Mars, 4th October

[bird]

I grabbed some imaging runs of Mars on the morning of the 4th, the seeing wasn't particularly good but I thought I might get something out of it.

Well, the raw data was very poor, I've spent yesterday and today crunching over my image processing to try and extract something worthwhile. Finally tonight I have a decent image so here it is :-)

Equipment:

10" f/6 newtonian , 5x TV powermate + extenders for 7x
PGR Dragonfly Express camera @ 50fps
Astronomik RGB filters + Tru-Tech filter wheel
Linux/Coriander + Windows/Registax/Astra Image

regards, Bird

[RB]

Unbelievable bird !

Great image, well done.

:cool:

[videoguy]

Nice work Bird particularly given the seeing conditions.

[davidpretorius]

i have just had a brilliant nights seeing, lmc and smc could be seen thru the guider (first time ever for me) NGC362 seemed as bright as tuc normally is, saturn stunning.

my mars videos looked promising without barlow, stacked seemed to go really well, but final image was asimov's favourite word!

thanks bird for a great image.

must get tracking made, tested and sorted out and maybe just maybe a 5x by the end of the month

[iceman]

That's really nice Anthony! It looks better than the one you posted on CN a day or two ago - did you reprocess it? It's also a larger image scale - was it resampled in registax?

I like that image a lot, very smooth and the NPH looks really well defined.

[bird]

Hi Mike, yes it's resampled 150%, but not in Registax cause Registax doesn't support resampling of FITS images (it's something Cor is still working on).

I've added image rescaling and filtering options to ppmcentre instead

Actually ppmcentre has had a major overhaul and now has lots of extra features. I'm considering renaming it to something else, the original name is a bit misleading now since it does much more than its original job of centering PPM images :-)

I'll send you the new version when I have it ready.

regards, Bird.

[bird]

Tracking is seriously important for high res imaging, even though I know Mike is the master at dob-based imaging he will be limited by the blur as the image moves while being exposed in each frame.

To see the fine details requires that mars stays still during each frame of exposure, I spend a lot of time each night getting tracking good enough that I can go inside and make a cuppa and come back out 20 minutes later and still have mars on the ccd :-)

regards, Bird

[Exfso]

Absolutely fabulous shot bird, your seeing must be 1st class in Canberra, dont think we could ever get it as good here in Adelaide. You really are the planetary guru

:thumbsup:

[iceman]

hmm, maybe I should be taking more care in setting up my platform then.. I use the variable speed knob on my platform to keep the planet on the chip.. speed up, slow down, speed up, slow down :D


Sounds great! Can't wait to see it!
Any chance it can work off an avi file? I hate the extra step of using virtualdub to save the avi into bmp's. It just adds more time to the already lengthy processing steps :)

How do you extract your avi into bmp's?

[bird]

Aahh, Grasshopper, you want to know all my secrets??

lol, actually I avoid AVI's altogether. You see, my capture software under Linux spits out each frame into a separate file so I'm starting with a directory full of individual frames, either BMP or (with the new DX camera) 16bpp FIT files.

I find this much more useful than having an AVI, it means I can easily delete broken frames, load and inspect frames in other programs like Photoshop or the Gimp, etc.

So I'm afraid you're stuck with it. I can give you the source to ppmcentre if you want to add AVI support :-)

regards, Bird

[netwolf]

Bird, excellent work there, that dragon fly seems to be worth its money in gold perhaps more. Can i ask what kind of tracking platform you are using for your newt?

Do you know if it is possible with other webcam type CCD cameras to get raw frame outputs?

Regards

[davidpretorius]

bird, i would love to play with the source code is possible.

I am working in vb .net and trying to combine driving my dob with usb stepper motor, acquiring long exposure images with the modified toucam and also centering, focussing etc.

pm me if that is ok for me to play

[asimov]

Wonderful image there Bird! I'm in awe.

[bird]

G'Day netwolf. I've got a German EQ mount, a Losmandy G-11. Yes, you can get raw frame outputs from other cameras, like the ToUcam - you have to look around on the web for instructions on how to do it.

regards, Bird

[bird]

ppmcentre is written in C, and compiles on both Linux and Windows. I'm happy to give you a copy of the code to play with, but any changes you make that you want to contribute back have to compile under both Windows and Linux :-)

Compiling on Windows is done with the MinGW C compiler, it's a Windows version
of the standard GNU C/C++ compiler.

I'll put a page up on my website where you can grab a copy.

regards, Bird

[atalas]

:jawdrop: holy cow Bird ! are you getting time on the Hubble or what ?


Louie :thumbsup:

[netwolf]

bird, glad to see that your supporting Linux as well as windows. I have not heard of this MinGW compilier before, can you provide a link for this.

A G-11 Losmandy, well you have all the best gear then.

Regards

[bird]

www.mingw.org

Optionally, you can also grab the Unix shell and utilities, and then you have an environment that is very linux-like. That's a package called msys available from the same place.

Bird

[ving]

very good stuff bird! :)

[davidpretorius]

netwolf,

try this link for raw and toucam, i am just reading it now!

dave p

http://www.astrosurf.com/astrobond/ebrawe.htm

[elusiver]

awesome image bird!

i've been looking at installing linux onto one of my lappies, as i've already installed it into my second machine at home and quite like it. What kinda windows equivalents does linux have for astro photography?

el :)

[anthony2302749]

Wow, top job. I am still looking at cloudy skies here in Melbourne.

Anthony
Melbourne, Australia

[ving]

been thinking bout linux for ages but i am too scared to use it :scared3"

[beren]

:scared2: Stunning

[bird]

I've used linux to run a ToUcam, the best application is called Qastrocam. It's written and supported by a guy in France (or Belgium? can't remember) whose english is a bit dodgy, but the program works fine.

Also if you have a firewire camera then you can use another app called Coriander. That's what I was using for this image.

Any video camera with a "Video4linux" driver will work.

These are both open source programs, meaning you get the source code to play with as well :-)

regards, Bird

[davidpretorius]

bird, what is your website?

[rumples riot]

Hey Anthony, wonderful image as usual.

You will be pleased to know that our seeing has been blocked by enormous cloud banks for the past two weeks, (last weekend does not count as I was in Perth). So for four months now the weather has not be conducive to doing any imaging. I hope it breaks soon.

How do you think the new camera compares with the old? The reason I ask is that with my collimation finally sorted I want to reconsider the camera I am using. (I sent an email with shots to Rod Mollise and he said that my collimation is about as good as it gets) So I am now looking for a replacement camera. Price must be considered, also I am running XP. Got any suggestions?

Paul

[cometcatcher]

Great shot Bird. Can't wait to see your images of the other planets when they come in view again.

[bird]

Paul, I wouldn't swap my camera for any other one regardless of price. I reckon I've got the best planetary camera on the market at the moment :-)

Of course it's also the most expensive camera, so I'm probably the only one silly enough to pay nearly AUS$2k for it :-)

BUT I found out today that the company that makes my camera is releasing a new model next week that looks like it might also be good for astronomy and a fair bit cheaper than mine.

I don't know what the price for the new camera will be yet, but I've seen some of the specs for it, and it has all the good stuff needed for planetary imaging - 16bit monochrome data, uncompressed, firewire connection etc.

The website for the company is www.ptgrey.com. I have the "Dragonfly Express" model, and the new model that's coming next week is probably going to be called a "Dragonfly2" camera.

For my money the only way to get top results on the planets is to use a monochrome camera and filterwheel with an electronic focusser. On nights of good seeing that combination will crush anything else :-)

Oh, and here's another processed image from a few nights ago...

regards. Bird