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  #1  
Old 14-02-2007, 04:50 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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Talking Finally!

Finally, a clear morning!

I setup yesterday evening in clouds, hoping that the morning would be clear.. I woke up a few times overnight and looked outside, it was a mix of stars and clouds but didn't look promising and clouds were coming in from the east.

But when the alarm went off at 4am, I looked outside, crystal clear!

So i'm finally getting to use my new scope again! It's only the second time.

My alignment is much better today - I haven't drift aligned at all, but my compass didn't let me down, my inclonometer didn't let me down, and I've got Jupiter on the CCD with the 5x powermate, hardly drifting much at all over a 3 minute period.

The seeing seems reasonable (hard to tell until I process), and the image scale is huge!

I've got about another hour of this (or more) before sunrise ruins it.. Jupiter will be nice and high by then. It's already over 45deg.

I'm happy.. I'm sitting down while imaging! First time ever! I only need to stand up to change filter wheel, then sit again. I've got the motorised focuser hand controller and the skyscan handcontroller velcro'd onto the table next to me.

This is how imaging should be My main concern is how much dust there is on my CCD! It's going to get a clean tonight!

As an added treat, i've got the beautiful crescent moon with magnificent earthshine to look at while the avi is recording. What a morning!
Results later, hopefully

Last edited by iceman; 14-02-2007 at 05:08 AM.
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  #2  
Old 14-02-2007, 05:14 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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10 avi's captured so far, a mix of 15fps (1/15s exposure) and 30fps (1/30s exposure).

Some clouds are starting to roll in now.. not near enough to Jupiter yet though
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  #3  
Old 14-02-2007, 06:03 AM
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Deeno
“We are star-stuff”

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Just packed up and came inside.

Jupiter looked nice and steady this morning. Could really pick out detail through the central bands.
Good luck with your imaging
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Old 14-02-2007, 06:56 AM
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toetoe (Peter)
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See Mike, all good things come to those who wait. So they say.
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  #5  
Old 14-02-2007, 07:44 AM
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gaa_ian (Ian)
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I too have been enjoying some early morning viewing, great start to the day isn't it
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  #6  
Old 14-02-2007, 08:04 AM
bird (Anthony Wesley)
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ok, hope you got some good stuff! I'm still away on business, won't be home until Friday.

Bird
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  #7  
Old 14-02-2007, 10:04 AM
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iceman (Mike)
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Well I ended up with 14 avi's of Jupiter, 1 of Io and Europa together, and 4 avi's of a few features on the moon.

I saw Mars, and was going to capture an avi or two of that just before dawn, but it ended up behind a tree and I didn't have time to grab it before sunrise.

The computer is busily chugging away now, the Jupiter avi's have gone through virtual dub, saved as BMP's, and those BMP files are now going through ppmcentre (PCFE).

I'll post some preview results once I've had a chance to send a few runs through registax, but I imagine i'll be processing this data for the next few days at least.

I was very happy with the performance of the scope and mount, though. For no drift aligning, I was happy with the little corrections required when working at over 9m focal length.
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Old 14-02-2007, 11:39 AM
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ving (David)
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didnt think i was ever going to see the sun again!
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  #9  
Old 14-02-2007, 02:58 PM
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xelasnave
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Mike I so happy for you, particulary that you lucked a good polar align for the job at hand. You deserve a fair go and it makes my day to hear that you had such a great run.
alex
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  #10  
Old 14-02-2007, 03:18 PM
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DobDobDob (Ron)
Blacktown isn't so black

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Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman View Post
The computer is busily chugging away now, the Jupiter avi's have gone through virtual dub, saved as BMP's, and those BMP files are now going through ppmcentre (PCFE).

I'll post some preview results once I've had a chance to send a few runs through registax, but I imagine i'll be processing this data for the next few days at least.
Hi again Mike, any chance of saying the above two lines in 'VPE' - very plain English? I know you know what you mean, but just look at those sentences from a non-astronomy, non-photographic point of view, as a beginner would.

More than a description of each part of the process a timeline or flowchart would be better, please start with I took an image, then...
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  #11  
Old 14-02-2007, 03:27 PM
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iceman (Mike)
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Hey Ron, you need to read my 2 articles in the Projects & Articles section (under Astrophotography). That might answer a few questions, and then I can fill the gaps.
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  #12  
Old 14-02-2007, 03:29 PM
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DobDobDob (Ron)
Blacktown isn't so black

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Quote:
Originally Posted by iceman View Post
Hey Ron, you need to read my 2 articles in the Projects & Articles section (under Astrophotography). That might answer a few questions, and then I can fill the gaps.
Thanks Mike, I'm on it now
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  #13  
Old 14-02-2007, 08:33 PM
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davidpretorius
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sounds promising!

well done!
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