Hadn't done any imaging since the 23rd/Jan so I was anxious to get some ToUcam time in.
I cleaned my ToUcam chip at Lostock, and this morning was the first time I'd used it since.. well I made it worse of course. The spots I had are gone, but they're replaced with new ones in worse spots that are harder to avoid. Back to the distilled water tonight.
When I got up at 3:45am there were clouds around, but Jupiter was still in a large sucker hole, so I got the laptop out.. seeing looked ok through the eyepiece, started to set up and then the clouds came. 5 minutes later a sucker hole opened up, but I had to rely on a very quick judge of focus so I could capture an avi before the clouds closed in again.
Got 1 avi, clouded in. 1 more sucker hole, got half an avi then clouds for the rest of the morning. So not much to show for the effort, but here's the image from the first avi.
The lack of time spent on focusing is apparent in this image, it's a little soft and the seeing was 6/10 at best so the results aren't the best.
Anyway here it is for your consumption.
While waiting after the clouds came in, I loaded the 900nc firmware mod on my ToUcam - so next time out i'll be trying it. This shot is with the normal 840 drivers.
Capture details:
- 10fps for 90 seconds
- Gain 40% (approx). Gamma 25% (approx). 1/25s exposure
Processing details:
- ppmcentre, Split into rgb, stacked and processed in registax, recombined and processed in AstraImage.
It's true, and it's because it's placed much better for me.
Mars is too small and too far west for me to see from my backyard (trees in the way)
Saturn is ok, but the seeing at 11pm/midnight isn't as good and it also means staying up late. By early morning it's too far west (trees)
Jupiter is great, because the seeing is good at 4am, the scope has cooled, it's high in the east (no trees), and it's new again for this apparition! Oh and I can do it before I go to work. I just get up earlier for it, instead of staying up late. And there's always something new to see!
i have been going back to 0% gamma last lot of sessions, but i may lift it to your levels. I have never ever gone above say 10%. 1/33 and 40% have been going well for me.
It was also a good view from the Hawkesbury district at 3:40am. So good infact i continued to view the big fella until 7:30 just for fun. Venus was also good after sunrise and blindingly bright during twilight.
very nice Mike you've got the colour and tone down pat... the promise of a lot of detail there too. I'd settle for a sucker hole right now, last couple of the mornings it's been actually drissling rain here
