Seeing matters

[iceman (Mike)]

Well, dunno if this morning was seeing or tube currents and/or mirror not at ambient.

When I usually setup for a morning of Jupiter imaging, I leave my scope out all night in the dew.. but at least the mirror is at ambient at 4am.

Last night I didn't leave it out in the open. I mean, it sits outside under the pergola all the time (not inside), but it still wasn't "out in the cold" and dew.

The seeing looked promising, as the stars weren't twinkling at all, so I set the scope up to do some imaging, but I just wasn't getting the results I was hoping for. Not sure if it was the seeing or my setup.. in any case, here's the results of a quick 30 minute session this morning.

If it was the weekend I would've left it out another hour and got Red Jnr as it crossed the CM, but I decided I'd had enough of the mozzie swarm and came to work instead.

I only took 6 avi's, here are #3 and #6 with identical processing applied.

[matt]

Still not bad, though Mike. Nice image scale.

I suspect the seeing's the culprit, given you'd left the scope (sort of) outside.

They look a little bit like the images I've recently captured in their "softness". Which is comforting for me, coz it demonstrates what seeing can do to your efforts!!!

Thanks for posting, even if they're nowhere near your best

[davidpretorius]

I used to leave my scope near the garage door under semi cover, but as soon as i went and dragged it out in the open, the ambient temp sensor dropped 2 or 3 degrees. Your house will retain/radiate heat

i think you need that temp logger, I know tassie is more extreme, but the temps will seem to settle after midnight and then 3-5am, there seems to be another drop sometimes.

Every time I have watched bird ie at the two camps, the temps move after midnight, and he stops and waits.

I still like your images.

PS When I was in melbourne, Ian and I walked into D!ck Smith and looked at those 12 volt fridges that sell for $15 - $30. They are a peltier design. I bought it and pulled it apart.

Bird was very impressed with the tooling of it and seeing a peltier by itself was $11 and a fans and heatsink add up to way more than $30, they look great.

I have bird old system he kindly donated and am getting a local aluminium engineering shop to cut up some 2mm thick templates for the 10 GSO dobs.

I believe that baby bird setup may come in at less than $150 including a dual temp sensor.

I am testing on a 7 amphour batery as I am only using 1 peltier and 1 big fan and 3 little fans.

I will keep you updated. I hope to have finished in next coupla weeks, prior to opposition

[Robert_T]

Mike, It just show's how far you've come to be dissappointed with this shot. I'm much the same. I recently compared some of my "less than ideal" jupiter shots from the last two months with my efforts from last year and was amazed to see how much better they actually were.

cheers,

[ving (David)]

not too shabby Mr Mike

nice rich colouration

[rmcpb (Rob)]

Great shots considering the seeing this morning. I tried to view Jupiter this morning and it was not good with the moon washing out the contrast and the seeing all over the place. The stars were twinkling in the mountains so your shot is great, especially under those conditions.

[netwolf]

Iceman i took a quick look at Jupiter last nigt after i quit on Saturn due to clouds, it was about 11:30pm so it was quiet low and i was catching it between clouds. But i noted i could not focus sharply with 9mm EP barlowed 2x. I could see banding but it shimmered like heat wave passing over it. I though perhaps this was due to its low Alt. I too though the seeing looked promising last night. I dont know why but every time i have setup on a clear night the clouds begin to roll in. And when i stop and go inside i notice the clouds parting... Its really anoying.

Regards
PS: Perhaps its my new Telrad and Accufocus purchases.