Planetary Imaging 40 years ago

[jjjnettie]

40 years ago, these photos, captured on film, were world class. Taken through the 200" Hale Reflector and the 60" at Mt Wilson respectively.
Compare these to what Amateurs are now capturing in their back yards through scopes as small as 8".
These are amazing times we're living in.
I can't even imagine how it will be in 5 years time. :)

Images are taken from Patrick Moores book, "The Story of Astronomy" .

[Nico13]

Yes it's amazing isn't it, I recall doing my first study of the solar system when in sixth grade for an end of year project to fill in the last week of school back in 1965 :eyepop: yes, scary isn't it.
Anyway I distinctly remember the books in the school library depicting the known surface of mars at the time with canals drawn all over it, you know the ones that the Martians had made to sail their boats along. :lol:

Binalongtime ;)

Ken.

[jenchris]

I'm staggered - really.
I have a book by Patrick Moore - printed in 1997.
The images mostly are sludgy eggy and I would have said quite amateurish.
Except that amateurs produce images so far above the level of the book that I thought it must have been produced several decades ago - except it has Hubble shots in it.
We've come a long way baby!

[asimov]

Yep. I had "The southern stars" by Patrick with mostly the same pics in it (the 200 inch). I'm glad to be here at this time as far as planet imaging is concerned.

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

I agree, it is somewhat astounding. I went just now to get the earliest edition I have, a Patrick Moore title, and yes, same thing there.

I think jjj, in 5-10 years, those great photos you have now through your astro setup, you will be taking those through your iPhone127, just stepping out on the porch for a sec.

Your astro setup then will be doing this from the backyard

http://www.sciencephoto.com/image/326060/530wm/R3500243-Valles_Marineris,_Mars-SPL.jpg

Cheers

[troypiggo]

They're still better than any I can achieve :(

[Lester]

Great to look back and to see where technology has taken us JJ.

[Paul Haese]

I remember seeing the likes of these images years ago and then looking at probe images with wonder. Having been a part of this imaging revolution it is gratifying now after spreading the word at public talks (along with many others) and out on the internet to finally see a true recognition of our efforts by images being published in such journals as Icarus, Nature and the like.

When I first started planetary imaging in 2004; planetary imaging was considered as no more than an amusing frustration and at worst I heard it referred to as being a bit of a joke ("that ain't real imaging mate"). In the eight years since the hardware, processing software and processing techniques have radically changed the way we all look upon ultra high resolution imaging. Now only seeing sets most great imagers apart when there was a time that only one young man dominated this scene (even Don Parker was amazed at Damians skills at the time). His images of the time were nothing to compare to todays images but his images were still way better than any other imager on the planet.

Where will it all end. There are obvious limitations (physics takes care of that) and we are approaching this boundary. Sorry if you think an Iphone will ever take images like we are now, then think again. Optical resolution cannot be usurped by any trickery of software. You will note that most of us are now buying bigger and bigger telescopes to get more resolution. My plan is to buy a 20RCX in the coming years, Anthony is talking about an 18" down the track and no doubt Trevor will consider this in time as well. Not to mention top guys over seas. Nearly everyone has a 14" or larger (some notable exceptions are present here). More light means faster frame rates and better freezing of the seeing. The cameras will only go so fast in the end. So be happy with producing orbit style images and forget any dream of viewing Valles up close and personal. Even Hubble cannot do that.:)

[Screwdriverone]

Hmmmmmmmmmm,

Not bad efforts from the Hale Telescope people, although I recommend they increase the gamma slightly, modify the curves and apply a touch of Lucy Richardson deconvolution...............OH..... ....wait........thats right.....;)

We is spoiled, we is.....:)

Cheers

Chris

[Jen]

:eyepop: wow hasnt the technology improved so much now, we are so spoilt ;)

[lacad01]

You're not wrong. We're pretty fortunate to be living in times of rapid technological growth and improvement.

[Poita]

Paul, how much more light sensitivity do you reckon is possible with CCD designs of the future? I see 2MP cameras available now that can do 300fps,(and they are less than 2 grand) but without an exceptionally large scope I imagine that getting over 60fps with today's tech would be problematic. (plus the camera-link interface is fast enough, but you need an array of SSD's to keep up!)

I'm not giving up hope on an affordable 100fps higher resolution camera coming out in the next 10 years, but I wonder where the limits are.