I have just shifted from Victoria to Brisbane, Qld and it has taken me a while to get back into doing some astro work after the move. I attach a photo of Jupiter + GRS + Io taken with an old refurbished 8" Celstron SCT, 2xbarlow on a CG% mount with autostar goto coversion.
Regards, Allan
I used a modified quickcam pro 3000 for the avi. 5fps for 1 min using Vega to capture the avi. About 250 bmp were stacked and processed in Registax3. Have used this to take some deep sky shots as well but my CDs are back in Victoria, so until we sell the house there so I can't put them up for viewing.
I am using the 8" as a portable setup as I also have 10" SCT on Losmandy G11 with Gemini which I want to permanently mount in an observatory. I have an Sbig ST7 that I want to use for CCD work but am considering purchasing a DSI-Pro from Meade for portable imaging so that I can run it from the laptop without additional power. The DSI-Pro seems to be an interesting device that can be used as an autoguider for film as well. Anyone here used a DSI?
Regards, Allan
interesting, I think (could be wrong of course!) but you are possibly the first QC rather than TouCam user on this forum..and possibly the only one using Vega
..guess you did the mod yourself?is the QC easier to source in Australia?
a few people here sure do use a DSI and have managed some pretty good images.and I'm sure they will respond
Thanks for the welcome from the group members - its a pleasant surprise. I didn't do the mod myself. Peter Loupis in Melbourne did it for me as I'm a total prat when it comes to electronics. There is a later mod to the Quickcam pro 3000 which is even easier still, involving NO pin lifts for the long exposure mod. Its on the QUIAG site somewhere. I may try to do a long exposure shot tonight as it really is an easy camera to use but I thought the DSI-Pro may be even more sattisfying.
Again, thanks for the welcome. Can't remember where I saw about the site - think it was in Sky and Space.
Allan
Nice shot there Allen. Good cloud definition with white ovals being visible on the STB and also some rifting in the NEB. You can also see some good detail in the GRS.
My only criticism is that it looks a little over processed and you might want to ease back on the waveletts. If you use registax I suggest that you work from wavelett 6 back up to 1. The reason for this is that 6,5, and 4 handle the coarser sharpening and 321 handle the fine stuff. I took this tip from a planetary guy in Hong Kong and ever since my images have looked much better. It is commonly believed that you should work down from 1, however by doing this too much noise is introduced with harsh adjustment of fine sharpening to bring out the coarse detail. So by starting at 6 and working back up the table your images will have a more natural look. Naturally this depends on the seeing conditions at the time when you take the AVI.