~ SPC900NC pointed at Mars ~ Advice? :0) ~

[Arc]

Hey guys,

I'm using wxAstro Capture, can anyone give me advice on the settings?

Still at the very early stages of learning how to use my equipment.

Last night I successfully setup a two star alignmnet and slew over to Mars.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v333/arcarc/Mars1.jpg

This was the first time I have used a cam on the skies. Was going to start with the moon but Mars presented itself. I was happy just to be tracking an object and recording.

When I played back the avi Mars was rock steady in the frame, practically zero shaking. I was pleased because the 10" Newt is a big scope for the celestron mount.

So I guess now it's down to the settings. The pic above is a simple sceenshot of the avi. Before I get into processing I obviously need to get the cam settings right. Any help would be much appreciated. Cheers

[Quark (Trevor)]

Hi Arc,

You really have not provided enough info in your original post regarding how you captured the Mars data.

I see that you have a 2x barlow and 5x powermate but the Mars image is tiny.

Regardless, I would suggest the following with wxastrocapture.

1) Setup wxastrocapture for full manual operation.
2) Track down the spec's on your camera and find out what the default setting is for gamma, adjust this within wxastrocapture.
3) For starters set the brightness at the mid point. You can adjust this to suite later.
4) Initially set the frame rate at 15 fps then adjust the gain until you see detail on the surface of Mars.

Mars is very bright so you should be able to use your 5x powermate in good seeing.

It is usually a combination of adjusting gain and trying different frame rates to get the best results.

Keep a spreadsheet and record a hard copy of every setting that you use for each capture session, experiment and you will see what works and what doesn't. There is no silver bullet and no substitute for experience. Use your equipment at every opportunity, on the Moon Mars, Saturn and Jupiter when it comes out from behind the Sun.

Above all else, have fun.
Regards
Trevor

[Arc]

Thanks for your advice Quark,

And you're right, their was no 2x Barlow or 5x Powermate.

This was the first time I had used the web cam and I thought it might be easier to just use the cam in the focuser to start with. That explains why the image is tiny. I'll look up those specs and do some experimenting.

Logging the results is a good idea.