Finally, here it is! Jupiter + animation - 25th Feb 2006

[iceman (Mike)]

Many thanks for the positive feedback.. this is definitely my best shot of Jupiter, and i'm still learning which is the good thing.

Capturing (and processing) when the seeing is very good, is actually different than when the seeing is only average. The rule used to be "gain as low as possible", and I had it at 15% in this image because the transparency was good - but in hindsight (after seeing onion rings), I could've gone 1/33s exposure and increased the gain.

When the seeing is good you also have to go much softer on wavelets and LR deconvolution, since the raw frames are already quite sharp.

I don't know when i'll get another morning of seeing like this, but at least I was up for it this time. I wonder how many mornings of 8+/10 seeing we've missed because we decided to sleep in?

Thanks again

[Hammerman]

Beautiful avi, Mike! Simply fantastic detail and color!

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Stunning work, Mike. The moving image creates a wonderful animation feeling.

I'd be interested to see how you'd go these days doing some imaging with my LX200. Maybe during SPSP14? I will be asleep at 4 in the morning, so you are welcome it my scope at that hour. No, seriously, I wonder if using a solid goto mount like the LX200 would result in slightly less "rocking" of the image (I guess I would need to get a wedge and be polar aligned to avoid that problem???)

[iceman (Mike)]

Thanks Rod.

I'd be happy to try the LX200 - the increased image scale would definitely be welcome

The "rocking" of the animation is mainly due to my lack of patience in creating the animation - not due to my mount. The animation was made of 12 different images, each taken a few minutes apart. So processing each image identically, in detail and matching colour, is difficult. And due to field rotation, Jupiter had tilted at a different angle in half of the shots from where I had to reset my platform.

So rotating the images and then aligning them within a frame to match up and create a smooth animation, was slow and tedious and I didn't have the patience to make it *exact*. But no doubt I should've

[gaa_ian (Ian)]

That is Awesome Mike !

[Muddy Diver]

Truly inspirational stuff. Love it.

[Rodstar (Rod)]

Originally Posted by iceman

Thanks Rod.

I'd be happy to try the LX200 - the increased image scale would definitely be welcome

I didn't have the patience to make it *exact*. But no doubt I should've

Mike, you have "plenty patience" to be doing the imaging you are, and are welcome to play with my scope anytime you want!