Alright, a word of caution first. These images were hand focused, I still do not have my micro focusor; focusing by hand is a total drag and very hard.
That said I conducted two experiments. One with a 5x powermate and the other with the 2.5x. Seeing was quite reasonable but still not great.
The 5x image is out of focus, but there are hints of nice detail, clouds over Tharis and some nice slight darkening where Olmpus mons should be. That is a good sign. The 2.5x is sharp but the image scale is very small. Detail is ok, but not ideal.
So here are both for you to look at. Once I get the electric focusor and the New OTA, I can conduct serious collimation and hope to get nice crisp images.
Now just remember this scope is not collimated to my liking (remember it is being replaced) nor do I currently have an electric focusor, which makes quite a deal of difference. That said this shows potential.
Both show good detail Paul ! interesting or should I say frustrating that bad seeing and soft focus have the same result. I sometimes don't know If I am just fighting bad seeing trying to get good focus .
I'm used to hand focusing. You have better colour than mine (which I may or may not post) Nice work & like you said, once you have an electric focuser/new OTA/collimation = better results.
Bodes Well Paul! Makes me even more impatient to try out my new 9.25 on Mars before it's too late in the season. I'm used to hand focus, but also believe it's a factor that's cost me some potentially great images in the past. Decided to take it out of the equation and get a motor micro-focussor too - probably the Meade version.
Bring on your new OTA and Moonlite - can't wait to see what upu can do with critical focus and collimation
Looking a Damian web site, he is working at a f42 with the 9.25" it looks like he is using a 4x barlow maybe a Powermate, it is the only barlow I know that comes in a 4x power.
Checked out the link Anthony attached - I'm torn between absolutely gob-smacked, awe inspired and depression at how to ever even approach such brilliance!!!
They are very good images Paul, especially via hand focusing. Well done. I watched an on-line presentation on ccd imaging techniques at http://www.ewellobservatory.com/bestpractices/index.cfm where the author demonstrates, very effectively, image degradation due to lack of perfect collimation resulting from turning a single Bob's knob just 5 deg on a C9.25.
David the total setup cost will be near $7000.00. This includes mount, scope, bobs knobs, moonlite electric focusor, lymax cooler, and battery illuminated reticle.
Louie bad seeing is very common especially in terms of planetary imaging. Focus is nearly impossible during periods of bad seeing. So they work hand in hand. If you have bad seeing and I mean anything below 7/10 then focus will be very difficult. This year I have seen two night at 7/10 and above. Nots not a lot. However, I find that changing focus after each run will usually achieve one good avi on nights of average seeing. You will know when you have good focus, small details will be evident by popping in and out of focus. When you have good seeing the planet will not move, it almost appears as though the camera software has stalled. I have three Jupiter Avi's that look like this.
Robert electric focus is essential for hi res planetary imaging. Glad you are thinking the same way.
Anthony23..., Damien does use a monochrome camera and this is next on my list of equipment, a difficult choice of which camera to get and much research must occur first. Besides his site has good seeing for much of the year. My site has good seeing on a couple of nights a year. He frequently travels to locations that have excellent seeing. unfortunately, I don't have the resources to fund such adventures, maybe one day. His imaging has long been a source of inspiration for me. I can only dream.
Dennis good link, but it was not a single turn it is a 1/28 of a turn. Very small adjustments. My most common routine after cooling the scope is to check collimation. General rules of collimation are: You must always check on a star near the planet you are imaging or use a day star and spend a lot of time sorting collimation. Collimation will be slightly different from one side of the sky to the other. The mirror will shift ever so slightly, not a lot but enough to cause collimation problems. From what I can gather all the good planetary imagers check collimation frequently in this manner. If you are interested in doing hi res planetary it is often good to follow the great ones.
David the total setup cost will be near $7000.00. This includes mount, scope, bobs knobs, moonlite electric focusor, lymax cooler, and battery illuminated reticle.
thanks for that, so for $12,000 we should have a very good b/w ccd camera, an automatic colour wheel & colour filters. adding to wishlist!
....Dennis good link, but it was not a single turn it is a 1/28 of a turn.....
Paul
Hi Paul
I actually wrote, (albeit somewhat poorly constructed after re-reading)..."resulting from turning a single Bob's knob just 5 deg"....meaning only one knob was turned 5 deg which is 1/72 of a turn?
Tony, the EQ6 is going good. Last night I polar aligned it. Got it so that the star did not move for 10 minutes. That took most of the night. Need to do Pec training and the other fine details to be taken care of. Does your mount need to be placed on sidereal tracking each time you start it up?
no Paul.....thats automaticly done once you do the align.....once you do Pec training you will have to change it to pec & siderail...not sure if it stays on this setting or if you have to pick it after every alignment if you want the Pec + siderail...never did pec...well I did but it kept locking up so I kept loosing my pec settings so I didn't bother after that.
Makes me even more impatient to try out my new 9.25 on Mars before it's too late in the season. I'm used to hand focus, but also believe it's a factor that's cost me some potentially great images in the past. Decided to take it out of the equation and get a motor micro-focussor too - probably the Meade version.
