Jupiter 26th june

[Tony Leece]

Well i thought i'd be stuck in for the night after driving home and seeing nothing but clouds.
Put the dog out at 11.30pm and realised that it was clear as a bell :Chessy_Smile:
So i got the scope out and let it cool down for 45mins.

I had a play with a couple of filters that i have, a 742 nm 'IR pro planet filter' from 'astronomik' and my 'orion sky glow'.
But i took so long messing around with settings and stuff, the planet rotated a little and i could not use the shots as i wanted (was going to combine them with the 'IR Block' filtered shot below:hmm: ) never mind i will try again soon no doubt:eartoear:
Anyway here's what i got with the first avi;

759

1200 frames @10 frames/ second, i used all the frames as i wanted to post the image before i go to bed.
I will trawl through the frames tommorow and get rid of the rubbishy ones (won't leave many then :duh: )
Thanks for looking and of course criticisms and tips are very welcome :thumbsupmate:

Tony........

[Radar]

Very impressive Tony. I bet you keep taking sneak peeks at your handy work. Well done mate, we'll be coming to you for advice on this I'm sure.

So what programs are you using for the capture and processing side of things?

Ray

[Tony Leece]

Very impressive Tony. I bet you keep taking sneak peeks at your handy work.

I do keep having a look at the posts i have put on, i'm not vain or anything, it's just i have had excellent feedback from you guys. Cheers :thumbsupmate:





we'll be coming to you for advice on this I'm sure.

Thats very flattering Ray, but i have quite a while to go yet, before i get to that level :Chessy_Smile:






So what programs are you using for the capture and processing side of things?

Ray

I'm using a program called 'Vlounge' that came with the toucam for image acquisition .

As for staking i have downloaded the superb 'freeware' program 'Registax' i have versions 3 and 4.
Here is the site,
http://www.astronomie.be/registax/

I do use another freeware program called 'Virtualdub'
http://virtualdub.sourceforge.net/
This program i use to double the size of the avi's i shoot before i load them into registax (read about it in an astro mag a while back).

Take care though, they eat hard drive space like nothing, eg the avi for the image above was 244 meg, after virtualdub it ballooned to 1.74 gig :duh: .

After stacking and a bit of a tweek with the registax wavelets the image goes into photoshop for a play with curves, levels, contrast etc. At this early stage i am literally playing around with settings and the processing.
Hope this info is ok Ray mate :thumbsupmate:
Tony.......

I did a before and after shot for the above image, to show how much hidden data is in a digital image (the 'after' image is a bit over processed however).
Cheers.......


768

[Mick]

That second image really shows the power of processing, something that I can't get my head around yet. Your work gets better with every image, top stuff Tony.

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Tony,

Very nice, and a good idea to post the before and after. Which scope are you using and what Barlow/EP & camera? you need to get as high a primary mag as you can because that is where the detail is. It all depends on the seeing of course.

You are well on all the right tracks with capture & processing. I have not even looked at Jupiter this year so far, my body regulating temp problem does not like being out in the cold when my temp is already low!

Keep up the good work,

Clear skies...

[Tony Leece]

That second image really shows the power of processing, something that I can't get my head around yet. Your work gets better with every image, top stuff Tony.

Thanks Mick mate, believe me, if i can do it ANYONE can :yesplease:




Hi Tony,

Very nice, and a good idea to post the before and after. Which scope are you using and what Barlow/EP & camera? you need to get as high a primary mag as you can because that is where the detail is. It all depends on the seeing of course.

You are well on all the right tracks with capture & processing. I have not even looked at Jupiter this year so far, my body regulating temp problem does not like being out in the cold when my temp is already low!

Keep up the good work,

Clear skies...


Thanks Shevill, i am using a skywatcher 200mm newt, on an eq5 mount.
I use a standard toucam, with a 'fringe killer' IR block filter and a x2 celestron barlow.
I am wanting to upgrade to a good x4 or x5 barlow like a televue-powermate. However they are quite expensive, but are supposed to be very good.

The first thing though, is for me to build (or if i have to, buy a new focusser) as i have a huge amount of image shift at the moment.
I'd rather put the cash (i haven't earned yet :Chessy_Smile: ) towards the new barlow :eartoear: But i am finding it difficult to get the small amounts of aluminium in need for the build :duh:

I have a little advantage over you being from northern England and not yet being acclimatised to Oz yet.
I still observe and image in shorts and a tee shirt :Chessy_Smile: This is why i am a mozzie-magnet :thumbsdownmate:

Thanks again folks.
All the best.........
Tony.........

[Radar]

Interesting before and after image Tony. Thanks for the heads up on the software. You are movtivating me to get outside and do some planetary work.

Ray

[Tony Leece]

Interesting before and after image Tony. Thanks for the heads up on the software. You are motivating me to get outside and do some planetary work.

Ray

Please do give it a go Ray mate, you will be hooked i guarantee it. :thumbsupmate:
Plus, your Epsilon will be one awesome planetary imager :eartoear:
Do you have a toucam Ray? if so do you use an IR blocking filter with it?
If not, you can borrow mine for a couple of nights.
Cheers........
Tony..........

[beren]

Well done Tony......not sure what Vlounge is like but another capture program you can try is K3CCdtools, if you scroll down to the bottom of this webpage you'll see a free version http://www.pk3.org/Astro/ . Another good program to use is PPMCentre, if you save your AVI file as BMPs through Virtualdub and then use PPMCentre it will centre the planet in each frame, crop each frame and rank them in quality. This is a great aid if your tracking is out a little and drifts plus it helps when you use Registax. Congrats Tony and good luck with the mozzies, the little buggers are a pain

[AstroTasmania]

Hi Tony,

What sort of alluminium alloy are you trying to find? maybe I can help?

Clear skies...

Shevill

[Tony Leece]

Well done Tony......not sure what Vlounge is like but another capture program you can try is K3CCdtools, if you scroll down to the bottom of this webpage you'll see a free version http://www.pk3.org/Astro/ . Another good program to use is PPMCentre, if you save your AVI file as BMPs through Virtualdub and then use PPMCentre it will centre the planet in each frame, crop each frame and rank them in quality. This is a great aid if your tracking is out a little and drifts plus it helps when you use Registax. Congrats Tony and good luck with the mozzies, the little buggers are a pain

Thanks Stuart mate, i have got K3CCDTools installed, but i have not sot round to using it in anger yet :Chessy_Smile:
I haven't heard of PPMCentre, i will look this one up as it sounds cool. As for tracking, luckily registax can handle some very 'mobile' avi targets, my polar alignment is still shocking 795
As for mozzies mate, i think they can sense me from miles away :Oh_No:

On a slightly different note, i see you got the scope sold. It was a mixed feeling for me when i saw it, as i am glad you got the sale you wanted, but gutted also, i was trying to get the missus talked round to letting me have a bank loan :duh: never mind, my time will come :Chessy_Smile:
Cheers mate...........
Tony..........



Hi Tony,

What sort of alluminium alloy are you trying to find? maybe I can help?

Clear skies...

Shevill

Hi Shevill, i am after anything that i can make into the draw-tube.
I have various sections of scrap plate from work, that will do for the rest of the focusser, but for ali tube, the minimum lengths to buy in are measured in metres and hundreds of dollars :duh:
I have access to a lathe at work so trimming down is no problem, i am looking at (when finished ) an outside diameter of around 60mm and an inside diameter of around 50mm.
The dimensions above are only a guide, i simply want to be able to make one that with accept up to 2" eyepieces.
The draw-tubes length will be about 100mm, but again this is only a guide. I am going off the length of the standard skywatcher draw-tube here, you may have a better idea mate.
If you could help out, i will of course pay for the ali and postage Shevill.
Many thanks...........
Tony.........

[beren]

Tony if you need any help with working out these programs let me know I can help you with a demo :thumbsupmate:

[Tony Leece]

Cheers Stuart mate, if this bloomin weather clears up i will take you up on that :thumbsupmate:


Tony.........

[Draig]

Hi Tony,

This is the first time I've read this post.

Great images, you really are coming along :welldone: .

BTW, this is what I like about this fourm. Everyone is hopefull and freindly, even offering to help out with other people's projects.

Well Done evryone :thumbsupmate:

Cheers Colin