More Jupiter attempts with Orion SSI

[Sebbie (Sebastian)]

Hi everyone,

I finally had a chance to do some processing on Jupiter clips taken last week, here are the results. I have used 1.6x Barlow from the WO Binoviewer for the bottom three pics showing Europa shadow transit.

Seeing was truly ordinary as I was imaging over rooftops with a lot of turbulent air rising. Only 25% of frames were stackable and I had to use RGB align feature in Registax to compensate for severe atmospheric dispersion. I had exposure set to minimum during video capture.

I begin to wonder if this is the best I can do with this camera, frankly I was hoping for greater detail with the 12''.. I know that we have bad jet stream over our heads at the moment but still.. Should I be checking collimation of my scope? or getting a better imager? Was using Meade microfocuser and Bathinov mask on the night.

BTW Uranus and Neptune seem to be beyond sensitivity threshold of CMOS censor - capture screen goes black for anything below magnitude 2 with all the gain settings maximised (I've tested this on stars).

Seb

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Originally Posted by Sebbie

I begin to wonder if this is the best I can do with this camera, frankly I was hoping for greater detail with the 12''.. I know that we have bad jet stream over our heads at the moment but still.. Should I be checking collimation of my scope? or getting a better imager? Was using Meade microfocuser and Bathinov mask on the night.

I think the camera is capable of better results, under better circumstances. You should certainly check your collimation, but I think your limit here is the conditions for Jupiter: low elevation and jetstream.

Conditions will be much better for Saturn next year.

Originally Posted by Sebbie

BTW Uranus and Neptune seem to be beyond sensitivity threshold of CMOS censor - capture screen goes black for anything below magnitude 2 with all the gain settings maximised (I've tested this on stars).
Seb

Realistically, you will need a CCD camera for these. The Sony 618 sensor is very sensitive, and readily delivers images of Uranus and Neptune from a 12".

Good luck!

-Ivan

[Sebbie (Sebastian)]

Originally Posted by lepton3

The Sony 618 sensor is very sensitive, and readily delivers images of Uranus and Neptune from a 12".

I am currently waiting for Orion Starshoot Pro v2 DSI with Sony ICX413AQ CCD sensor. I know this is not a planetary camera per say but do you think I'll be able to get reasonable results with it? Pixel size is 7.8 versus 3.6 on SSI

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Seb,

To be blunt I would say No.

For planetary, the really important factor is fps (frames-per-second). If the sensor is more sensitive, or if your scope is larger, you can do more fps and still get reasonable signal level.

More megapixels generally means slower transfer which means less fps. Some cameras let you do ROI, but not all.

Hence top images are currently coming from 14" to 16" scopes with 640x480 Firewire or GigE cameras.

My opinion is the cameras with Sony ICX618 sensors (either mono or colour) are the best bang for buck right now.

-Ivan

[Sebbie (Sebastian)]

Thanks a lot Ivan.

Originally Posted by lepton3

For planetary, the really important factor is fps (frames-per-second).. top images are currently coming from 14" to 16" scopes with 640x480 Firewire or GigE cameras.

I understand what I was doing wrong now.. shooting at full res and slowest frame rate. I'll try 640x480 setting at 30 fps next time, hopefully this coming weekend.

Seb

[Sebbie (Sebastian)]

Got up early on Saturday morning to have another go at Jupiter with SSSSI. Even though this is only a low power view I can see nice improvement with visible detail at double the frame rate (30fps). Despite the noise I like the blue colour of early dawn sky . Io's shadow looks elongated, is this the real appearance or seeing once again?

I am still learning Registax basics, it is so easy to overdo wavelets to make everything look artificial.. I would appreciate if someone could tell me what other tools are available to improve results post stack - I have been using RGB Align, Gamma, Histogram and Waveletes.. and ACDSee Pro and Photoshop for final touches.

Thanks,
Seb

[Larryp (Laurie)]

You are getting there Seb-lot of information in the image

[Rigel003 (Graeme)]

You seem to be on the right track with the higher frame rate and number of subs you're stacking. Most planetary imagers with SCTs use an effective focal length of between f/20 and f/30 to get better image scale on the chip, so investing in a quality 2x or 2.5x barlow would be a good plan. You should read Paul's excellent processing tutorial here http://paulhaese.net/planetaryprocessing.html

[Sebbie (Sebastian)]

Laurie and Graeme, thanks guys for words of encouragement, I think finer detail finally starts to show up.. here's another low power shot taken two hours earlier.

Originally Posted by Rigel003

Most planetary imagers with SCTs use an effective focal length of between f/20 and f/30 to get better image scale on the chip, so investing in a quality 2x or 2.5x barlow would be a good plan.

I currently own Meade's variable 2x-3x Barlow and WO 1.6x piece from the Binoviewer. Would you recommend something along the line of TV Powermate or Meade's Telextender? A friend of mine offered to lend me his 4x TV but I think it may be too strong for this SCT.

Originally Posted by Rigel003

You should read Paul's excellent processing tutorial

Fantastic link, thanks very much Graeme - this is exactly what a noob like me needs!

-Seb

[lepton3 (Ivan)]

Originally Posted by Sebbie

I currently own Meade's variable 2x-3x Barlow and WO 1.6x piece from the Binoviewer. Would you recommend something along the line of TV Powermate or Meade's Telextender? A friend of mine offered to lend me his 4x TV but I think it may be too strong for this SCT.

I would recommend a TV 3x Barlow. I have one, and when the seeing is good, it delivers better results on Jupiter than the TV 2.5x powermate.

-Ivan

[bshaw77 (Bilal)]

good effort. keep it up mate