Planetary Imaging

[heavy mirage]

Not worth lol

[livid sierra]

Cool cool

[heavy mirage]

With the adc I'm essentially using a 5x barlow when using the 3x

[vapid depot]

If ur at f/4.7 with that 10” newt I feel a 4x barlow could provide nice results with good seeing

Ahh nvm

[heavy mirage]

But yeah I see what you're saying

[vapid depot]

Lol how’s tracking at those high fl’s

Idk how accurate those goto dobs are , must be good enough

[heavy mirage]

Pretty good tbh, with roi and feature tracking I don't even have to touch the mount for a good 20 minutes

[vapid depot]

Wouldn’t expect that

[heavy mirage]

Ikr

[vapid depot]

I wouldn’t find a need for an eq mount unless u wanna do timelapses

If I had that level of performance from that

If u were nearby I’d say let’s throw that on my eq6r 😂

[heavy mirage]

Lol yeah that would be something

I just make sure to level my base then the tracking is great

For timelapses, you can do feild derotation. There are honestly some perks with a Dob base, no alt limits, much easier to setup and more straightforward

[somber stratus]

Agree.

[heavy mirage]

The only thing is tracking and feild rotation

[fossil schooner]

It was only like ten, still pretty high up

Sorry for interrupting

[somber stratus]

Field rotation is the only thing, but this can be fixed with a simple script

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, I was about to say that

[heavy mirage]

Wth!! How could you! (Hope you sense the sarcasm)

[fossil schooner]

I’m sO sOrRy

[heavy mirage]

Report for bad behavior

[heavy mirage]

@livid sierra

[livid sierra]

Thanks I’ll look at it later alr?

I might stay up all night Friday and image Venus, then Saturn, Jupiter and Mercury in the morning

With this seeing

I’m gonna try 🤞

[onyx garnet]

can I try to process this?

[vapid depot]

I’ll try and find the stacked file @onyx garnet , saturn or Jupiter?

[onyx garnet]

saturn

it's a nice photo

[vapid depot]

Bet, I’ll find it rq. Thankfully im organized

[onyx garnet]

Great

[vapid depot]

pipp + autostakkert

[onyx garnet]

thanks
looks good

[vapid depot]

3 min video at 44 fps . probably like 60% stacked

👍

anyone in here use firecapture? i love the organization of planet profiles w camera settings it has

[onyx garnet]

yeah it's a nice feature

but sometimes I can't find where it put the video

[vapid depot]

lol yeah gotta check output paths

[onyx garnet]

fr

[vapid depot]

have fun w the data. asi 120mc-s, c6 sct , and $20 shorty 2x barlow used

[onyx garnet]

the first time I used it took me some 15 mins to find the video

[vapid depot]

lmao damn

[onyx garnet]

120?

[vapid depot]

yeah

[onyx garnet]

bro I got a c6, good quality barlow and uranus c

i'm excited now wtf

[vapid depot]

oh damn what barlow lol

Celestron x cel?

[onyx garnet]

starguider

[onyx garnet]

I wish, but i'm almost finished with my astro budget for now haha

[vapid depot]

I wish I had a c8 or c9.25

Seeing can be decent for me

[onyx garnet]

damn

wait hold on

you got encke division with c6?

[vapid depot]

Jupiter under the best seeing I’ve ever had

[onyx garnet]

with 120?

[vapid depot]

Maybe.. idk

Id think its sharpening artifacts

[onyx garnet]

damn

looks great tho

[onyx garnet]

asi120?

[vapid depot]

Yup

Only planet can I own . I’ve tried planetary with an imx 533 once though

I sold that for dso and now have a 1600mm though

[onyx garnet]

jesus
I need to get ready for my uranus c first light
god I did not expect such good photos from 120

[onyx garnet]

epic

[vapid depot]

Somehow I got the hexagon w a c5 in 2019

also the 120 and same Barlow

[onyx garnet]

wahfsfsa
bro

[vapid depot]

I collimate with an artificial star and bobs knobs

[onyx garnet]

dats crazy

[vapid depot]

I couldn’t imagine if I had an adc and an imx 662 cam

Lol

[onyx garnet]

I got a uranus c and a couple of filters, should get similar results to you

upgraded to it from a phone cam

[vapid depot]

8” dob w same imaging train

Not sure how Collimation was

[onyx garnet]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/794654599792951358/1066895802460545104/i_love_mars.png
this was what I got with my phone

[vapid depot]

Oh damnn lol. I also started w phone imaging

iPhone XS and nightcap

[onyx garnet]

I don't think it's that good

but epic

[vapid depot]

Yeah it’s eh

[onyx garnet]

but my saturn one was better

if I can find it wtf

[vapid depot]

Mars thru my c6 , first light

Nooo , but yea got it just in time lmao. I think Collimation was off so I tried to paint over some edge artifact

[onyx garnet]

epic

[vapid depot]

Hell yeah seeing it visually was sick too

pushed power to 300x lol

[onyx garnet]

damn

[vapid depot]

So u haven’t imaged yet w ur setup?

[onyx garnet]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/794654599792951358/1080385388717285426/20230301_134807.gif
here's my jupiter w phon

[vapid depot]

Damn the edges were always rough w phone

[onyx garnet]

with uranus c? nope
only venus (result was shit)

[vapid depot]

Best I’ve done w my phone

[onyx garnet]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/794654599792951358/1102731820400918528/IMG-20230501-WA0010.jpg
here's w uranus c.. uh shit result

[onyx garnet]

zamn

[vapid depot]

8” dob at 240x with that same damn Barlow LOL

[onyx garnet]

damn

[vapid depot]

Yeah if I didn’t put all my money into my dso setup I’d have a banger planetary one

Probably a c11

[onyx garnet]

ur planet pics are already so good bro

[vapid depot]

Ty , planetary is a nice intro the hobby tbh

[onyx garnet]

indeed

[vapid depot]

Really focused on it for a bit then deep sky tugged at me

[onyx garnet]

not sure what went wrong

[onyx garnet]

I can't do deep sky sadly

[vapid depot]

Ohh the no color

?

[onyx garnet]

b9

uh singapore

[vapid depot]

Oh my

lol lemme show u something funny

[onyx garnet]

yeah..

the place I live in?

very funny

[onyx garnet]

wha

[vapid depot]

This guy images from the Singapore rooftops with a quad apo setup 💀

[onyx garnet]

wait I know him

[vapid depot]

Oh nice lol

[onyx garnet]

he's from the local store
he gave me a discount

[vapid depot]

That’s awesome

[onyx garnet]

yeah

[vapid depot]

I got someone from NYC into deep sky imaging with a mono setup

[onyx garnet]

he also operates the 15" clasical cass at the obsevatory

[vapid depot]

3nm filters and a 1600mm pro

[onyx garnet]

zamn

[vapid depot]

Am5 and redcat. Wish I had that mount lol

[onyx garnet]

lol

I do wanna try m51 some time

though I will suffer horribly as I've never done dso before

I don't even know what program to use for dso

[onyx garnet]

nice

[vapid depot]

Sold my nexstar mount to help get this oof

[onyx garnet]

I'm using the nextstar mount

[vapid depot]

Nice yeah that tracks well enough tbh

[onyx garnet]

yep

[vapid depot]

You could use something like NINA

an adaptable sequencer program

Controls everything from a camera taking dark frames to a whole observatory’s night

[onyx garnet]

oh cool

[vapid depot]

It’s free too 🙂

[onyx garnet]

must be laptop?

[vapid depot]

mini pc or laptop yeah

[onyx garnet]

damn it

well I have a laptop it's just sorta inconvenient in a couple of ways

[vapid depot]

Ahh felt

[onyx garnet]

1 of them is the law.

[vapid depot]

o

[onyx garnet]

I got the cops called on me once for doing astro

god that night sucked

[vapid depot]

Oh my goodness

[onyx garnet]

yeah

[vapid depot]

What was the outcome of them coming

[onyx garnet]

I showed them the moon and they got angry on the woman that called

pretty sure they were going to the nearby doughnut shop, quite popular

she called me a 'global warming terriost missile guy'
quoted

[white prawn]

Bonus points if you were in your own yard though.

[onyx garnet]

nah we live in a hdb

but I was in a corner shelter that allows only 1 person using it at a time (idk why they created it but alr it's decent)

mf came over and was like 'what are you doing?'

at most people look at me for a while, sometimes they ask whether they can look thru, but that little s took it to the cops

[white prawn]

Wow.

[onyx garnet]

it was a really bad night
and I had to settle it myself, parents was busy and only came an hour later

by then the cops alr left

[vapid depot]

Lmao that’s funny

[steep apex]

It isn’t that bad

[white prawn]

Eh. I prefer to not deal w/ law enforcement. Your outcome was fine, I'd just rather be spared headache.

And I'm sure if you would have shown her the moon - or even a planet - it wouldn't have helped. "You're a round-earth conspiracist!"

[onyx garnet]

yeah she didn't want to see the 'missile' I had planted

[ruby tartan]

https://www.astrobin.com/xmcghp/

Tom win IOTD today

[somber stratus]

Wholesome

[candid flare]

🥳🥳🥳🥳

[ruby tartan]

Optolong uv filter is good?

[somber stratus]

Nah. Garbage. Has IR leak

I use Bessel U

Any photometric UV is good. By definition it can’t have IR leak

Or shouldn’t*

Optolong U-Venus is bad. Not sure if they have a separate UV filter

[ruby tartan]

I want to buy one, but I don't know which one to buy, and I still have to import it, so I'll have to pay a fee

Where is the PO uv filter

[somber stratus]

PO were making one but no idea as to its bandpass

[ruby tartan]

It will probably be a very good filter

[livid sierra]

PO is working on a UV filter??

[somber stratus]

Yeah U-Venus thing

Probs 350nm CWL

[livid sierra]

Cool

[ruby tartan]

Bigger than I expected

I need to collimate the secondary mirror now, but the lens I bought hasn't arrived yet, I'll only be able to take advantage of it 100% at the end of the month when the lens arrives

[somber stratus]

pog

[cursive inlet]

Gso right?

[ruby tartan]

Yes

[cursive inlet]

Nice, those are really good

[blazing hazel]

bro where tf is the uk

oh nvm i found it lol

[thick heron]

Brexit means Brexit!

[somber stratus]

It's a high level joke

[ruby tartan]

Doing manual tracking with dob is harder than I thought

[somber stratus]

It is with long focal lengths

[ruby tartan]

Do I keep shooting at f/20 or do I capture at f/15?

Collimation problem?

[livid sierra]

Looks like it

Your dob is 305/1500 right? So you are shooting at ~6000mm?

[ruby tartan]

Exactly

Any tips to fit the planet on the screen more easily?

[livid sierra]

Ah, ye I couldn’t imagine handtracking at fls like that

I hated it at 3700mm

[ruby tartan]

I only have 10s to capture

[livid sierra]

Let alone 6000mm with a 12” dob

[livid sierra]

Before the planet drifts off the screen?

[ruby tartan]

Yes

[livid sierra]

Yeah most people who handtrack just nudge the scope every time the planet leaves the fov

I myself held the dob constantly keeping the object in the centre of the frame but that was with a 6”…

[heavy mirage]

You can try doing feature tracking (you probably already do) and let the planet drift from edge to edge of roi then nudge it

Edge to edge of the full frame not roi

[livid sierra]

Yeah and also fc has a feature to centre the roi on the object once it reaches the edge of the roi

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, that

[livid sierra]

Maybe that could help

[heavy mirage]

Sharpcap also has something similar, but fc prolly better

[livid sierra]

Actually I’m sure that makes handtracking much more bearable

I didn’t know about that feature back when I had my manual dob

[ruby tartan]

I will try to collimate the secondary without a lens

[livid sierra]

Is it far off?

[ruby tartan]

I already use

[livid sierra]

Ah, cool

[ruby tartan]

Probably

Let me take a picture

[livid sierra]

Ye

[ruby tartan]

Bruh

[livid sierra]

Yeah that’s not good

[heavy mirage]

Looks like secondary not in line with primaru

[livid sierra]

Yeah

[heavy mirage]

Need to move secondary further in

[livid sierra]

Ngl, secondary collim with a flextube and Bob’s knobs

Is not that bad

[heavy mirage]

Tbh same, holds surprisingly well too

[livid sierra]

Tom taught me a really good technique which I kinda put my own swing on with the Bob’s Knobs

[livid sierra]

Yes really though

[ruby tartan]

Ok

[heavy mirage]

Maybe the other way around @ruby tartan

You just wanna see the all the clips that hold the primary when looking through the barrel

[livid sierra]

Yeah

And have an equal amount of black space all around the primary as seen through the focuser

[heavy mirage]

My collimation is a bit off but primary clips are all visible

[livid sierra]

Deleted my perfect collimation pics just an hour ago or smth

[livid sierra]

Yeah don’t you wanna have a perfect black circle around the primary?

That’s what I do

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, I believe so

[livid sierra]

Looking through the focuser of a perfectly collimated newt looks so nice lol

[heavy mirage]

My mirrors are so gross

So many spots

[livid sierra]

My secondary got touched by one of my neighbours’ kids the other day :(

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/570687129118703637/1114996762000773130/IMG_2246.jpg

Luckily just on the edge

Still…

It hurts

[ruby tartan]

Better?

[livid sierra]

Way better than how it was before

Not perfect tho

But it’ll do for now

[ruby tartan]

I think it will only be possible with an allsky lens

[livid sierra]

I just use a collimation cap bro

Does the job for me

[ruby tartan]

I'll wait for Saturn to test

[fossil schooner]

i may or may not hand track planets at 9000mm fl with my 12"

has the same specs as yours and i use a 2 and 3x barlow

[near quiver]

huh? you have a 3000mm dob?

[cursive inlet]

https://tenor.com/view/kill-me-gif-19956322

[near quiver]

rip, whenever anybody is looking through my telescope i always tell them to keep their hands in their pockets unless i tell them otherwise

it might be a bit overkill but it does the job well

[cursive inlet]

Perks of a closed ota dob I guess?

[frozen root]

https://tenor.com/view/john-wick-winston-gif-23348361

[near quiver]

yes

[livid sierra]

Yeah well he’s 3 years old and I had my scope conveniently pointing at a white wall right over the backrest of my couch

His brother was looking through the collimation cap and then he figured out that his brother could see him in the mirror and he stuck his hands through the spider veins

Immediately grabbed told him not to but I guess it was already too late lol

[livid sierra]

(I was about to collimate it that’s why lol)

[near quiver]

Sad

Any plans to clean it or are you just going to let it be

[fossil schooner]

uhh no? its 1500mm and i use a 2x (which makes it 3000mm) then a 3x

i use both

[near quiver]

Oh I see what you mean

That’s not a very common technique but if it works it works

[somber stratus]

Yes

[somber stratus]

Looks like secondary need adjustment too

[ruby tartan]

Looks good

Only 1000 frames

IR685

1000 frames too

I tried to capture Jupiter, but for some reason I couldn't focus

Another IR685nm

👌

[livid sierra]

For now I’m gonna just leave it since it doesn’t affect the quality of my images luckily. I think I’ll clean it once my mirrors get super dusty and dirty or when I might sell my dob at some point to upgrade

[ruby tartan]

Mima's shadow?

[somber stratus]

Inconclusive with that SNR

Also, would have to a very short capture of ~30 seconds.

Same appearance as these spots

It could be Mimas' shadow, but also could be noise.

[ruby tartan]

I will look at each stack

[somber stratus]

If it moves, then for sure

animate it

[thick heron]

Promising preliminary results with the Uranus-C this morning

[heavy mirage]

Very nice, this is all rgb data?

Nvm I see in the title

/file name

[ruby tartan]

💀

I think I can improve the collimation with this hole

[livid sierra]

Should do the trick

[somber stratus]

Nowadays all I use is a collimation cap

Even for secondary alignment

[ruby tartan]

Like this?

[somber stratus]

Yeah

[ruby tartan]

12" dob first light

[heavy mirage]

@somber stratus you don't use a laser for primary alignment ?

/secondary

I kind of do both, first with Cheshire or collimation cap, I only do this once every few months. But each time I setup my scope I use laser collimator

[somber stratus]

Nah, just colli cap

I occasionally use Cheshire though

[cursive inlet]

Idk what anyone says I love lasers

[somber stratus]

lasers can be out of collimation themselves, that's the only issue

[cursive inlet]

Yeah you gotta collimate the laser itself, but after that collimation is pretty easy

[steep apex]

TW I have a few more questions regarding lucky imaging for Jupiter, so you do 90-120 second vids and then sharpen and de-rotate them

What do you do after? Do you take multiple and stack them all together?

[somber stratus]

derotation does stack them all

that's the point of it

[coarse aspen]

Same here!

Your collimation must be impeccable to get the images that you get, so i will continue to trust this collimation cap

[spark roost]

Saturn from Celestron 100az with smartphone after stacking and processing.

[loud sable]

Boutta put this bad boy on my UMi

[loud sable]

would this cause noticable stuff if im just using for planetary

with a very rough coolimation

[livid sierra]

Saturn image I took this morning

Was 20 +something deg but sky was already quite bright from the sun so it’s not the best

Also Jupiter in IR

Was hard to find

[sharp ridge]

rlly nice

[livid sierra]

Thanks brotha

[coarse aspen]

Wow those 2 cloud belts are thick this year

I wonder if they'll merge, thats really interesting

[idle hollow]

Question for you all... Can I shoot the moon with an orion xt8 and just a 533mc pro without a barlow?

and be in focus?

[livid sierra]

Probably but I mean you might as well try right

[livid sierra]

That would be an interesting event

[coarse aspen]

xt8 can focus with a dslr so it can probably also focus with a 533

[idle hollow]

hmm ok ok good to know

[white prawn]

@idle hollow @coarse aspen I have an Orion SkyView Pro 8" and 585. Full moon will not fit in capture because of magnification. Focus is beautiful though so I expect it won't be an issue.

[coarse aspen]

533 is far wider, it'll probably fit the full moon

also a square sensor

that would fit it perfect

[white prawn]

Well my point about focus still stands.

🙂

[coarse aspen]

yeah

[coarse aspen]

nice moon

sharp

[white prawn]

I just cannot use my DSLR for planetary/lunar anymore though.

[white prawn]

Thank you!

[coarse aspen]

good exposure, nothing blown out

[cursive inlet]

Almost any mirrorless camera can reach focus with a dob.

My 462mc reaches focus with my 8” dob at native fl.

[white prawn]

Again, thank you! I'm glad it came out well.

[somber stratus]

That never happens

[coarse aspen]

sad

[ruby tartan]

ir685

[loud sable]

mine cant

[livid sierra]

Yeah I think it can differ between builds

You just gotta try it man

[onyx garnet]

This decent for a phone? (Taken when I was still starting out)

[loud sable]

yes

[onyx garnet]

did this too w my phone
I upgraded to a uranus c, big upgrade

[limpid topaz]

Took this with my mono guide cam last year. What camera and barlow would you guys recommend for a 8 inch f/6 dob? Idk what planetary cameras are good (Budget: 600$ or so)

[near quiver]

uranus c + celestron xcel 2x

[limpid topaz]

Thanks man 👍

[near quiver]

no problem, happy to help

[barren dune]

@thick heron i used to use citronella candles but I just became one with the skeetos 8 huge texas skeetos on my arms while handtracking at high fl thats what I call a hoot and a holler

[white prawn]

I see your 2x and raise you to 5X

[near quiver]

i see your 5x and ignore it, i like my sanity

[white prawn]

TBH I'll see how the 2x works, then 3x, then prob experiment w/ 5x

[near quiver]

good plan

[white prawn]

I'm so used to using the 5x b/c I used my DSLR for planetary and needed to. Might not need it so much w/ a 585 ... though could be fun anyway.,

[near quiver]

fck around and find out

[white prawn]

That's usually a warning though. That you're going to get your butt kicked if you do something wrong.

I'll choose to take the phrase this time as encouragement to make some butt-kicking images I suppose. 😄

[near quiver]

im not saying dont use the 5x, im saying get ready

get ready to stack all of them for a 30x

[white prawn]

Oh yeah, I'm not taking anything bad away from it.

[near quiver]

get ready for the grs to fill your entire frame

[white prawn]

If I can get the same sort of resolution as the Juno orbiter, that would be really nice

[near quiver]

nah. it will somehow still be lower resolution than tom.

if i did that with my camera i would have to do a jupiter mosaic

[white prawn]

I think he starts with a bigger scope

[near quiver]

yeah

then he images at 10000mm focal length

[white prawn]

More aperture = more detail

[near quiver]

more exposure time

2 hours of 120fps video of jupiter

[white prawn]

Geebaz

[fossil schooner]

Guys I think I could see exoplanets pretty easily with my setup, I got a 12 inch dob with 1520 mm focal length and 2 3x barlows, 2 2x barlows, a 5x Barlow, and a 4 mm eyepiece

Ez

[candid flare]

[white prawn]

But can you spot Saggitarius A*

[fossil schooner]

I may need another 5x or 2 but yeah that should work

[fossil schooner]

This would be 45,600x zoom btw lol

[near quiver]

holy i thought you were joking

[fossil schooner]

i mean im obviously not gonna use it to look at anything but i figured id put all the barlows in for craps and giggles

[near quiver]

i figured out that if i extend my backfocus to about 0.2 meters i can focus on something 3m away

[fossil schooner]

started out with three barlows (1 3x, 1 2x, 1 5x) but then i started to get (sorta) serious about planetary so i upgraded to celestron barlows (2 and 3x) so now i have way too many eyepieces

holy cow

turn it into a microscope lol

[near quiver]

seriously

[white prawn]

No way is that going to be able to get anything focused. Whatever is being viewed will fly right outside of the FOV

[fossil schooner]

well yeah

if it could actually focus and show some reasonable level of quality it would be astronomically difficult to stay on an object

[cursive inlet]

Bro got that loooong shit

[fossil schooner]

😈

[loud sable]

i calculated and got 68400x

[loud sable]

put it on a eq8

probably good enough for some lucky imaging at 0.01%

[steep apex]

What will you achieve with this

[loud sable]

3% transmission

[cloud copper]

guys, any tips on how can I improve my lunar images. This was taken with a 6" newt and my mobile phone. I stacked 200 frames and processed them in registax 6 but Im still not that happy with the results

[safe compass]

Get better seeing or reduce the percentage of pics that'll be stacked.

And, how'd you take frames? did you take pics or did you record?

Plus, of course the mobile phone is kind of limiting you at this point

[main flume]

Views on this please and any tips to improve

[onyx garnet]

equipment?

[main flume]

8” dob and iphone

[onyx garnet]

that's pretty good for a phone

wait let me show you what I did w a 6" and my phone

[onyx garnet]

colour sucks, but details yes (for my pic)

[safe compass]

oversharpened

[safe compass]

save up for better camera than iphone, then you'll get better images. good image with that phone after all.

[onyx garnet]

it is what it is

I'm actually ok if it's oversharpened, brought out the details more in editing.

[safe compass]

true but colors become nonexistant

[onyx garnet]

no the colours wasn't there in the start

it's taken with a phone soo

[safe compass]

oh

[onyx garnet]

yeah it's not great

but it did well for mars tho (for my expectations), was quite unexpected

[safe compass]

really? i'd like to see the mars

[onyx garnet]

1 sec

[main flume]

Damn💀

[main flume]

Yeah i will,just trying to get as much details from phone as i cam

[onyx garnet]

#1020657687291252797 message

[onyx garnet]

I recently upgraded to uranus c, so I get a fat upgrade

but phone will do

[safe compass]

unexpected wow

[onyx garnet]

Yeah

it turned out really well

[main flume]

Nice,i wanna get a nice barlow and couple eye pieces before i get cam

[onyx garnet]

x cel barlows one of the best

[main flume]

Yeah i shortlisted that too

[somber stratus]

Jupiter is drunk apparently. What in the world is happening to the SEB. Look at the slant to the right of the GRS. Thickness at left limb is ~2x that at the right limb @ruby tartan

[safe compass]

Huh

[cloud copper]

This is what I did with my 6" and phone

Disord messed up the colors

[onyx garnet]

not bad

[heavy mirage]

Venus in UV with Uranus-C #47 and UV/IR cut, single 2 min video, 20% frames

Should have even better seeing tonight for another take

[sharp ridge]

damn wtf

[near quiver]

wtf? curious what a map would look like

[thick heron]

Cylindrical maps: https://alpo-j.sakura.ne.jp/Latest/j_Cylindrical_Maps/j23mapsL3.htm

It had a thin section in 2021 too adjacent to the GRS.

[fossil schooner]

Yea I was tired haha

[barren dune]

@fossil schooner magnification isnt everything exoplanets are extremly small ive seen people image exo planets a few times bigger than jup it was a faint dot in a starfield even with hours of exp

@cloud copper invest in a planetary cam even a zwo 120 will produce better results

Cool how the seb just flipped its thickness over 2 years

[cloud copper]

Im happy to say that a new planetary cam should arrive in 2 days. Its Ceres c from player one

[barren dune]

Swank

[cloud copper]

Is that good or bad XD

[somber stratus]

Does the job

[cloud copper]

Nice

[fossil schooner]

I was just joking around lol

[barren dune]

Cant tell with this server lol

[steep apex]

Needs more xcel 3x barlows

[fossil schooner]

its a 2 and 3

more threes might get me some surface detail on an exoplanet

see what the aliens are having for lunch

[onyx garnet]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/600361022259200002/1118164264759328778/1_pre_pros.PNG

dats pretty good

[ruby tartan]

https://www.astrobin.com/w9pufj/

Someone stop Tom!

[steep apex]

God dang! What in the actual detail

[coarse aspen]

hes getting apod every day

TPOD at this point

[loud sable]

Mmm pixels

[stiff nest]

Venus from 5 days ago. 8” Dob SVBONY camera. Sharpcap, PIPP Autostakkert, Registax. Meh seeing.

[stark abyss]

Aaaa.....

Is it ur cam or the scope

[loud sable]

Scope

382fl

[hasty hull]

very rough Jupiter during sunrise this morn

[cursive inlet]

You have some hot pixels I think

[green pebble]

Yeah but atleast its not affecting the detail on the surface

[livid sierra]

Anyone know what causes these ugly ass artifacts in WJ?

When derotating

I've been getting them often lately and I have no idea why

[thick heron]

New discovery!

Try turning down the LD value.

[ruby tartan]

I think it's collimated now

[lunar hamlet]

@somber stratus since you’ve gotten great shots of Venus and the dark side as well, you should try a hdr version of Venus for fun

[somber stratus]

It’s very difficult as there’s a good portion of the planet that’s impossible to image

Nightside close to the terminator

So you’d have a weird gap

[stark abyss]

Hmmm

[somber stratus]

@thick heron new nightside camera dropped

[main flume]

what is that?

[stark abyss]

Diy planetery cam

[main flume]

using a webcam?

[stark abyss]

Ya

[main flume]

that's neat bro ngl

nice

[stark abyss]

🙂

[main flume]

on what are you planning to use it though?

venus?

[stark abyss]

Today Venus

Ya

[main flume]

ohh

nice

[main flume]

what telescope you're using to capture it

[stark abyss]

130mm eq

[main flume]

celestron 130mm eq one i guess?

[stark abyss]

No

It's an Indian brand

[main flume]

StarTracker?

[stark abyss]

Ya

[main flume]

ohh

a nice one tbh

you bought the motor drive one or no motor drive?

[stark abyss]

Nope

😦

But i willl

[main flume]

ohh

[main flume]

they have the separate kit there you can always buy that later

[main flume]

nice one

[lunar hamlet]

Like, between the bright side and the dark side?

[somber stratus]

Yeah

[lunar hamlet]

Oh okay

But why does it create a line?

[thick heron]

Everything in between entered the Twilight Zone.

[livid sierra]

Thank you

It worked

[cursive inlet]

The portion of the image that is blown out when imaging the night-side is larger than the entire bright-side would be so there will always be a portion of the image that is impossible to image, that would be the gap.

[somber stratus]

It’s basically nightside that’s right next to the terminator

I.e that black region in image above

[near quiver]

You would have to let it rotate then comp it in manually right?

[stark abyss]

Lol

Pretty clear

[main flume]

lol nice focusing skills you have

[main flume]

nice one bro ngl

[left spindle]

I also have a telescope by same company same mount just a 114/900 for planetary

[left spindle]

What cam?

[stark abyss]

Ooo

[stark abyss]

Web cam

[stark abyss]

Nice

Btw

Dose any know a good cheap bag to keep telescope in

🤨

[white prawn]

For a star tracker Newt? Nope. You'd want a case. And a vehicle with sufficient back/trunk space

[left spindle]

Dude I also use webcam (Logitech C270 modded)

[stark abyss]

Nice

[stark abyss]

Ya

[left spindle]

my setup for planetary (also some images taken from it)

[stark abyss]

Wait

Did you uploaded a vid on ur telescope? On yt

https://youtu.be/mkuAiv4NtGo

Aaaaaaaa
....

[left spindle]

no

[left spindle]

some other person

[lunar hamlet]

I’m very angry that it’s not actually a star tracker like the swsa 2i pro, it has slow motion control and if it were to be tracked, it would be a motorized/tracking mount

Jkjk

[stark abyss]

Lol

The last jkjk🤣

[left spindle]

[stark abyss]

Venues with it is cloud s

[onyx garnet]

is encke division possible with a 6" SCT

[onyx garnet]

What gear?

pretty epic

[stark abyss]

130eq

And web cam

Sharpcap

[onyx garnet]

any filters, barlows?

[sharp ridge]

No

[onyx garnet]

damn it

[stark abyss]

Barlow

2x

[onyx garnet]

was it daytime and were the weather conditions good
it's usually shit here in singapore

[stark abyss]

Ya the weather was on next level literally no clouds time between sunset and. Night

The time when u can just see Venus

[onyx garnet]

Oh

I have a uranus c and 6se, should be alright

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/600361022259200002/1118164264759328778/1_pre_pros.PNG

here's my effort

[ruby tartan]

I just bought an equatorial platform, it should arrive in 20 days

Does anyone have tips for using it?

[cloud copper]

New cam and barlow just arrived

[ruby tartan]

Tnks

[cloud copper]

When firecapture is not recording I get 200 fps but when I am recording its stuck at 10, why?

[sharp ridge]

did you set the fps limit to 10, or your memory drive cant save fast enough

[flint veldt]

i wanna buy this barlow is it that good ?

[cloud copper]

Yep, its good

[cloud copper]

I set it to max and than it just switches back to 10

[onyx garnet]

Oh yeah I got the same issue

Not sure how to set it to record at max

[sharp ridge]

send me like a screenshot so i can see where its showing 10

[cloud copper]

Not my screnshot but here its showing 10

[cloud copper]

And it changes from max to 10

[livid sierra]

That’s just your preview framerate

The actual fps of your recording is here

[cloud copper]

And how can I get more fps, the camera suports up to 207

@livid sierra

[sharp ridge]

lower the exposure time

[cloud copper]

I am using a ceres-c camera with and IR cut filter, so do I capture in RGB or in IR?

[livid sierra]

Lower exposure time and use smaller ROI

[cloud copper]

and how can I set the ADC to 8 ?

[livid sierra]

Wym

[clear pier]

an ir cut filter cuts out the ir signal, it removes it so you need to record in rgb

ir pass filters let you capture in ir if im not mistaken

[somber stratus]

it defaults to 8-bit iirc

[thick heron]

Return of Biscuit’s spies.

[heavy mirage]

Some good seeing, I'd say 7/10

[sharp ridge]

Tbh that's like 5-6/10

Rlly bouncy

[fading plume]

That’s 10/10 for me

Nice sharp frames occasionally. My seeing is just a continuous blur. No good periods

[sharp ridge]

This is approx 8/10

[heavy mirage]

Maybe 7 during best parts but you're right

[somber stratus]

thats a 5/6

imho

same as what ken said

[ruby tartan]

Looks like 4-5/10

[heavy mirage]

Maybe when you have 60+ degree altitude this would be a 5, but for 30 degrees this is good

Well maybe slightly above average

[white prawn]

Honestly I'm tempted to d/l that and see what sort of image I can get from the frames

[heavy mirage]

Lol that's my phone recording the laptop screen, not raw. I don't think it'll be worth

[white prawn]

Gotta keep the "Mad Lad" label somehow

[somber stratus]

Agreed

[heavy mirage]

Jupiter very quick and rough process thats why colors are kinda off, single 2 min video 10% best frames. Hopefully will get through the rest tonight

[livid sierra]

Nice one

It looks a lot like this one I took with my 6” last year

Regarding detail ofc, not colour

Jupiter really didn’t change a lot from last year huh

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, the changes from 2021 to 2022 were most noticeable so far. This year and last year not so much lol

[livid sierra]

Yeah

Kinda disappointing ngl

[hasty hull]

Still have 4 and a half months till opposition, ya neva know what could happen until then

[gray orchid]

Did a reprocess on Sat and Jup. Orion XT8 and SVBONY SV105 (50 USD webcam basically, aka it's shite)

[heavy mirage]

What is this? Idk kinda thought planes had wings

[steep apex]

Can’t tell, probably a plane though

[white prawn]

Helicopter. Or plane and the angles are just right that the wings aren't evident.

[gray orchid]

Nuclear warhead

[coarse aspen]

it actually has that shape

[gray orchid]

Although I guess it'd have to be propelled by something other than a plooming rocket thruster

[heavy mirage]

It was basically directly above

not at a weird angle

[gray orchid]

Video compression may be hiding something

[heavy mirage]

maybe, but even with my eyes I see the wings every time especially when its basically directly above

this just looked like a rocket booster basically

[gray orchid]

Interesting

[heavy mirage]

It was probably a helicopter, although I have no idea if they fly that high

also usually you'd hear them

[gray orchid]

Yea that heli would be built diff

Highest is like 25000 ft apparently

[heavy mirage]

that's pretty high, damn but why would that specific helo fly there

Another video, slow mo

well same video

but different part

kinda looks like rcs thrusters

If I ever see this shit again ima manual focus

[heavy mirage]

a stack of some of the best frames

[cursive inlet]

https://www.flightradar24.com/

They allow up to 7 days of playback for free, shows most aircraft I think.

[heavy mirage]

most likely it was this

plane

that's the only thing that was in the area at that time

going south just like what I saw

[livid sierra]

Raw Saturn data looking pretty sharp

Clearly visible Cassini div

[fading plume]

Exact same equipment. The 105 is crappy sure but good for its price.

I miss last year saturn position

[idle hollow]

Ive taken videos using my 533mc pro and 8" dob. They are mp4 format. What do I do first to provess them?

I have no idea what software I need to get

[gray orchid]

Dam, you know what... My Barlow may be the culprit.

I only used it with the barlow

Orion shorty 2x I believe. The optics may not be bad, but from my tests its gotta be holding back the optics.

[livid sierra]

Single 2min IR stack

Quick sharpen

[cursive inlet]

Run em through PIPP to convert to avi or ser. But why did you record in mp4 anyways?

[idle hollow]

idk first time ever using my 533mc for planetary

never done it before

[coarse aspen]

Interesting

I've seen 533 listed as a planetary camera on player one's website

So

If I understand
585 - for planetary but can do DSO
533 - for DSO but can do planetary

[gray orchid]

Isn't it just fascinating that

[cursive inlet]

That what?

[livid sierra]

I believe there are two different versions with and without cooling system

At least I think ZWO has both

The cooling system would be more suitable for dso, the other one for planetary

[gray orchid]

We usually end up using a camera for the opposite of what it was intended for

[ruby tartan]

New JWST image

[livid sierra]

Is that CH4?

Why are there no lines or anything

Or belts

[ruby tartan]

Better resolution

[ruby tartan]

F322W2

Something like 3220nm

[uncut glade]

Oh wow, I saw some of the earlier images but just that detail in the poles is stunning

[lyric peak]

I‘m trying to get into planetary stuff. Mostly just looking but one or two images just to show what I can see would be cool. I don‘t want to spend a lot of money since I focus more on nebula etc. I thought of getting the smaller one Astro biscuit suggested because I can find it on eBay for a good price. Is it worth getting and is it possible to mount a camera to that thing just so make a quick snap. Of course I would use a better tripod haha

[heavy mirage]

So what is this filter supposed to show? Super dense gas?

Really cool ring details though

[somber stratus]

it is CH4, just not the absorption band you're used to

[clear pier]

so i have 5 stacks of an image and want to know which one to use for post processing, out of some 14-15000 frames i have 1%, 5%, 8%, 10%, and 12% stacks which one would be good for sharpening? thanks!

[cursive inlet]

Thats for you to decide

Process each one and decide which looks the best

[clear pier]

oh ok ok so there’s no like “it has to be 1%” type thing got it thanks!

for my second attempt at saturn it’s looking very promising

[cursive inlet]

Yeah it depends a lot on the conditions during capture. Although you usually want at least a minimum of 1500 frames or so.

You basically just gotta balance noise with sharpness

The more frames the less noise, but you lose sharpness. The less frames, the more noise, but you get more detail.

And this varies greatly with how good your seeing is.

[clear pier]

ohhhh that makes a lot of sense

i mean the stacks look virtually identical imo

[cursive inlet]

What I like to do is after AS3 sorts my frames from best to worst, I then scroll through the frames to see where the quality starts to deteriorate, then I stack that percentage.

[clear pier]

first one is 12%, second is 1%

[clear pier]

ahh ok i see hmm

it's not too bad so should i work with the 12%?

[cursive inlet]

The difference is visible when you sharpen

[cursive inlet]

You said 15k frames right? 12% should give around 1800 stacked so I’d say you’re good.

[clear pier]

12% is looking much much less noisy so i think i'll stick with it yea

[lyric peak]

[clear pier]

wavelets are so confuzzling idk what im doing

any tips for wavelets? idk what layer to increase they all look off if i do it too much

[livid sierra]

I generally used layers 1-3 in Registax

And don't overdo it if it doesn't look good lol

[livid sierra]

I'm not sure what you're talking about

Something astrobiscuit suggested

[lyric peak]

omegon Telescope AC 60/700 AZ-1

[livid sierra]

Not really worth getting that telescope if you want to image planets

It has a 2 inch aperture

Most people get at least a 4 inch telescope and even that's like pretty small

In fact I would advise against getting that telescope if you want to image planets

I doubt it'll be a fun experience with that tripod and optics

[cursive inlet]

Size matters

[lyric peak]

idk if you missread my message but my main goal is just to see the planets and take a look without spending much money

[livid sierra]

Ah okay

Well if you're content with seeing the planets as slightly bigger dots than with the naked eye then go for it

[clear pier]

i used all the layers it came out pretty well!

[nova delta]

I had a 90mm refractor and I couldn’t really see much detail, only Saturns rings and Jupiters moons. I don’t know what you are looking for but I’d recommend at least 70mm

[clear pier]

im more concerned about this lmao it looks so funny but it actually kinda works

[lyric peak]

but isnt 70mm smaller ?

[livid sierra]

Mind sending me your stack? I can look at it

[nova delta]

You were thinking of getting a 60mm, right?

[lyric peak]

Yea I just thought because u said u had a 90mm and did not see much and you would recommend 70mm

I got confused mb

[nova delta]

Oh yeah, looking back it is a bit confusing. I meant that even at 90mm I couldn’t really see much, so I think anything under 70mm would be kind of disappointing

[lyric peak]

Yea I get you

[clear pier]

dms or here?

[livid sierra]

Whatever you prefer

[clear pier]

this is 5% of about 2k frames

and thank you!!

[livid sierra]

Alr I'll look at it in a bit

[clear pier]

thanks

[nova delta]

@clear pier your 150p doesn’t have a motorized mount, right?

[clear pier]

nope it's untracked

it's the heritage 150p should've specified

[nova delta]

Ahh alright

[clear pier]

it's the tabletop dob mount

[nova delta]

I have one too but motorized

[clear pier]

ohh i see that's really cool, what mount is it?

[nova delta]

Just asking because you can achieve incredibly better images with the addition of a Barlow lens. This was taken with a 3x Barlow and a ZWO 120mcs

[nova delta]

Skywatcher sells it coupled with a AZ goto mount for around $460

[livid sierra]

Also kunal are you using a uvir cut?

[clear pier]

HUH i should've bought that wtf 😭

[clear pier]

i have a ~2.2x barlow with a uranus c

it's the gso 2.5x but it really is about 2.2x apparently

[clear pier]

nope need to get one soon

[livid sierra]

Yeah get that and a barlow next

[nova delta]

It has some problems lol

[livid sierra]

Uvir cuts aren't that expensive, but don't go cheap on the barlow

[clear pier]

i have a barlow yea my saturn and jupiter were taken with the barlow

https://agenaastro.com/gso-2-5x-apo-barlow-lens.html

[nova delta]

Oh alright, I thought you didn’t have one because the image you sent here looks pretty similar to the ones I’ve taken without it

Zenith is overpowered lol

[clear pier]

oh i see i guess im just bad at taking images then 😅

[clear pier]

what's that?

[nova delta]

It’s like the point directly above you

[clear pier]

dang that's really good thank you, can you show me what wavelet settings you used if it's not too much trouble?

[sharp ridge]

oops i sent tif

i u

i used astrosurface

[livid sierra]

Lol Ken are u good

[nova delta]

I’d get images of Jupiter at 70 degrees

[clear pier]

yea this was really low

damn that's insane

[clear pier]

does that use wavelets too?

[sharp ridge]

yeah but i used the sharpen feature, more simple

also btw 70mm refractor, for whoever said 70mm was gonna be disappointing

[clear pier]

ah ok got it

[livid sierra]

What was the whole setup

[sharp ridge]

WO Z73, 2x barlow, asi290/uranus-c cant remember

severely undersampled lmao, like F/9 or smth

[livid sierra]

Yeah so it was with good quality optics and I reckon your avx

[sharp ridge]

yeah ig but pretty confident it can be handtracked

[cursive inlet]

William optics aint cheap 😂

[livid sierra]

That's what I'm saying

[cursive inlet]

@lyric peak was talkin bout some ebay shi

[livid sierra]

The other dude wants to buy a 60mm omegon refractor with a cheap tripod

[sharp ridge]

ill try one day with my astronomy stores cheap 70mm

[livid sierra]

Lol

[sharp ridge]

anyways i think imma image saturn tonight

[livid sierra]

Noice

[cursive inlet]

Also that doublet purple tint gonna be bad

[lyric peak]

ye

[clear pier]

why does jupiter have a halo

there's like a ring around it

im not insane right

did i just sharpen that much lmao

[cursive inlet]

Like that dim ring around?

[clear pier]

yea there's like a dark circle

yea ok im not crazy

[cursive inlet]

Sharpening artefacts. I just remove them in gimp or whatever.

[clear pier]

gimp? ok got it

[cursive inlet]

Black paint brush

[clear pier]

LOL ok

[cursive inlet]

Or you could mess with levels but that sometimes clips the planet

[clear pier]

what levels?

in gimp or registax

[sharp ridge]

frfr, i just crop the planet out and paste on a black background lmao

[clear pier]

LMAO

[cursive inlet]

Both have levels but registax is like ancient at this point so just use gimp

[clear pier]

okok lol

[sharp ridge]

we still love you regi 🫶

[cursive inlet]

Ive actually moved to wavesharp recently. I think its like the same people that made regi but its 64 bit

[sharp ridge]

wavesharp is pretty good i think though cba to switch

does it have batch sharpening?

[cursive inlet]

Whats that

[sharp ridge]

tell it to apply sharpening settings to a whole bunch of stacks so you dont need to input them one by one

[cursive inlet]

Idk I haven’t tried

[sharp ridge]

ah ok

i still need to figure out how to use the m63 derotation python script

[cursive inlet]

Main thing I like about it is the wavelets apply in real time, like as you’re scrolling.

Just feels smooth

[livid sierra]

Raw Jupiter frame

[safe compass]

Oohh

[clear pier]

why is that better than my stack i swear to god

[safe compass]

Bad seeing/small mirror

[clear pier]

6 inch, meh seeing didn't take enough frames

[safe compass]

Barlow's?

[clear pier]

the gso 2.5x so it's about 2.2x

[clear pier]

this is my stack

and edited

i just took 2k frames it was not a lot

[gray orchid]

You can also create a black layer underneath, and use circle mask with feathering.

[sharp ridge]

Tis a scam

[livid sierra]

How dare they

[clear pier]

hey any recommendations for a uv/ir cut filter?

don’t wanna spend too much

im in the us btw

[livid sierra]

Like

ZWO or something

Or P1

[sharp ridge]

managed to salvage a 2min capture, rlly rushed lmao

Man, if it was clear it would be soooo good

[clear pier]

playerone has one??

[sharp ridge]

Bruh

[livid sierra]

Of course

[clear pier]

oh dang ok

[livid sierra]

🙃🔫

[clear pier]

so zwo and p1 no difference?

[livid sierra]

Where’s the scope

[sharp ridge]

Took it down lmao

[livid sierra]

Zwo transmits 400-700nm, P1’s transmits 380-700. I have both because I use the P1 for Venus UV and ZWO for everything else

But I don’t think that 20nm matters much in general

[clear pier]

oh ok so zwo is better overall for planets and dso?

[livid sierra]

I just need that extra 20nm for the UV signal

[clear pier]

oh hmm ok

ahh ok

[sharp ridge]

It really doesn't matter tbh

[clear pier]

so whichever is cheaper basically

[sharp ridge]

Yea

[livid sierra]

Yea I guess

[clear pier]

ok ok cool thank you

[livid sierra]

Oh it’s under that tarp at the end of the video

[clear pier]

zwo uv/ir cut acquired

well bought lol

[steep apex]

Can anyone name any planetary stacking and processing software forMacBook/MacOS other then Lynkeos?

I can’t get wine to download so I can't open windows applications

[lunar hamlet]

You call that bad?!

[sharp ridge]

its bad for a 16" in excellent seeing

[jolly leaf]

mans got the capability to double james webbs focal ratio

[limpid reef]

I wonder what dehaze would do to planetary images

[somber stratus]

Not much

Scuffs colour balance

[clear pier]

what’s the longest time you should take a video of jupiter before rotation becomes an issue?

and is derotating a good option?

[sharp ridge]

5mins

[sharp ridge]

Yes

[clear pier]

how does it work and would that help make things sharper even on a 5 minute video like you said?

[sharp ridge]

Basically it flattens jupiter images into a map and stacks the maps based on the rotation change

[clear pier]

oh i see i see does that help make things sharper?

[sharp ridge]

Increase the signal to noise ratio

And you can do lucky lucky imaging - choosing the best stacks

[clear pier]

ahh ok i might try it then, what app is it in, winjupos?

[sharp ridge]

Winjupos

[clear pier]

ok ok thank you

so with that, how long can i video jupiter for?

[sharp ridge]

An hour?

[clear pier]

oh ok nice thank you

[heavy mirage]

Unless you're using an EQ mount, I wouldn't do more than 2 minutes due to field rotation, it depends a lot on the focal length

[somber stratus]

Bit long imho

Esp with moons in transit

I never go above 2m

There is no real benefit of doing 5m vs 2m. You’ll just have more of the 2m captures. SNR will be the same as you’re not changing the exposure/gain settings

Stacks will be sharper as there’s inherently less motion blur

[clear pier]

hmm ok ok and i don’t really need to use derotation then?

[somber stratus]

No. Still derotate. Just capture <2min videos at a time.

I usually derotate ~8 or so 2min vids

for 16mins total

[heavy mirage]

Nice

[clear pier]

ahh ok got it

i was gonna do some imaging at 4:30, woke up and it was cloudy

even though every app and website i checked said it was gonna be clear

[sharp ridge]

relatable asf

[clear pier]

and i checked my 2 weather apps on my phone and they said 0% cloud cover when the entire sky was blanketed in clouds like come on

[livid sierra]

That’s why you don’t go to sleep at all

That way you can’t wake up to disappointment

[proud mulch]

This desperately needed a bit of edits

[hasty hull]

It’s just a raw frame he was showing

Crazy sharpness

[proud mulch]

True

Still the fact he got a better raw frame than my stacked is just… 😭

[livid sierra]

Well I mean he’s imaging with an actual astrocam

Opposed to phone camera up to eyepiece

What do you expect

[somber stratus]

Good seeing

[heavy mirage]

Should be even better tonight fingers crossed

[proud mulch]

True

But I never see live video this good

[heavy mirage]

This isn't even that good tbh lol, maybe a 7/10

7-8

[somber stratus]

Playing with old data again as weather trash atm. Trying to get the most out of a single stack. 15 seconds integrated.

[jolly leaf]

oh stop flexing on us noobs

[livid sierra]

lol 15 seconds

[cursive inlet]

Integrated so the recording was probably a lot longer

[livid sierra]

Ye ye it’s just for practice I reckon

Still funny

[somber stratus]

105-sec

[white prawn]

Oh, you too? Doing the same, here. Tell me what you think, both are reproc'd.

[somber stratus]

What’s your setup? Colours look good off the bat

[white prawn]

8" Newt, Canon T7, 5x Barlow.

Gonna credit @mossy juniper and @near quiver with their feedback on my colors.

[somber stratus]

Looks good but i think you’d get more out of the scope aperture by using a proper Astro cam & dispersion corrector for instance

[near quiver]

man what am i doing wrong with planetary lol

[near quiver]

ohhh thats what, youre using 2.5 times my focal length

[white prawn]

Which is why I bought an ASI585. Kind of scared to get the AD corrector, seems a little complicated to use. But I can't get Jupiter low on the horizon in Jan w/o one, I tried.

[somber stratus]

Nice. Yeah ADCs are a pain at first. Takes some getting used to

[white prawn]

I didn't get the ASI585 until March though.

[white prawn]

Still trying to get used to the astro cam. I got some decent shots of Mars in Feb/March. I have to process them again. But what I'm struggling w/ now is getting a clear preview when the planet is in focus. The shots I took of Mars when I processed them showed some detail, but the preview screen just shows a red dot that when in focus is not blurred out.

On the other hand, I took a couple of lunar shots and BOY-O.

[somber stratus]

Could have just been poor seeing. Mars was also quite distant by March-time.

[white prawn]

I just haven't had luck w/ getting a good preview image on planetary. The Mars images were, well, evident in the fact that I am still getting used to processing Mars. For a distant planet, not bad.

Thing is, I have no problem whatsoever with preview on my DSLR, even with poor seeing. Just w/ the astro cam. First try was with a Sv105. That one actually crashed SharpCap pretty consistently. Likely firmware, but I sent it back and got a refund. But it really wouldn't show a good preview, even if the end result processed image was great.

[somber stratus]

I haven’t had experience using a DSLR so I’m not sure. My preview has always been representative of the final image with the Uranus-C