Planetary Imaging

[white prawn]

My preview is fine with lunar on the ASI585. So ... maybe seeing, maybe I need to learn software a bit more.

[livid sierra]

It could help to adjust preview settings

In FC it’s at the top of the window

It only applies to the preview, not the actual data

You can increase the brightness and gamma and it helps with focusing sometimes

[white prawn]

What about SharpCap?

[clear pier]

firecapture has this really weird grid thing over the preview for me

so my previews are really bad as well but end results look much much better

[near quiver]

thats normal, thats just the bayer pattern

on the toolbar theres a button you can press to debayer the preview, which will basically show it in color

[clear pier]

aH i should really read about firecapture before i use it

well thanks lmao

[candid flare]

uhhhhh

[heavy mirage]

👌

[somber stratus]

Not as good as y'day perhaps? Bit jumpy but can see a moon just above the south pole i think

Tethys in transit rn

[heavy mirage]

I think better, phone camera doesn't really do justice

Here is Jupiter for comparison @somber stratus

[heavy mirage]

Yeah! Very cool. I got a good 40 mins on it

Uploading...

[sharp ridge]

Cool

Reprocessing jupiter again, the difference in monitors iz very annoying...

[heavy mirage]

Still a bit purple, but who cares lol it looks gnarly

Maybe its the red actually

This is a must need accessory

[sharp ridge]

Electrified tennis racket

Eh bug spray is probably more effective

[lean hearth]

Just out of curiosity is this your framing for the dob?

Like is Jupiter really that big?

[heavy mirage]

Nah, they get used to it. Plus it's kinda enjoyable to zap those assholes

[somber stratus]

That’s 1:1 yeah

[livid sierra]

Ikr it’s annoying af

[lean hearth]

Wow such an amazing rig you have

I doubt my highest fl rig could even make out the red Jupiter spot lol

[thick heron]

Time for a SpyderX.

[cloud copper]

Should I buy an alt az goto mount if I want to do planetary astrophotography. I have a 6" newt and a ceres-c astro cam with a gso 2.5x barlow. Is it a decent setup?

[heavy mirage]

It'll do the trick. Do you already have a mount?

[cloud copper]

Yea but its a cheap eq3 that recently broke

So I have to buy something else

I found a skywatcher skyscan AZ Go2 mount at 180 euros

Its this one

Without the scope

[heavy mirage]

I mean, as long as it can handle the weight, it'll work

[cloud copper]

Yea it does

I checked

It can hold 5kg and the rig is about 4.5

[heavy mirage]

Gotcha, that sounds about right. And tbh they can hold more but tracking won't be as precise, which isn't really an issue for planetary.

I'm unsure how it would handle a 6 inch newt on it though, might wobble a bit much

Every little breeze or focus adjustment will be very prominent especially at high FL

[cloud copper]

Im used to that with my crappy eq3

[heavy mirage]

I'm not a big fan of tripods lol 😆

I don't see why it shouldn't work though

[cloud copper]

Cool

[high hull]

make sure the barlow you use doesn't ruin the optical quality

Caught dione! now to get the other moons

[high hull]

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/536328153241747457/1125375692792672286/image.png

annotated version

[onyx garnet]

bro that is not jupiter

[high hull]

no im pretty sure thats jupiter, after all jupiter is the only planet

we all live on jupiter, there is just a giant mirror, thats how I got this photo. it blocks the sun sometimes and thats anoyying but its fine, I manage

[onyx garnet]

You're one corrupted person

[high hull]

(satire)

[soft skiff]

i lost a braincell reading and processing this interaction

[high hull]

my goal is complete

[soft skiff]

[high hull]

oh damn

looking at the "data" more I noticed iapatus

[green pebble]

[high hull]

the smudge near the bottom right is iapatus,

[green pebble]

Oh yeah now i see it

[fading plume]

I’m just gonna say nope. There’s heaps of smudges on this image you could call moons.

[high hull]

then why are these smudges in the correct place to be moons?

[fading plume]

like i said, there are heaps of smudges that are in the wrong place.

[heavy mirage]

Rough edit of 2021 - 2023 Saturn

[somber stratus]

The varying size of the NPR is pretty neat

[heavy mirage]

Pretty crazy how that area changes so much compared to the rest of the planet

[cloud copper]

What is better

150mm seben bird jones telescope

Or

Sw 130 pds

[thick heron]

Seems like an 🍎 to 🍊comparison. The Seben appears to come with a mount that likely struggles even with visual use while the 130PDS has no included mount.

[hasty hull]

Good seeing this morn

[soft skiff]

Hey willaf is ur orion xt6's secondary mirror screws like this?

Btw stunning image of saturn

[cloud copper]

I have the seben and idk if I should upgrade or not

[heavy mirage]

Saturn, Tethys and it's shadow, Rhea below

A couple Jupiter images, from June 30th and July 1st. 7 x 2m for each

[livid sierra]

Why does the noise move with the rotation of the planet lol

[heavy mirage]

winjupos

[livid sierra]

Oh every frame is a derotated stack?

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, about 5m per frame

[livid sierra]

Aah gotcha

Very nice animation, great work

[heavy mirage]

Thanks! Hopefully i'll catch another transit closer to opposition

[somber stratus]

wait i'm confused how this moves the noise. Looks like interpolation tbh.

[heavy mirage]

No interpolation, you know how wj timelapses are

[somber stratus]

Ahh i haven't done these timelapses. Where can you find them in the program?

[heavy mirage]

Well, I'm not sure if this is the best way to do them, but I just derotate 3 frames at a time with 1 frame in-between

You can go more, but I only did 3 so that moons don't get too blurred

[somber stratus]

What, so say if I had 10 stacks (IMS files), i'd derotate 1-3 to the timeframe of 2, then 2-4 to timeframe of 3, then 3-5 to timeframe of 4 etc?

moving average type thing

[heavy mirage]

Something like that, except I don't set the time, it's just whatever the average time is

[somber stratus]

Sure, whatever WJ automates. If you capture at a regular rate, it'll be same time as the middle stack

Or at least should be

[heavy mirage]

Yes, you described it pretty well with 1-3, 2-4, 3-5, etc

[somber stratus]

So when you said 5m per frame, that's 3 x 100-sec derotated or something?

[heavy mirage]

Well I guess it'd be around 6 mins since I'm doing 2 minute videos

[somber stratus]

Ok, makes sense

but each frame in the timelapse represents 2m in real time, but is made of 6m of data

[heavy mirage]

Yes. It's a cool technique but I'm not a big fan of the noise rotating with the planet lol

[somber stratus]

Yeah, looks a bit funky

Works ok for Jupiter though.

Can do a good 5 vids here.

[heavy mirage]

I think if there were no transits, you could be able to do 15-20m derotations

[somber stratus]

yup

[heavy mirage]

Should reduce the noise a good amount

[somber stratus]

Opposition you can get away with 20m. But at any other time, the terminator is usually quite prone to artefacts when using >15m

As it's dark where the limb of the planet is

[heavy mirage]

Agreed

[white prawn]

Good morning/afternoon/evening depending on where you guys are.

Remember the barge that you were looking at a while back on Jupiter? I was looking thorough my images and I never was able to locate it. You know what's sad, though? Based on what I was doing, I may have captured it but I was experimenting with a setup (5x Barlow, 20mm eyepiece, projection to camera) so it didn't come out because the image quality was poor.

[livid sierra]

@heavy mirage actually how are the moons not blurred in these frames? I thought WJ screws up moons and moon shadows

[heavy mirage]

I did ~15 mins per frame for this, about 8 mins in between. Then interpolation to increase fps

[heavy mirage]

There is a masking feature in WJ, it works alright lol

[proud mulch]

Every one of my Jupiter photos has an intense halo what to do?

[heavy mirage]

Sharpening artifacts, not much you can do about that. Softer wavelets/sharpening might help but you can also try selecting the background including just inside the limb of the planet, then use median blur or something to soften the edge

If you'd like, I can do a quick attempt with your data @proud mulch

[white prawn]

I'm interested to know what you're using and the type of images that you're stacking

[proud mulch]

Be warned it’s an iPhone video

[heavy mirage]

You can just send the stack

but, either way. I've been warned

[proud mulch]

I’ll send the videos through media fire as I didn’t do so well either the stacking trust me

Also I deleted the stack 💀

[heavy mirage]

I see, I'd prefer if you sent the video through here or post it in #1021002743080558642

[proud mulch]

#1126189855383236618 message

[livid sierra]

Woah, never knew about that. Gotta check that out

[heavy mirage]

Here's what I got out of it. Could probably sharpen a bit more, but it becomes too artifacty

[proud mulch]

Nice

This is my sharpened stack that I took

Edited it and that’s not bad

[heavy mirage]

I think you should invest in an astrocam like the asi120 or asi224. It'll make a huge difference @proud mulch

[proud mulch]

Ok I’ll try it

The only thing I’m worried abt is the resolution lol

(Also edited it or something)

[heavy mirage]

It'll be much better than a phone, resolution should be fine as long as you don't over sampling

What scope are you using, and what power barlow do you use?

[proud mulch]

130/650 newt

Orion spaceprobe 130st

With 2x Barlow

And 10mm eyepiece (because phones work like that)

So 130 power

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, you'll be fine with those. Resolution should be okay. With 2x barlow you'd be somewhere around f/10

[proud mulch]

True

But if I can, should I get a higher power Barlow?

[heavy mirage]

You can in theory go up to f/18

If you get the asi120

But I'd stick with the 2x for now, just to compare results

With 130mm aperture i think f/18 might be a bit too much

[proud mulch]

True

[proud mulch]

Also because I’m on a TIGHT budget, which of the 2 should I get?

[thick heron]

If budget is first priority, the ASI120MC-S is $50 less than the ASI224MC and has the UV/IR Cut filter built in, which would be a separate purchase with the ASI224MC.

Used is an option too for even less.

[heavy mirage]

Used would be a solid option, as long as it's not too beat up lol

[proud mulch]

Yeah I’d rather do a 224MC

[hasty hull]

Hm, this is what mine looks like

[soft skiff]

Huh big difference

Mine looks more sturdy doesnt it

Well i hope thats the design and it doesnt move lol

Well maybe cause my xt6 is a newer model i guess

[thick heron]

Is the secondary centered when you look down the focuser without an eyepiece? The screws on all Sky-Watcher/Orion newts should be recessed unless they have been replaced with longer ones.

[soft skiff]

Yes it is centered

[hasty hull]

I’ve never had to adjust my secondary luckily, I just use the collimation cap and keep the dot centered

[soft skiff]

I see

Well i thank you lot for the info i was scared? For a moment there

[thick heron]

Current picture on Orion's website has Phillips head screws.

[soft skiff]

While mines this hmm

Lemme take another image

Only the screws heads are different

How come??

I do wonder

[thick heron]

They might've switched suppliers for the XT dobs. They were historically made by Synta but they and Orion were against each other in a lawsuit a few years ago.

The red dot finder and secondary spider looks more like GSO products.

Even when they were made by Synta they evolved over the years.

My friend's XT8 they bought over 2 decades ago has three vanes while another friend's 6 year old XT8 has four.

[soft skiff]

My reddot dont look like that

Sorry i meant my red dot

Its pretty late rn my brains everywhere

[fading plume]

224 kinda ass. Imo the cheaper astrocams arent 100% worth it. Especially the 120.

Just save for a few months and get something decent. Uranus sensor is 4x larger. Helps massively with untracked

Although the 224 is nice enough

Maybe get a ceres c

[random pecan]

Could someone edit this I don’t know if it’s bad or if I’m bad

[onyx garnet]

yeah man I'll give it a shot for you

[onyx garnet]

My try

[somber stratus]

@sharp ridge I would have reversed the phases tbh

nice regardless

usual comp people use (not mine)

[sharp ridge]

Cool

Imma do another later, (with the epic thin phases)

[somber stratus]

have you got any?

or you mean, "you will"?

[sharp ridge]

I will

[somber stratus]

huge

[fading plume]

I’m definitely looking forward to trying to find Venus in the ultra thin crescent phases.

[somber stratus]

Doesn't get all too close this aparition

Next one with the atmospheric ring is May-June 2028

[fading plume]

I was checking it out in stellarium for this year. Still very thin

[somber stratus]

Yeah but only what, 7deg elongation?

That's near the maximum

(for a conjunction)

[fading plume]

Something like that yeah. I was thinking about testing my luck. I’ve been studying and noting Venus’s path through the sky and how the meridian passes through my backyard. I’ve gotten to the stage where I can go outside and pretty much instantly spot Venus at any time of day.

[somber stratus]

This was Jan 4th, 2022. 8 deg elongation. About what to expect.

[fading plume]

I’d like that yeah

[somber stratus]

<1 deg elongation you get this beauty

very hard to image though

[fading plume]

Imagine trying to find that

[cursive inlet]

https://tenor.com/view/eyes-burning-my-eyes-spongebob-gif-5183364

[fading plume]

I’ve been finding Venus while I wait for my bus. I catch it at 2:30 ish. I can spot it pretty easily, depending on transparency. Maybe I’ll get lucky with the opposition.

Good-excellent transparency for that nice dark sky

Today was super hazy and I could barely spot it. Other days I swear I can make out the crescent shape.

[livid sierra]

@fading plume how man

I can’t see Venus during the day

[fading plume]

You just gotta know where to look.

[livid sierra]

I start to spot it when the sun is close to the horizon

[fading plume]

You can also see Jupiter during very good conditions. I’ve spotted it just after midday once.

[livid sierra]

Impressive

You have good eyes

[fading plume]

It’s quite unmissable

My parents have seen it. And they are always complaining about their eyesight

[livid sierra]

Lol

Okay guess I’m just blind then

[fading plume]

The biggest thing is you gotta be staring straight at it. Your brain is really cool like that so uses AI to fake 99% of your vision so you don’t actually see it unless you notice it first.

[livid sierra]

Yeah

There was one time I was trying to find Venus a bit before sunset but it took a while to find it and I started seeing thousands of tiny very fast moving Venuses lol

[fading plume]

Lmao I know. So bad.

[near quiver]

techinically i think thats just I not AI

[fading plume]

Perhaps A = annoying

[livid sierra]

Lol

Also I think it would be funny if you’re just gazing at a planet and it starts moving out of nowhere lol

Something I was thinking about

Apocalypse moment

[thick heron]

Fun fact: they are always moving.

[hasty hull]

You should try it

What’s the closest to the sun you’ve imaged

[somber stratus]

5 deg

i think(?)

[livid sierra]

Yeah but I mean fast

Like a satellite moves looking at it naked eye

[thick heron]

It seems slow until Mars is coming straight towards you at it’s orbital speed of 24 km/s.

[livid sierra]

Spoopy

[random pecan]

hey i hate to ask but i dont know if im getting all that i can out of this image could someone try to edit this really quicky

[random pecan]

Ooooo thank you this is really good

thisa is what i got

but im really new to planetary

[random pecan]

thank you!

[sharp ridge]

Idk why there is no color

Did you use mono cam

[random pecan]

i believe this was ir-pass

i was experimenting with filters

no its a mars-c

[white prawn]

Hmmm. Sharpens alright ... but struggling w/ saturation. 😐

Maybe ...

O-ho!

[white prawn]

@random pecan here's my contribution. I flipped it around, and I made it a bit darker to bring highlight to the different bands that were starting to show in the image.

First time I did a planetary edit the way I did that one, by the way. I use Registax and usually I just disable all but one so all editing is done to the entire photo, not individual layers. This one I left the layers on and touched up individual layers based on what I was trying to enhance.

Based on that I'd say the Mars-C is quite a capable camera. I see a lot of potential and I like that I was able to bring out a bit of detail on this one.

I ... had fun with this.

I'm curious - what are your thoughts on the photo?

[random pecan]

Oh wow

The difference in the bands in the core are beautiful, the one thing that I would change if I could mask it or anything is the rings

But it still isn’t bad at all

That edit is beautiful thank you!

I’m going to use an ir-cut next time I can get out so I will have sharper imaging

I just wanted to try ir pass

[white prawn]

You're welcome. Like I said, I had fun with it. And I look forward to seeing what you can do w/ the IR-cut. I have a UVIR filter myself. Don't be surprised if you wind up having to adjust RGB balance/align with that.

[livid sierra]

IR pass should actually yield sharper images most of the time. I almost always shoot Saturn in IR-RGB because it only rises up to 27° here

One capture in RGB with UV/IR Cut, the rest with the IR pass and then derotate

[random pecan]

Oooo thank you for that

Ir pass is sharper because its uninterrupted by the atmosphere right?

or atleast mostly

[livid sierra]

Yeah the longer wavelengths get less affected by the atmosphere

[random pecan]

That’s sick thank you

I’m hoping the clouds go away

[livid sierra]

Bad seeing lol

[random pecan]

I keep changing the focus on my telescope because I’m scared it’s out of focus a little

[random pecan]

I’m just scared I’ll miss out on a better focus

[white prawn]

I shouldn't share the story of my 3 hours out capturing 576 subs of the Orion nebula in -10F weather.

Honestly though my experience w/ planetary is that you really don't need to worry about focus. I may adjust now and again between a series of shots and probably wind up adjusting right back to where it was. Unless equipment shifted, in which case after I shift the equipment back, well see previous sentence.

[livid sierra]

Only so much you can do

I had trouble focusing tonight but my seeing was just so bad

It’s easier when seeing is good

[white prawn]

I can show you a single shot from a night with poor seeing, and a single shot from a night with good seeing. Difference is ... quite noticeable.

[random pecan]

Id like to see

[somber stratus]

Had a look at Windy.com, and i'm pretty convinced it's due to the relatively strong ~100m-1km winds coming off the continent.

You're a low country too so it'll be particularly bad to have continental winds

[livid sierra]

Sounds logical

[indigo oak]

That’s good seeing for me

[heavy mirage]

???

[cursive inlet]

[near quiver]

https://tenor.com/view/wither-storm-mine-craft-survival-game-play-scary-gif-16585388

[heavy mirage]

Lol

[ruby tartan]

@somber stratus People from Brazil are discovering your photos

[somber stratus]

Nice to hear

[cursive inlet]

https://tenor.com/view/crane-brazil-grab-poor-car-gif-17372636

[ruby tartan]

🤨

https://tenor.com/view/vini-neymar-paqueta-dance-brazil-brazil-football-goal-gif-25209715

[sharp ridge]

blend the seams together then you have a monster

[random pecan]

This makes me feel uneasy

[random pecan]

https://tenor.com/view/brazil-youre-going-to-brazil-your-going-to-brazil-ur-going-to-brazil-gif-17868304

[heavy mirage]

Then it would be

[cursive inlet]

Pepperoni pizza

[steep apex]

Post in solar system pics now

[cursive inlet]

I mean it technically isnt my image

[steep apex]

Yeah

[cursive inlet]

Alright yall ready for the worst post in #older_system_pics history?

[steep apex]

Probably should put credit for jerry or ask

[cursive inlet]

It is done

[steep apex]

I don’t know I have a feeling you should delete this before we get in trouble

[cursive inlet]

Nah ppl post shit there all the time

[heavy mirage]

Looks like the people approve

[steep apex]

I don’t like where this is going

[heavy mirage]

@sharp ridge approves

[cursive inlet]

Honestly this is really just the pinnacle of planetary astrophotography here in this discord

[heavy mirage]

I mean, you're not wrong

[heavy mirage]

First official photo of Vaturn

[random pecan]

What about Surcury?

[steep apex]

Should’ve put the rings as the eyebrows

[proud mulch]

Satus

[ruby tartan]

https://tenor.com/view/esqueleto-gif-24452082

[cursive inlet]

I mean technically its gonna actually look like that in 100 mil years or so after the rings deteriorate

[nova delta]

is he a time traveller????

[hasty hull]

nakey saturn

[proud mulch]

@ebon sage how do you feel about auroras being visible from cleveland?

[ebon sage]

What’s the latitude

[proud mulch]

cleveland is in ohio

41.4993° N, 81.6944° W to be exact

my grandparents live in a bortle 5 area near it

we are planning to go soon

[ebon sage]

Easily

[proud mulch]

huh

[ebon sage]

U will easily see it

[proud mulch]

yes

[sharp ridge]

Mars liveview

result (with ir as lum ofc)

[fading plume]

12,332 messages in this forum dang

[sharp ridge]

AND I FINALLY GOT A GOOD ISS PASS AHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[fading plume]

Send it now buddy

[sharp ridge]

ok

[livid sierra]

Handtracked?

[sharp ridge]

yeah

[livid sierra]

Impressive

[fading plume]

Nice

[sharp ridge]

quick stack of 15frames

@fading plume @livid sierra can ya explain what these parameters mean

[livid sierra]

Uhm

Yeah

Hang on

#570687129118703637 message

[sharp ridge]

alr thanks mate

[livid sierra]

#570687129118703637 message

Yw

[sharp ridge]

[onyx garnet]

Jesus christ that is good

[sharp ridge]

ugh the background, idk how did that even happen and how to solve it

whatever its pretty good alr

[clear pier]

is there a way to get those 2 very very faint moon in an image or are they way too dim

[proud mulch]

BRO I GOT ONE TOO LIKE 2 HRS BEFORE

[proud mulch]

color extraction

[clear pier]

hmm i see but the background looks terrible that's the thing

[livid sierra]

@clear pier masks in PS work

Or Gimp for that matter

[clear pier]

i have ps i might try that

also does this look cooked at all?

(this is an ss from registax not the actual full res i assume)

[livid sierra]

Looks ok

[clear pier]

ok nice thanks

i think i did much better here than my first attempt you can clearly see the cassini division here im happy!

and with a 6 inch dob i think i did pretty decent

[clear pier]

wow winjupos looks terrifying to use uhh...

[cursive inlet]

@topaz elk absolutely based

[steep apex]

How do you guys have good hand tracking

[topaz elk]

make sure ur gears r smooth

static friction is too op

[random pecan]

anyone wanna try to process this?

this is my current result i just want to see what someone more experienced at this could do

a little better

[random pecan]

Woah it’s so much sharper what did you use?

[cursive inlet]

Probably the same stuff as you

[random pecan]

registax?

[cursive inlet]

Registax, then levels and a little bit of sharpening adjustment in gimp

[random pecan]

I guess i was trying to push the first two wavelets too much

Ah gimp ill try it

[steep apex]

Can anyone beat this?

TW can you do it?

[hasty hull]

Doesn’t rise high enough for him

[heavy mirage]

Yeah, was about to say the same

About the location

[hasty hull]

Gets to only like 15deg for me in the northeast usa

[heavy mirage]

For me, the best it ever gets to is like 5-10 degrees max

[hasty hull]

Yikes

I think it’s super small as well

[sharp ridge]

It gets to 90 here hehehehe

[heavy mirage]

Bastard!!!

Jk

[hasty hull]

You should try it sometime for the memes

[sharp ridge]

Yes

I'm aiming for tiangong first

[hasty hull]

Nice

I get good passes sometimes

[steep apex]

I should do tiangong sometime

[somber stratus]

~equatorial orbit, impossible to see

Same is true of the chinese station being at 40deg inclination. It rises to 10 degrees altitude max for me

Only benefit of being up at 51°N, is I match the ISS's orbital inclination so I get a shit ton of passes.

[proud mulch]

Same but they happen in cycles tho :(

Every once in a while there isn’t a pass at night at all

Some days there’s 3 passes in a row

[somber stratus]

Yeah that's normal. I have that too.

[coarse aspen]

Did a shot of Saturn with my 130pds and DSLR, no barlow of course. caught any moons maybe?

looks like i def caught something

focus was not perfect

that was 10 seconds of exposure time

[topaz elk]

yeah multiple

[somber stratus]

All but one of them are moons

[proud mulch]

another moon

[somber stratus]

Enceladus

[coarse aspen]

Mm interesting

Are those difficult to capture?

[proud mulch]

Enceladus is magnitudes dimmer than Neptune

A little brighter than Phobos at opposition

[coarse aspen]

Interesting

Using a fast f/5 newt and long exposures really show a lot

[coarse aspen]

Wow, Titan is really bright you could focus on that

[proud mulch]

Because people are showing Saturn photos, which of these are moons? I’ll send date in a minute

This is a better photo

I live in eastern standard time (aka Ohio, Florida, and New York time)

Likely just 5

[random pecan]

All of those are moons I believe

Whoops I didn’t see toms message

[topaz elk]

damn did anyone get the Io coming out from behind Jupiter last night/this morning?

i was too sleepy and lazy to get up and capture

[proud mulch]

yes

[near quiver]

this is not an insult, but i dont understand how you color grade your images

they look so much different from everybody elses

[proud mulch]

i use paint.net

not photoshop

[near quiver]

ah

i would suggest trying gimp

[proud mulch]

i mean it doesnt look BAD does it

[near quiver]

No it’s fine

[topaz elk]

i would suggest using a reference image to color grade

jupiter isn't that dark brown

makes it a whole lot easier to know what ur final color should look like

[white prawn]

It looks in a way that causes me to ask what camera equip you're using and what you're stacking. For example, if you're stacking jpeg images you aren't going to bring out any detail because jpg images don't keep details. You're showing bands and I can detect a slight change at the top and bottom, but

You're showing bands and I can detect change in color in the top and bottom bands; the coloring on the other hand seems a bit different for being a true Jupiter color.

Overall, whatever you're using shows that there's a lot of potential, and I'm wondering what resolution the camera is, what's the pixel size, what can be done to sharpen and enhance.

[proud mulch]

here try processing the jupiter image

(io was saturated and warmed for effects)

[white prawn]

How did you get that? Is it a single shot or is it a stack that you saved as png?

[proud mulch]

and the other frame

[proud mulch]

stacked and sharpened already

[white prawn]

Hmm. Are you stacking jpg files or are you extracting frames from a movie to tif?

(Coming from someone who stacked jpg files and this looks ... familiar.)

[bleak rose]

is it physically possible to take a still image of Saturn's moon Titan, with a ground telescope

[white prawn]

I would imagine so, with a large enough aperture/magnification

Keep in mind that Titan is SMALL and far away, so don't expect detail, as much as being able to see a point of presence accompanying Saturn

[proud mulch]

stacking.MOV files

[proud mulch]

not even with good zoom should you expect anything

[white prawn]

Stacking .mov files? Do you mean that you're using PIPP to extract the frames, then stacking?

[proud mulch]

to make an AVI

[white prawn]

Pardon my confusion. When I take the mov file that I have, I take PIPP, extract the frames to tiff files, then stack the tiff files, save the stack as tif. Then I sharpen the tif and save as tif, do some post-process stuff in GIMP, and the PNG doesn't get done until after I'm done with GIMP. It seems like somewhere you're saving the stack as png, that might affect the ability to process. I found when I save as tif my images started coming out better.

[hasty hull]

It’s about 0.8” across, it can be resolved as a yellow disc with enough aperture. In most images it just appears as a point of light

[white prawn]

So ... like I said, no details.

Kind of like how my Venus images are coming out. 😑

[proud mulch]

i will do a test

[bleak rose]

I have a picture of titan, and it's "detailed"?

it looks like another planet ( i know its a moon)

[proud mulch]

send

[bleak rose]

alr hold up

its not really detailed

[proud mulch]

send anyways

[bleak rose]

I am

give me a second

I think the circle

in the center

is something with my camera

I don't know what that is

but

uh

[white prawn]

Well, it's not a speck of light, it's def yellow, but there aren't any "features" on it, so I would say "not detailed." That said, def a moon because it's absolutely a defined circle.

[bleak rose]

I just think its kinda detailed

because the moons usually just look like specks

[livid sierra]

What equipment was this taken with?

[bleak rose]

13 inch

newtonian truss telescope

reflector,,,

[white prawn]

https://tenor.com/view/ok-ill-allow-it-okay-alright-gif-15634749

[bleak rose]

the camera I used

[livid sierra]

Yeah you resolved the disk shape of the moon

[bleak rose]

was

disk?

[livid sierra]

No surface detail can be captured since the entire moon is covered in a thick atmosphere

[bleak rose]

oh

yeah

[livid sierra]

The 2d spherical shape of a planet or moon

Or sun

[white prawn]

"Resolved disk shape of the moon" = "I can see that it's definitely a moon and not just a speck."

[bleak rose]

o

I've just never taken pictures of solar system stuff 😭

[white prawn]

In other words, it's clearly a circle that represents a moon

[white prawn]

And you started off with Titan. Most people use Jupiter as a jumping point and hope they can do Titan later on. The fact that you resolved enough of it that it's clearly a moon and not just a speck is danged impressive, I can't do that yet.

[bleak rose]

it took me like

50 minutes...

I think

to get that 💀

[white prawn]

If I get a moon of Saturn it's because it was in the FOV when I was imaging the planet.

[bleak rose]

my telescope scares me sometimes

I don't even know how strong it is

and it keeps impressing me

[white prawn]

Eh, don't be afraid of it. Push it and see what you can do. Push yourself and see what you can do, too. A 13" scope is going to get some good detail when there is detail to be found. The next part of imaging is being able to extract the detail from the data.

Or is it highlight the detail within the data.

Dunno, I'm sure you see my point.

[bleak rose]

I've seen a speck of an exoplanet with it before..,

I got so scared of itk

for some reason

it was a black speck infront of Electra

star in pleiades

I only saw it after I zoomed in a lot on it

[white prawn]

You sure it was an exoplanet and not something on the lens? When I zoom in a lot I start seeing specks all over the place. Granted that's w/ my DSLR not my astro cam

[livid sierra]

I’m pretty sure that’s not possible

[bleak rose]

it was probably dust,

ngl

[bleak rose]

I mean it was just 1 speck

so

idk

[white prawn]

Was gonna say.

[bleak rose]

how could one get a picture like this one?

[proud mulch]

take a photo every day (with exact same camera setting preferrably) and merge them

[bleak rose]

but moon cycle

[white prawn]

If you take a photo every day w/ exact same camera setting and stack all the images then its like stacking all the images with one night. It'll average out.

My other answer is "heavily aggressive processing and mad processing skills"

[ruby tartan]

I also wanted to know not to do the same

The most detailed image of the moon

🤡

🥴

[bleak rose]

fr

I wanna do that

I feel like I can

[topaz elk]

whoever cooked this severely burnt it

[bleak rose]

💀

[topaz elk]

maybe like this

but im not that good at mineral moons either so

[ruby tartan]

https://www.astrobin.com/56onzy/?nc=collection&nce=2632

[ruby tartan]

Here's a good idea of ​​correct colors

[ruby tartan]

They are correct

[topaz elk]

yeah

just make sure not to overbake it

oversaturation hurts ppl eyes

[ruby tartan]

https://www.astrobin.com/full/0a4hja/B/?nc=collection&nce=2631

Like this

[topaz elk]

yeah u did it right

some ppl really up the saturation tho

[topaz elk]

do u know how they got the color to be soft like this tho

blending?

[ruby tartan]

Like this?

[ruby tartan]

Or this?

[topaz elk]

yeah

the one i sent

i think the color is with a dslr and detail is with telescope

is what im guessing

[somber stratus]

Only mineral moon shot i have

v wide

[ruby tartan]

I think he just saturated as much as he can

I tried

[ruby tartan]

This guy processed so bad I can't replicate

[topaz elk]

ya his looks nice outside but don't zoom in 💀

but it seems like his color is from dslr cuz some spots don't have color

he didn't blend all of it in or whatever

[somber stratus]

Painted it on

[coarse aspen]

might be oversaturated but i think the orange looks cool

[coarse aspen]

this just looks unnatural though

[topaz elk]

not according to Planet Custodian!!

[ruby tartan]

......

[topaz elk]

2nd on the bottom

why is that even there 💀

[ruby tartan]

bruh

200000

😱 😱 😱

[topaz elk]

with a dslr!!!!

[coarse aspen]

its called a video lmao

[ruby tartan]

I think mashable doesn't know

[topaz elk]

they way its written it implies 200k individual photos

[coarse aspen]

i know

[ruby tartan]

How can these images be so sensationalist

https://www.google.com/search?client=opera&q=most+detalied+moon+image&sourceid=opera&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8#vhid=F0GmqZxwDicivM&vssid=l

[topaz elk]

WHAT

[ruby tartan]

All news is the same

[coarse aspen]

Thats too cursed wtf

Interresting idea but its cursed

[steep apex]

Northern Band has expanded a lot

[astral zenith]

Do you consider this image to be good? I used a dslr

[steep apex]

Pretty decent if you zoom in

[topaz elk]

honestly dslr shouldn't matter

what matters if ur scope or lens u took it with

[astral zenith]

Ok

[white prawn]

I've taken some surprisingly good shots w/ my DSLR

[fading plume]

Use registax auto balance. Works pretty good most of the time.

[fading plume]

Yes it’s quite possible. Getting surface detail is hard but resolving it as a disc is moderately easy with a big scope. Getting it as a point of light is very easy.

[random pecan]

Why firecapture over sharpcap?

I use sharpcap

[clear pier]

hey out of curiosity why does my chromatic aberration look so much worse on the better focused image, these were raw frames taken a few weeks apart

[heavy mirage]

There is probably some aberration but that red/blue fringing is mostly atmospheric dispersion which affects can be pretty noticeable even at higher altitudes, there are a couple of ways to reduce it. The best way is to shoot LRGB in mono (each channel has a slightly different focus point), but cheaper alternative is using an atmospheric dispersion correct (ADC). Which essentially helps focus the red, green and blue light into a similar focus point

[clear pier]

hmm i see i see, yea the first saturn was at a much lower altitude, while the 2nd is at a much higher, i was just wondering why it changed so much

was the seeing just better that day?

[nova delta]

Cool comparison related to the topic. Obviously varies from phone to phone, dslr to dslr and Astro-cam to Astro-cam

[proud mulch]

Finally a comparison that doesn’t have the photos look like this

[random pecan]

so pretty much every frame of my videos of jupiter were like this is this normal?

[proud mulch]

I mean yes

Check if it’s in focus

Also if every frame looks like that, that seeing is … 😩

[fading plume]

Here’s my rough one. I know the phone image can get a lot better

But DSLR is pretty much all

[nova delta]

If you’re talking about the grey pattern, yes, you just need to debauer

[fading plume]

This is the closest I have to good phone image VS astrocam image.

Was also with my old “astrocam”. The SV105

[proud mulch]

SV105 🤢

[fading plume]

It worked

Was ok ish for guiding and planetary

[proud mulch]

Which one is sv105

[fading plume]

Considering the price idc

IMX290 with MJPG output

[proud mulch]

I mean which photo

[fading plume]

The better Jupiter

The daytime one was with my phone

[proud mulch]

Not bad for sv105

[fading plume]

I haven’t had better seeing than my SV105 image so I can’t test out my Uranus C properly. I should get better seeing at the end of the year.

[fading plume]

It’s fine if the object is bright enough to get detected.

It works

[proud mulch]

What equipment for each photo (and for the day one which phone)

[fading plume]

Both with 8” dob. Phone was with the 8 element Saxon 8mm eyepiece. SV105 image had my DIY 2x ish barlow.

Phone was iPhone 7. But they are all the same

Do yourself a favour and stop using a phone.

The extra 15-20 elements of glass isn’t exactly worth it.

[proud mulch]

I will when I upgrade to Uranus-c but I will say you undersold the power of the addictive screen

[hasty hull]

From November ‘21. Phone was workable but astrocam improved everything at least 10000x

This was last September, same scope and Barlow but using a proper camera

[livid sierra]

@hasty hull ngl your mobile pics are the best mobile pics I’ve ever seen

I’m not a fan of mobile planetary pics generally but yours look exceptionally good compared to others

[hasty hull]

Yo thanks man that means a lot

Wish I kept more of the raw video

[somber stratus]

😋 seeing
😋 compression

[proud mulch]

What camera

[hasty hull]

Mars-c

[proud mulch]

And scope?

[hasty hull]

Orion XT6

untracked 6” dob

[proud mulch]

Nice

[heavy mirage]

I think they're close to same, the second is just brighter making it more noticeable

[proud mulch]

very crispy

[proud mulch]

bro def got the S22ULTRA fr

[clear pier]

ah hmm i see, i had the exact same gain and exposure so im not sure why it’s brighter

[hasty hull]

Samsung Galaxy a10e

I have an iPhone now but that’s what I used then

[proud mulch]

get it back pls

that is gold for cameras

[hasty hull]

Think i got it for like $120 or smth at the time

Was a solid phone

[candid flare]

i had an s8

was pretty good

[hasty hull]

Nice

My screen totally shattered after falling a bit too hard

After surviving probably dozens of other falls

Rest in peace

[candid flare]

*pieces

[random pecan]

no not the pattern i know thats supposed to be there its just fuzzy looking

maybe its because its so low though

[proud mulch]

Yeah ima get the mars C

It’s half the fov but also half the res of Uranus C

[white prawn]

@proud mulch

Eh, just needs more data.

[proud mulch]

Why did you ping me? 💀

[white prawn]

Thought you might be interested in seeing what we did w/ the same data. Certainly didn't mean for it to be a bother.

[proud mulch]

It’s fine

[white prawn]

✅

[white prawn]

I don't like the curve lines on the right side of the planet in this image. Got those all night on that night. Was using 585 w/ UVIR cut filter. Those lines supposed to be there?

[clear pier]

think those are features right?

[proud mulch]

Why are all my mars images at that exact rotation 💀

[hasty hull]

https://skyinspector.co.uk/mars-edge-artefact/

[white prawn]

Not sure, looks kind of off.

[clear pier]

ah so it's not a feature

[white prawn]

Okay ... thank you.

Thing is in this case the edge rind appears only on images that I have the UVIR filter on. 😦 Lunar photos have come out fantastic.

Though the good news is that aside from the dark rind at the edge, it seems like the setup is capable of capturing some more details than the DSLR.

[random pecan]

i use the mars c and its great so far

managed to nab a few photos now

only a 6 inch sct too, im working on an image right now actually

some haze around it but for the most part its pretty

[steep apex]

Is it possible to stack the ISS untracked?

And when your tracking the ISS manually, it’s better for more fps right?

[proud mulch]

Yes

Just shoot a video over the whole pass, do the PIPP thing then stack

[proud mulch]

Yes

Got this 10 minutes ago so I know what I’m talking abt

[somber stratus]

Yeah usually if you hand track it’s around 10-50 frames.

[somber stratus]

The right side is detail with a touch of edge rind. The limb is always bloated upon sharpening. You’ve just got a dark albedo feature inside the limb so it looks extra contrasty.

Looks like it’s probably the albedo features near 30 longitude, east of Valles Marineris perhaps?

Would need to know the timestamp to be certain

[green pebble]

Not bad, here is my stack and process

[white prawn]

I would be ecstatic if those dark lines were supposed to be there b/c that would mean that the equip is capturing more data (as a $550 dedicated astro cam should and danged well better), but I'm skeptical because I didn't see it before the UVIR cut filter. That said, maybe the filter is letting me see things that I wasn't seeing w/o the filter.

Timestamp is 4/9/2023 at 20:39 EST

[white prawn]

Somebody went w/ a lighter processing set.

[green pebble]

I mean someone had to

[white prawn]

Yeah, I agree. Did you just tone down the red to make it look less like an orange and more like a planet?

[green pebble]

Yeah, I figured that it would look more natrual like that

[somber stratus]

Were you observing daylight saving at this time?

Assuming UTC-4:

Looks about right

[white prawn]

So if I say "Yes I was" then what I have is actually SOMEWHAT correct

[somber stratus]

Doesn't rotate much in 1 hour. It is the region i thought it was initially

Looks to be detail

[white prawn]

Any way you slice it ... it's actually a Mars feature, not a flaw in the equip

[somber stratus]

Yeah, or just the diffraction related edge-rind that willaf linked https://skyinspector.co.uk/mars-edge-artefact/

[lean hearth]

Is it weird to try and image Jupiter in mono

I don’t wanna use my dslr as it’s got a big sensor and I only use for like moon pics sometimes

[white prawn]

Seriously. 😑

Which I did bookmark that article. That said, since what I'm looking at seems to be internal to the planet disk and not light/washout like I would expect, is it safe to consider that it's a feature, rather than the edge-rind?

[somber stratus]

It's both, the very edge of the planet is bright which is the edge rind. The dark part just next to it is detail

[white prawn]

The rind seemed to be a bit subtle compared to what I'm used to seeing on the edge, for example when I'm having to correct for the rind on a lunar shot.

[white prawn]

It worked.

[white prawn]

I hope you don't mind checking, are we possibly looking at the same feature in this image? 4/13/2023 at 20:59. Ignore the color, I've got to reprocess anyway b/c apparently I checked something in AS!3 that snarled things.

[green pebble]

Nice

[white prawn]

Oh, that does look like a yes, the black line is a feature, not a bug. Just pretty well defined.

I need a bigger scope

[proud mulch]

i swear you dont have an SCT

i remember hearing a Dob

[white prawn]

Dob, SCT, what's the diff? (ducks)

[random pecan]

No I have an sct

Wish I had a 16 inch dob but whatever

[white prawn]

You can get a 16" GoTo dob for about $4500, so not too horrible. Talk about bang for buck on that

But if you don't have $4500 in your back pocket then it's just an exercise in wishful thinking

[proud mulch]

oh wait that was another guy

[green pebble]

[random pecan]

Yep

I’m gonna get a 10” dob if I can’t use my unis 16”

[somber stratus]

I saved up over a couple summers doing part-time work. Totally doable if you commit to it.

[white prawn]

You must not live in the US.

[somber stratus]

UK, across the pond.

[white prawn]

Ah, that's why you can save up. 🙂

[somber stratus]

🤔

[white prawn]

I was trying to be funny. Evidently it didn't work.

[thick heron]

The 400P is also about 20% more expensive in the US than UK so it’s a lower bar to clear over there.

[white prawn]

I was going for the "min wage is $7.25/hr" angle and that +20% really doesn't help.

[nova delta]

Not everyone earns minimum wage
Walmart pays like $17/hr 🙂

[random pecan]

College

I already work part time but that work is put to college money

And I have a girlfriend so I spend money on her

Walmart pays me 14 an hour

I’m currently pretty happy with the 6” sct I have though I think it imaged great

I mean I’m impressed at what I’ve gotten already even when seeing is not ideal

I mean this is below average seeing from it and I’m happy with that

Need to turn the brightness up a little though

The biggest next purchase is going to be an adc

[proud mulch]

I consider the ISS as a planet

[steep apex]

Do red filters help for manually tracking the ISS? Does it not streak the ISS in live feed like this

[livid sierra]

A filter does not make tracking better no

I’d say your exposure is just too long

[proud mulch]

Red filter make it so there are less overexposed pixels (at least for me)

Basically just use a manual camera mode and lower shutter speed to something low (I recommend one of 1/8000 of a second but it does underexpose it a bit)

[hasty hull]

aim for like .2 milliseconds or so

IR makes the solar arrays brighter

[ruby tartan]

@somber stratus IOTD

[sharp ridge]

[near quiver]

bro is collection iotd wins like a boyscout getting badges

[steep apex]

What is IOTD

[ruby tartan]

Image of the day

[ruby tartan]

Jupi by hubble

Processed by me

[proud mulch]

Why Ganymede got the reverse Mimas treatment

[proud mulch]

What does the raw data look like too?

[sharp ridge]

i also did a process

[proud mulch]

There’s a pixel error above Ganymede

[ruby tartan]

Nice

[ruby tartan]

Mimas?

[proud mulch]

The big crater

Ganymede has a massive “pimple” looking thingy

[ruby tartan]

Ah, that bump? It already came like this in the raw files

[proud mulch]

Never thought a quick run through sharpness would actually work

[ruby tartan]

Even in Ken's processing it is visible

[proud mulch]

Way better

[fossil schooner]

is there any way to see the live view of a giant space telescope like jwst or hubble? i feel like it would be really interesting to see raw video from a telescope that good

[hasty hull]

I don’t think it works that way

Pretty sure even for planets the exposures are longer than what we use

[white prawn]

That barely needs any sharpening.

So how does one get raw data from Hubble/JWST?

[sharp ridge]

Download from mast or opal proposals

[sharp ridge]

Think that is a hot pixel in red channel

[sharp ridge]

Osiris crater

[ruby tartan]

https://tenor.com/view/esqueleto-gif-24452082

I think it's not collimated

[hasty hull]

Yikes

rip

[random pecan]

rip

[bleak rose]

This is my first Titan picture (dumb mirror fog)

With 13 inch newtonian truss

[hasty hull]

What cam

And FL

[river hornet]

Are there any good tutorials on planetary processing? Ive only ever got to a stack out of as3

[white prawn]

Maybe this?

http://planetaryimagingtutorials.com/processing/

[bleak rose]

I honestly forgot,

and the camera i used

is

ZWO ASI294MC Pro Color Astronomy Camera

that thing

[hasty hull]

Did you use a Barlow

[bleak rose]

You can't use a lense with a camera...

Unless you can

[hasty hull]

yes you can

[bleak rose]

Uh

The camera uses your telescope as a lens

Unless you have the T-shape adapter on a dslr camera

Which I dont

[hasty hull]

? You can still have an imaging train

Most good planetary setups have an astrocam, barlow, adc etc

[random pecan]

Pretty much always use a Barlow

For planetary atleast

Unless if your native fl is 4000mm use a Barlow

Mine is 1500mm so it’s actually ~3000mm fl because that’s a 2x Barlow

[bleak rose]

I think I need a biologist for that one

[ruby tartan]

PO now has CH4 and UVenus!!!

UV

CH4

[sharp ridge]

👀

[uncut glade]

YOOOO

[fading plume]

https://tenor.com/view/buy-buy-now-buy-it-now-gif-25006426

[random pecan]

bro i saw this i need the ch4

[somber stratus]

Both aren't great tbh

8nm is too tight. Same as the Baader 8nm. Image is wayyy to dark. I have the 20nm ZWO and that's bad enough.

And UV is too short of a cut-off wavelength. Too deep into the UV. Transmission, seeing and Earth's atmosphere's transparency becomes an issue.

[onyx garnet]

I do need a filter for venus

problem is google tells me like 83219321 filters that I can use to get more detail out of venus
am now confused

[white prawn]

I've been told to use IR Pass for Venus. Honestly I took shots of Venus with my DSLR and no filter that have come out better than shots taken with my ASI585 and UVIR cut filter, and I'm going to see if I have any that were done w/ ASI585 and no filter. Take that for what you will.

[onyx garnet]

ok cool

[onyx garnet]

I have my ir pass 685nm

[somber stratus]

Wratten #47 purple filter + UV/IR cut, or go for a Baader Bessel-U.

[white prawn]

Not sure what wavelength the IR Pass would need to be, all I was told was "IR Pass filter

[somber stratus]

Or Johnson-U

same thing

That's for UV

then IR anything really works

[lean hearth]

Hi

[somber stratus]

610, 685,742,807,850,CH4

[white prawn]

@somber stratus I'm imaging w/ UVIR cut right now, and all my images are pretty heavy on blue. I've had to go in and adjust blue levels in a couple of images. Any thoughts on what's causing it? Do I need to learn to deal?

[somber stratus]

What camera

[white prawn]

ASI585

[somber stratus]

It's more likely to be incorrect RGB gain settings in Firecapture/Sharpcap then

or ASICap, whichever you use

[white prawn]

Using SharpCap.

[somber stratus]

There will be a White balance setting somewhere

on the right side, next to exposure/gain

[white prawn]

Hm. Sounds familiar. I'll have to check that then.

[somber stratus]

It won't be damaging your data though so don't worry about that. Just a case of colour correction in post processing

[white prawn]

That's pretty much what I've been doing. Most of the time I can handle using hue/saturation toggles. Every now and again I have to get into levels and drag the blue setting around.

[somber stratus]

Registax & Astrosurface both have individual R,G,B gain sliders, these are much better than hue/saturation and temperature controls

[white prawn]

This is a redone Mars from 4/13. Found out the black line following the edge is actually a feature. And maybe I got lucky enough to grab a hint of a polar ice cap at the top. And I absolutely adjusted the RGB in Registax.

[livid sierra]

That black inner circle on the right side seems more like an edge rind related thing than detail to me

Part of it is detail

[somber stratus]

agree

[white prawn]

Confirmed w/ map and help of someone here that it is part of a feature around Valles Marinas, there's a dark area area that goes around the planet that was facing at the time of photo.

I won't claim perfection. Working w/ 8" scope, new cam, still learning processing, so I won't deny that there's some edge rind involved. But it's not all edge rind.

[somber stratus]

About the colour i'd go for. Your blue channel is very weak though, might have been a poorly set value in Sharpcap, i'm unsure.

[white prawn]

I actually removed some blue. Want the original?

[somber stratus]

Sure

[somber stratus]

That was me. I agree though, it's part detail, part edge rind.

[livid sierra]

Mars is only like 4” currently so you shouldn’t expect much

[livid sierra]

Yeah

It’s detail but the circle is covering the detail

[white prawn]

Thought so, and thank you for the help

[white prawn]

Here's the unprocessed stack

[white prawn]

Wouldn't the dark be the detail and the bright to the right be rind? That's what I was thinking? Or maybe because it's close to the edge the rind is causing the detail to darken because I don't have a bigger scope so I'm limited to what detail I can get even w/ a better cam?

[somber stratus]

about the colour

[livid sierra]

These lines are related to edge rind I’d say. Not exactly the outer bright edge rind you’d normally see. Maybe this has a different name but they are definitely related to some kind of optical thing

[somber stratus]

this was R = 1.04, G = 0.98, B = 2.76

[white prawn]

"Not the best seeing and Mars is really far away right now."

[livid sierra]

Yeah, that’s what I said it’s like 4” rn

[white prawn]

Gonna admit I rely heavily on Registax auto balance for color, works beautifully for my Jupiter photos but it really struggles with Mars. I've seen it turn Mars BRIGHT BLUE or Green so I use manual settings for a different night w/ Jupiter, seemed to work.

I have NO idea whatsoever how to figure out values that work like what you just gave and it seems to look a bit better with those.

[sharp ridge]

yeah autocolor on mars never works well

[somber stratus]

Even Jupiter is very slightly blue when you saturate it

I mean it works ok, it's not terrible for Jup

[white prawn]

Based on what I've seen on my images, I think Jupiter is the only planet that auto balance really works well and close to as intended. Saturn winds up being gray-blue, and Mars just ... doesn't.

And for me, like I said, I don't know how to fix colors like what you just did

[somber stratus]

Don't worry, this is normal, it's not just you.

[white prawn]

Is there any software that fixes balance correctly or am I going to have to make note of your values for Mars and figure out the other planets to manually adjust?

[sharp ridge]

i say autobalance in astrosurface is far better as you can use a specific area eg rings of saturn n mars polar cap

[white prawn]

Fair - and where is this auto balance in AstroSurface? I could never find it

[sharp ridge]

w-balance

[random pecan]

Can you recommend some?

[somber stratus]

#1019937457095065731 message

[white prawn]

I don't see it?

[random pecan]

Ah thank you I didn’t scroll down

[white prawn]

OF COURSE in front of my face, thank you

[somber stratus]

hehe

[white prawn]

Ehhhhh. I mean, it's not blue as all get out but

[eternal solstice]

Yo people

[green pebble]

Yah?

[eternal solstice]

If there are any Dutch people here

You have your own channel now

[green pebble]

Croatian here🇭🇷

[eternal solstice]

#1131320450480361532

This

But okay

I’ll head out

[green pebble]

Aight

[eternal solstice]

Man I love the planet mars

Anybody got a really I mean really good picture of mars

[green pebble]

I named my dog Mars

[eternal solstice]

I mean the planet, but seems like you are trying to say you also like the planet mars

I mean

[green pebble]

Its my fav planet too, thats ehy i named him Mars

[eternal solstice]

Look at this, it even has CLOUDS!!!

[eternal solstice]

Yes!!

[green pebble]

Its so beautyfull, sadly i didn't have my scope when it was at opposition😭

[eternal solstice]

oeuf,

but yea

i think i am going to focus more on planetary, idk, i want to also photograph nebulau,

nebulae

but planetary is easier and less expensive,

is there someone who can tell me what a descent setup can cost?

[green pebble]

Not so sure

[eternal solstice]

probably someone will see my comment and help, hopefully

[onyx garnet]

I'll take a look

[white prawn]

You're funny.

[white prawn]

Don't let this dissuade you from taking up the hobby. Let it be ONE individual perspective and maybe an insight to set your expectations about cost and ease.

My planetary setup started with a $700 8" Newt, the 2x Barlow it included, and a DSLR. Since then I've spent about $200 investing in better Barlow lenses - a 3x for $50 and a 5x for $150. Nothing wrong with the scope. Recently invested about $450 in a dedicated astro cam. Should invest about $2500 in a decent GoTo EQ mount, likely EQ6-R. So already have invested over $1300 in JUST PLANETARY, should invest another about $1500. Oh! I forgot the filters! $20 for a UVIR cut filter, which is likely the very basic of filters you'll need. To help mitigate the effects of atmosphere, you may want to get an Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector; that will run another $130. All told you're looking at about $4000 for decent planetary equip ... if you already have a laptop. Add another $500 for a decent laptop.

So if you're wondering why I said "you're funny." in response to "planetary is easier and less expensive" - this is why.

And I haven't even gotten into the struggles I've had with processing. I mean, data capture, well, if there is a way to "cheat" for data capture in the AP world, planetary absolutely has it knocked. Take a video recording of your target for a few minutes and you can get a fantastic image. After you extract the frames from the image and stack them, the easy part is done. Next you have to sharpen/denoise, correct color, get rid of stray bits ... and there are always stray bits, compensate for heavy colors on the camera, and so on.

Again ... just consider, when you say "less expensive and easy," I had to laugh. I waited MONTHS to get the dedicated astro cam because that's how long it took for funds to be available. And for me, if I can't pull it out of my back pocket without thinking about it, it's expensive.

[white prawn]

I feel like mine is more purple?

[white prawn]

Or I could just sharpen a bit more ...

[random pecan]

So far my setup has costed me ~800 usd

[random pecan]

i mean thats my current image im editing if thats anything to go off of

i can get better but i havent had any excellent seeing nights since i started planetary

[white prawn]

"Good enough" on enough things and you can get some great output.

[random pecan]

True

[eternal solstice]

Oh okay!! Thank you for telling me and educating me!

[eternal solstice]

And I did not try to be mean by saying “less expensive” or easy. I just though that but I was wrong

I am interested in getting a planetary gear

Since it really interest me

[eternal solstice]

and what how much does the viewing experience equate to the actual image

[uncut glade]

Might've gotten the Europa shadow transit

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/769335397657477131/830685955899654204/783942787908894760.gif

[green pebble]

Bro thats sick!

[white prawn]

That's really an apples/oranges question. With a decent setup you can see the rings on Saturn, bands on Jupiter, and it's an amazing thing to see. Take the same setup with the right equip, there's definitely a feeling of accomplishment to get your first stack sharpened and see the details come out then color ... that, too, is amazing and in a different way. Looking at it through the eyepiece with your own eye brings you a certain kind of awe about things that isn't the same as when you successfully process an image.

Oh and the view in the eyepiece is never exactly the same as the view in the image.

[eternal solstice]

yea that makes sense

but you'll definetly need a goto mount just for tracking or not

or you could buy a motor

its not like planets are invisible

(not considering neptune and uranus)

[white prawn]

My setup is completely manual. No GoTo/motor.

And this is what I've been able to do

[eternal solstice]

HOLY REALLY

those images are class man!!

[white prawn]

Thanks! Jupiter and Saturn were done on a DSLR. Mars was with an ASI585.

All were tracked manually; I let the planet move across the screen and I adjusted when it got close to the edge.

[eternal solstice]

and these where caught with the 8 inch newt right?

[white prawn]

Correct. The big Jupiter and Saturn were taken through 2 - 2x Barlows (I stacked them, fun fun), the smaller Jupiter was taken through a 3x, and the Mars was taken through a 3x Barlow

[white prawn]

I consider the 8" Newt to be great. The mount is "good enough" for what I'm doing with it, and the DSLR is also "good enough". That's why I said you can get some really good/great images with "good enough" equipment. It'll be a challenge to image Uranus/Neptune with that as it is. Technically can be done, I have to be really good at spotting unless/until I get a GoTo

[eternal solstice]

ah alright, one more question, i have heard that a baralow does decrease the image quality a bit of the telescope, is that true?

[safe compass]

only if it exeeds the limit afaik

[white prawn]

That has not been my experience TBH. There are a couple of things to consider. One, if as @safe compass stated, it exceeds the potential limit of the scope. Limit is considered to be 2x (aperture diameter in mm). So my 8" scope is 200mm aperture, max mag is about 400x. If I try and magnify something to 500x it won't look so good. Other factors can come into play, such as atmospheric seeing (how foggy/turbulent is it).

The other thing is quality of the Barlow lens itself. Don't get cheap plastic built stuff w/ plastic lenses. All of my Barlow lenses are multi-element, multi-coated. I paid $50 for the 3x and $150 for the 5x

[eternal solstice]

ah alright, i remember that with a barlow lens that came with my telescope the image(by image i mean what i saw) was just sh tty

this is a photo i maneged to grab with the telisope

telescope

[white prawn]

It's really hard to get a single image to come out well; even on the best night you won't get as much detail in single image as you can by taking a video, extracting the frames, and stacking.

That said I can definitely tell it's Saturn

[eternal solstice]

That was the mane objective haha, my phone was just being real trippy and filled the gab between Saturn and its rings. This was also made like a year ago.

Maneged to get this single frame

[white prawn]

I want to experiment more w/ phone AP. I can do pretty well w/ single images, but getting a video to collect data on the phone is a challenge.

[eternal solstice]

@proud mulch this guy is a beast with his phone

he can tell you some tips he uses

like

wow

[white prawn]

The challenge I have is not being able to set the gain/ISO on the phone like I can w/ my DSLR or astro cam

[proud mulch]

Basically what to do

Shoot multiple videos

You only need around 20 seconds to make a good image tbh (with good seeing of course)

And if if you get lucky, you can stack multiple