First Jupiter through 12 " on EQ6 Pro

batema (Mark) · #1 04-05-2009, 10:30 AM

Hi,

My mate and I have been keen to load up the EQ6 Pro with the 12" Dob again and have a go at Jupiter. We thought with the long weekend Sunday night would be fine. I woke at 1.30am to pouring rain and Adam arriving in the driveway to image Jupiter.

The seeing between the gaps in the clouds was rare and often hazy. The threat of rain was present and a check of the jet stream showed it howling. Not to mention the breeze that was blowing at ground level. What did we do - SET THE SCOPE UP.

I thought I would post this as our benchmark. After trying over an hour and a half we got about 6 x 1 min AVI's but the last was cut short as the rain came tumbling down. It was the quickest pack up in the history of astronomy. Given the conditions we are wrapped with our first image.

Used a Phillips Toucam 840, 2.5x Powermate, GSO 12" Dob mounted on EQ6 Pro.

Mark

iceman (Mike) · #2 04-05-2009, 10:36 AM

Great start, well done! You're missing a bit of colour - how do you set the white balance?

batema (Mark) · #3 04-05-2009, 01:13 PM

What white balance? Mike we are happy to get an image and then some basic processing using Registax. I slide the bars on the left from outside in I think the outsides were 20 then 10 then 5. I then change the contrast and brightness and change the filter to a Mitchell. I dont set any white points. Obviously its something I need to learn about in Planetary processing. I will check out some of the tutorials on this site.
I can't wait for no wind, low jet stream and no rain. Am I asking for too much.

Thanks

Mark

AlexN · #4 04-05-2009, 02:27 PM

Hah... When planetary imaging is the plan, I would never expect to see good seeing, good transparancy and low jet stream all on a night that didnt involve rain!

You've done well considering the conditions... One thought... You have 12" of aperture at your disposal, I would definitely consider investing in a 5x powermate.. When you do finally get that one or twice a year night of great steady seeing, you'll want to be read with the most magnification your scope can handle..