easy to use.

Enough jibba jabba.... Pics.

[netwolf]

Alex, that looks excellent. I dont think i have seen equatorial detail before in a image taken with a 8" scope. And the same goes for the detail in the GRS.

Edit:
Wait hold on a second is this with your 8" or C11?

[madtuna]

look fine to me Al...is that the mono with filters or the colour DBK?

[cookie8]

Awesome details! Seeing we can only dream of!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

[AlexN]

Fahim, That was with the 8" newtonian... The C11 is paid for but i am still rather impatiently waiting for stock.. :(

Steve, DBK color...

Thanks for the comments

I just did some reading and found out I was using the wrong codec after all.. I should be using Y800 and debayer it in registax... :) well, at least I know for next time...

heres a re-do of the second image, just tweaked the colors a touch and tried to bring the noise level down.. I have to push the gain pretty hard with the 8" at over 6m focal lenght..

[Dennis]

Excellent stuff Alex - really nice shots mate! All these terrific Jupiters of late has forced me to voyage deeper into our Solar System so tonight, I’m trying to grab the (brighter) moons of Uranus.

On my way to Uranus, I did grab a few AVI’s of Jupiter with the DBK21 so I’ll post them later for a comparison.

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

i might be able to have a go at the deeper solar system when my C11 arrives... point it at Uranus see what I can get.. If the DBK cant capture it, the QHY8 probably will.. :D

[Dennis]

Yeah – I’m shooting 10 secs with a x4 PowerMate. That’s F12 x4 = F48 in the Mewlon and the quantum efficiency of the SBIG ST7E makes it feasible. The DMK and DBK picked up almost no signal at F48.

I can definitely see 4 moons on screen, albeit very dim; just a few ADU above the background.

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

mmm... Mind you I was pleasently surprised by the DBK tonight... whilst waiting for Jupiter to get high enough to image, I was toying with the long exposure settings in IC capture.. Took a 30sec shot of M20 that actually showed quite alot of nebulosity, and in the right colors too.. M8 produced better results.. being bigger/brighter I guess..

I might have a better play with it next time I'm out.. get 10 subs and stack them up.. see how it goes...

[astro_south]

Great shot Alex - lots of detail

[RB]

Very nice detail Alex.

:thumbsup:

[iceman]

Great image Alex! Well done. Excellent first light.

[peter_4059]

Great Jup images Alex. Were you using the 5x powermate?

[Striker]

Nice job Alex.

I will give you a score of 9.15 with a degree of dificulty of 3.2...lol

I have been watching too much Olympics.

[Matty P]

Excellent first light Alex, very well done.

Lots of detail and great image scale.

Once your C11 arrives, I can't wait to see what you produce.

A top effort. :)

[matt]

Good work, Alex.

[AlexN]

Thanks so much eveyone,

Peter_4059 : Yeah, that was with the 5x powermate... and thats the standard image scale, not resized at all.

Matty P : Me too :D Thought I should get a few more images out of the 8" before it goes into the garage never to be seen again... or sold.... :)


Thanks again everyone.

Alex.

[Matty P]

Sorry for going slightly off topic but Alex, what made you decide that you wanted a C11 over a 12" Newt or similar?

:thumbsup:

[AlexN]

manageability Matt... A 24kg, 1.5m long OTA is a hassle and a half. a 12.4kg 60cm long OTA isn't a worry in the world. Price of the Newt was attractive, but add in the cost of custom made rings / couple of extra counter weights etc. etc.. Sure its not $3600 but its still getting up there. Collimation is something that even after having done it a few times now, its still annoying to have to do it regularly, and tricky at times..

Finally I also wanted whichever large aperture scope I bought to be used for visual work/planetary imaging and DSO imaging. A 12" Newt on an EQ6 is not an observers dream, and DSO imaging would be out of the question due to the weight of the tube alone being right on the EQ6's limit. guide scope/camera/guide cam etc etc.. you're asking for headaches.. And for DSO's you need to shorten the tube in order to reach focus, however for planetary/observing, that modification is not exactly the best of plans...

It finally came down to the choice of a Meade 12" LX200 ACF or the Celestron C11. Meade = more expensive/heavier and according to many reviews, whilst they are great scopes, the quality compared to the C11 is somewhat lacking...

The 11" SCT + guide scope/guide cam/QHY8/side by side bar etc comes in lighter than the 12" OTA alone.

It was a tough decision... but I am quite sure I've made the right decision based on budget and planed useage of the scope...

[Matty P]

I totally understand where you are coming from Alex. Although the 12" Newt's aperture and pricing is a big plus you just can't beat simplicity and ease of use. A 20kg 12" Newtonian OTA just doesn't allow for that.

My future plans is to upgrade to a larger SCT when funds allow and from the reviews that I have read, they are great scopes. I still love my C8 though.

:thumbsup:

[AlexN]

I was considering a C11 + C8.. having the C8 for deepsky stuff (much lighter for the mount, whilst retaining the long focal length I wanted) and keeping the C11 for planetary imaging and observing... but I since spoke to alot of people who say the EQ6 has no issues with the C11 + gear needed for photography... Although, eventually I'll get an AP900 mount for the C11 and keep the EQ6 for the Megrez + DSLR lens imaging purposes.. I suppose alternatively I could just go the direction of omaroo and have 4 scopes + DSLR lens setup on one mount :D That must be a Joy to setup :P

[spearo]

That's a great shot well done!
frank

[middy]

Fantastic shots Alex. :thumbsup:

Plenty of detail there.