Planetary Imaging

[wispy pagoda]

I've seen some people make completely crazy systems with carefully designed airflow directed by pipes and all just for this which is quite surprising lol

[thin aspen]

Over engineered lmao

[wispy pagoda]

Ye

Maybe for huuuge mirrors but otherwise I don't see the point

[cloud copper]

What is better as a plixel size for planetary imaging: 2.9um or 2um?

[umbral kestrel]

progress people progress

[dark cargo]

same equipment?

[umbral kestrel]

It’s slowly evolved over time

The 2023 one was a different scope

They all used the same dslr. Up until 7/30/2024

Wich is when I changed to a planatary camera

[umbral kestrel]

Other then 2023 they all use the same scope tho

[thin aspen]

I think it depends on your fl

I imagine smaller pixels are better as you would need a smaller fl to be properly sampled? Don’t quote me on it tho.

[wispy pagoda]

Really depends on your focal ratio. Pixel size isn't actually import by itself, you need proper sampling which take into account both pixel size and focal length

You can change your barlow's power anyways so I would focus more on the other caracteristics of the camera (read noise, sensitivity, ddr3 buffer?/speed)

[coarse aspen]

Lucky image

[umbral kestrel]

Finally

A not crap photo of Jupiter !

[deep island]

Saturn from 19/08
114/900mm newtonian + sv905c with Celestron omni 2x

[thin aspen]

That’s crazy with that aperture

[dark cargo]

Can even see cassini's division which is pretty impressive due to the current tilt of the rings.

[long rune]

Saturn with Titan on August 17

From my 8 inch dob with my phone to the eyepiece. Didn't use my dedicated cam cause lazy.
I challenged myself to capture Titan passing in front of Saturn this night, and I accomplished it.

[wary siren]

What do you guys think of the playerone Mars-C II for planetary?

Been looking for an upgrade from my zwo asi120mc-s

I like the smaller pixel size and lower read noise

Smaller pixel size so I can use a 2x Barlow and get the same or better resolution as my asi120mc-s with a 3x Barlow

[shell epoch]

I'd just save up for the uranus c. It's cooled (without the optional cooling unit) and it'll last you longer as your main

[wary siren]

does it really help noise that much?

[shell epoch]

It depends on the ambient temperature

But it also has a higher resolution than the Mars c II

And the sensor is double the size so better for dso if you're looking into that

[wary siren]

nah mostly planertary, id be doing stuff mostly in NYC so deep sky is kinda limited lol

[shell epoch]

Ah

[wary siren]

I might DIY a motorized mount for my small 70mm celestron refractor scope to try some stuff though, would I physically be able to do that with a mars c ii?

the uranus c is out of my budget unfortunetly

[shell epoch]

Yea, the Mars c can take long exposures

[wary siren]

ok

I was also looking at the neptune C II?

its more zoomed out with the same pixel size which is nice, I usually have the problem of being too zoomed in on my orion xt8

[shell epoch]

Yea that one's better

[wary siren]

yea its on a pretty good sale now at $200

I'll probably go for that one then

[hasty hull]

I have the Neptune-c ii, i hand track ~6200mm at the moment and it’s pretty difficult but doable once you get used to it. I am starting to build an equatorial platform though which will make life 100000% easier if I do it right

[shell epoch]

I cannot fathom how you all hand track images

But it's probably because I don't have the knobs on my slow motion controls

[hasty hull]

No pain no gain

Slow motion controls sound really nice, wish dobs had that sorta thing

[wary siren]

I hand track at 3600mm on my asi120mc-s so I have experience with that lol

[white prawn]

They do. How steady are your hands.

[cunning lily]

Saturn 450mm focal legnth no barlow

😔

It's so small in my fov I almost mistook the picture for a dark frame

Because most of its black and it's just this tiny little thing

My fov

[umbral kestrel]

neptune

[exotic lynx]

Io and its shadow transiting Jupiter! Best 20% of 20k frames, stacked and processed using Astrosurface and PS.

[cloud copper]

Is my scope collimated?

Idk if it’s out of collimation or the secondary just has an offset

[hasty hull]

Looks about right to me

[wispy pagoda]

Looks about right except maybe for a slight offset of secondary relative to the focuser maybe? Nothing major really

To precisely collimate the primary, star test is necessary in my experience tho

[cloud copper]

How do I do that

[slate juniper]

Point at a star and unfocus the scope so u can see the pattern

Star needs to be in the middle

[low tendon]

y didnt u ping me? (that message was sent like 3 months before i joined the server)

[cloud copper]

1 or 2?

[olive saddle]

this one isn't as bright as the other, so the colors look more pronounced, and the Cassini division is subtly more visible in this one too I think

just my personal opinion though

you go with what you think looks best!

[rugged knoll]

imo rings are better in 2nd but saturn is better in 1st

[sharp ridge]

@low tendon

[ruby tartan]

Thats old

[somber stratus]

The OG crew

[cloud copper]

why does my fire capture look wrong

how do I get that nice look if you know what I mean

[livid sierra]

I don’t

Also you should turn off gamma

[thin aspen]

3600 gain

[heavy mirage]

Apart from turning off gamma, the autoalign, cropping, and auto re-centering features are very useful

Also. What camera are you using, is it really only 300x300?

[livid sierra]

Looks like dummycam

[cloud copper]

It’s the dummy cam, not my settings

I reinstalled the software and wanted to configure it

[long rune]

now that's awesome

im gonna try that with Saturn tomorrow night and my 8 inch dob

[low tendon]

GIVE THIS MAN NERD

[limber reef]

Fr

[somber isle]

That's what I am saying brk

He is pumping out some insane images

[woven tundra]

agree

he's so underrated

[umbral kestrel]

bro i started planatary like last month I ain’t that good😭

[somber isle]

It's still really good bro

[white prawn]

Eh, I disagree. Those are not bad shots in the least. And I think your OTA is better collimated than mine was when I started planetary with my 8" and DSLR.

[umbral kestrel]

I just use a diy eyepiece to collimate

[white prawn]

Don't need anything fancy. Just a collimation eyepiece/ cheshire cap. Look through the little hole and make sure that you've got a good donut, boom.

[carmine void]

Is saturn at opposition today?

[umbral kestrel]

yeah

im gonna be imaging it

[carmine void]

Untracked?

[umbral kestrel]

yeah

[carmine void]

What’s ur setup

[umbral kestrel]

8" dobsonion asi120mc-s

2x barlow

[carmine void]

Nice

[carmine void]

If I collect a 3min+ video on Saturn untracked do I need to derotate?

[umbral kestrel]

probs

[livid sierra]

For 3 min no

[carmine void]

At how much data should you do it then?

[cloud copper]

60s I’d say

[livid sierra]

Derotating comes in play when you’re integrating multiple videos of say 2 minutes

You create stacks of every video and then take the stacks through WinJupos to create a derotated stack

[cloud copper]

Ohhhh, my bad, I thought he was talking about how long a single capture should be

[carmine void]

Oh I wish my single capture could be that long lol

[umbral kestrel]

i get like 3 minuts per vid

[carmine void]

I get like 10-20sec and it goes out of frame and I have to pause and recenter

[hasty hull]

I get like 7 seconds, but I get like 10k frames per single capture

Takes a few minutes

[carmine void]

Iirc my camera isn’t very fast with the fps

Should I decrease my ROI to get better fps?

[livid sierra]

If you can, yes

[hasty hull]

What camera do you use?

[carmine void]

Touptek imx290

I don’t remember the model name off the top of my head

[hasty hull]

Ah yeah looks like a usb 2 camera

You have my condolences

Small roi will boost fps but being untracked makes that not super helpful

Maybe you could enable the roi as it passes through and then disable to re center? Idk

[carmine void]

How bad is that?

[hasty hull]

I used one for a bit, had a 23fps cap at max resolution

I assume yours is similar

[carmine void]

Probably around that yea

Are the better cams like usb 3 or something?

[hasty hull]

Yeah wayyy faster

Definitely worth the investment if you have the extra money

My Neptune-c ii can do about 90 fps at max resolution

[carmine void]

How much was it?

[hasty hull]

I think I paid like 200 bucks for it? Was on sale

[carmine void]

I’ve thought about a new camera but I’m worried I won’t reach focus or something, cuz my current cam is like sitting really far out

And that’s with an extendor

[hasty hull]

What scope do you use?

[carmine void]

Heritage 130p it’s a helical focuser

[hasty hull]

Ah yeah the sale is still going looks like https://player-one-astronomy.com/product/neptune-c-ii-usb3-0-color-camera-imx464/

[hasty hull]

I would assume it’s similar but I’m not sure what to check

Also I would make sure your laptop has usb-3 support before buying anything

[carmine void]

Is that cam good for dso aswell?

[hasty hull]

Well you could get some of the brighter ones and small planetary nebulae

You’re still untracked after all

[carmine void]

I don’t see any blue in my ports

[hasty hull]

Aw mann

[carmine void]

Big rip

[hasty hull]

I think you can buy adapters

Not sure though but worth doing research

[white prawn]

For making an existing USB2 to USB3? I don't think you can force the port to move faster than its design. That trail goes all the way to the CPU

Unless you're talking adapter for USB-C to USB-A

[hasty hull]

Yeah you right idk what I was thinking here

[carmine void]

Man why tf is reaching focus with the Barlow so hard

[somber stratus]

Was bored and put together all I have experienced regarding seeing conditions and how to best 'predict' when they might be good. Just a draft so might have mistakes.

[cloud copper]

Tom, I love you for this piece of info, it helped a ton

[wispy pagoda]

Thank you so much for this!

[thin aspen]

Never thought I would get a geography lesson 10 at night. Very interesting stuff that all makes sense now. Tysm.

[somber stratus]

More like a meteorology lesson tbh but np

[thin aspen]

True true that’s the better word mb

Is the core of the jetstream the central part of the “stream”?

Also never knew how detrimental wind is.

[somber stratus]

yeah, the highest wind speeds

[thin aspen]

I also suppose the more east u are on the uk with a Westerly wind the worst the seeing cause of terrain messing with the wind direction in the lower atmosphere?

[somber stratus]

Sure, western coasts (i.e where the laminar flow arrives first) will have better seeing, ignoring other factors.

But the UK is quite flat in places, so there are still some areas (namely the SE near Dover) that might be mostly unaffected by a straight westerly.

But yeah, you're right.

[somber stratus]

One of the reasons Barbados has such good seeing is due to the trade winds in the lower atmosphere. The eastern coast of the island permanently experiences a laminar flow from the ocean.

[umbral kestrel]

So basicly I’m screwed

I’ve on the east cost. Directly where that jet stream blasts

24/7

[thin aspen]

I think where the jet stream core is the better due to faster winds?

[thin aspen]

And Australia has a ton of desert in the middle so maybe that doesn’t affect the wind direction as much?

[thin aspen]

Also, with the Windy (very useful and interesting website thanks) Soundings graph, if there are fast wind speeds at altitudes where the temperature gradient is close to vertical, would that not degrade the seeing as the mixing off air will all be the same temp?

like here for instance

[somber stratus]

To an extent, but you’ve also got some wind shear from 5-9km

[cloud copper]

Zwo 585mc or Zwo 678mc for planetary imaging and also for some deep sky imaging

I have a 12” Dobson with a 2.5x barlow

The 585mc has 2.9um pixels

The 678 has 2um pixels

[limber reef]

Nice

[carmine void]

why is there this pattern in on the moon when i zoom in lots

[thin aspen]

Debayer? Idk

[umbral kestrel]

Looks lay debayer

[carmine void]

Do I need to do something in pipp for it?

[umbral kestrel]

yes

[somber stratus]

Saturn pre-opposition

mixture of RGB and (IR)RGB so I just desaturated them

[hasty hull]

Clean

[white prawn]

I need me a 16"

[carmine void]

whats a really good budget planetary cam?

i currently have a touptek imx290 and im thinking about an upgrade

[somber stratus]

P1 Neptune 664 probably

https://player-one-astronomy.com/product/neptune-664c-usb3-0-color-camera/

[carmine void]

i dont have a usb 3 port on my laptop, is that fine?

[dark cargo]

If you use a small enough ROI you should still have enough bandwidth for higher framerate.
Eg LMC could get 132fps with a 680x480 roi on a similar cam using a usb2 port: #🤓-ask-a-nerd message

[carmine void]

ah ok so at least it would work well enough

there is no way to convert a usb 2 to 3 right?

[hasty hull]

Untracked roi is cursed

[carmine void]

I'll be tracked soon

[dark cargo]

Firecapture has a feature to move the ROI with the planet that should make untracked easier, if you get stuck with it for some reason.
https://skyinspector.co.uk/firecapture-features-explainer/#ROI_Position4

If you have some thunderbold port you could get usb 3(but I have no idea what laptop would only have usb 2 and thunderbolt).
There might be some wacky way to get a PCIE port from a wifi adaptor then plug a usb 3 expansion board into it, but it depends on your laptop and how much tinkering you want to do.

[carmine void]

my laptop isnt even that old but unfortunately it doesn't have usb 3 but has a usb c port

[dark cargo]

that should be usb 3 at least?
What model?

[carmine void]

hp envy 14 eb1003nx

oh hold on, does a ss and lighting bolt mean its a usb 3.0?

[dark cargo]

all your ports are USB 3 or better, https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/product-specs/hp-envy-laptop-pc-14-eb1000/model/2100800519?sku=5B9R6EA
USB has a very VERY confusing and duplicate naming scheme SuperSpeed is USB3.

[carmine void]

oh great lol

im so used to desktops that i thought if it wasnt blue it wasnt usb 3

[hasty hull]

Does this boost fps? From what I understand it just records the box but keeps the full frame size. Immensely helpful for lowering file size but in my experience it maintained my camera’s max resolution fps

Oh wait you aren’t talking about the cutout feature oops

[thick heron]

It has the frame rate of whatever ROI you are using.

I make the ROI as big as possible without compromising frame rate and use cutout to limit file size.

[hasty hull]

@glad nexus you get the zenith iss pass tonight?

[heavy mirage]

Saturn's ring spokes and moons timelapse

[tiny topaz]

When recording Jupiter should I have my gain or exposure higher or do I have the right brightness in the video?

[heavy mirage]

Go off the histogram (I personally like to shoot at 60-70% histogram), but also do not overexpose/underexpose. This will take some attempts to work out but typically you want to have a minmal exposure (maybe 10-15ms for Jupiter) and then work the gain out from there to get your histogram at the needed level)

[carmine void]

Does that go for Saturn aswell? The 10-15ms bit

[heavy mirage]

Yes, but this is all very heavily dependent on focal length and seeing as well

And aperture for that matter

If you have perfect seeing you may be able to go up to 20ms even, but I think 15ms is good enough for Saturn in my case

[carmine void]

If I’m imaging the moon is there an amount of frames I should go for or just shoot a 10 ish min video?

[thin aspen]

i think if you are doing full disk 1000 frames should be enough as brightness is high

[carmine void]

Alright 👍

[wispy pagoda]

Terrible seeing from last night, tonight might be better

(ganymede is at the bottom)

[kind orchid]

Hey guys, this month marks my first year with Astro. Mostly DSO, lunar, and solar. However I’d like to try some planetary tonight with clear sky’s. Any tips? I can use my skywatcher 150 mak, 2x and 4x televue Powermates, and Uranus C.

[wispy pagoda]

First of all don't underestimate the importance of cooling, let the scope outside some time before imaging. Collimate using an eyecap then check the collimation with a star test (highest mag possible, defocus a TINY bit and watch for the circles that appear. They should be concentric, if they're not it's quite easy to collimate, just adjust the primary so that the star moves in the direction where there's an offset (might be one way or another, just try it out). If you're lucky (but it's probably not likely with a 6") you might see the airy rings when you focus, it's a good guide for perfect collimation altho you can have really good results without using it. I don't think the 4x barlow is adapter for your mak, 2x will give you a more appropriate sampling
For the exposure I'm usually at 10 ms for jupiter and 20ms for saturn but that depends on the seeing (perfect seeing=longer exposure), just dont go too low otherwise it will get quite noisy. Set the gain quite high while still letting a good marging before clipping

I'm not an expert but this should help a bit!

[kind orchid]

Thanks! I do leave the scopes in the garage outside so that should be good. My only worry is actually finding Jupiter. The go-to is always a bit off using NINA

[wispy pagoda]

I'm not a goto user so can't help with that 😆

[kind orchid]

How do you find it by hand? I’d get so frustrated lol

[wispy pagoda]

I get frustrated that's pretty much it lol

[kind orchid]

lol

[wispy pagoda]

AT least it's better than when I was untracked

Ultimate pain

[kind orchid]

Maybe I’ll put the 350mm scope on first to make sure I’m in view and then switch the scope on the mount

That’s what I’ve been doing for lunar

[carmine void]

I feel that

It’s even more painful from b8

[kind orchid]

I feel that. I’m in nyc.

[hasty hull]

I typically start with a wide view eyepiece to find it, then slap a barlow on, center it there, and then pop the camera in.

[left spindle]

Guys I am at b4 now

Wohoo

[olive saddle]

epic

[left spindle]

But I don't have my equipment

[olive saddle]

not epic

[left spindle]

🥲

It truly is a sight to see

77 acers of forest

[glad nexus]

Just saw this I was at work ☹️

[kind orchid]

Zenithstar 61 and 4x Powermate

[short granite]

Local astronomy club in the city had a big open Moon Party. A kind man let me stick my camera into his 10inch dob. This is the raw image.

I kinda wanna buy a large dob now, even though I know it would be a pain to transport. Maybe in some years.

[carmine void]

Nice, what’s the camera?

[normal forge]

Well, how about a Truss / Flex tube?

[short granite]

Yeah that could work. I would have to modify it a little bit to do solar tho.

[normal forge]

Yeah... or get a dedicated solar scope from Lunt or so.

😄

[rugged knoll]

i would be doing this rn if i had less focal length

[white prawn]

I'm warming up. I hope to image Saturn in a little bit.

Last in a sequence of normal color. Next I'll do with IR Pass

[rugged knoll]

i have a bad focal length

too much to find dsos with what i currently have and to do full lunar (i dont like doing surface details), and not enough to do planets

150/750 with imx585

[white prawn]

... for planetary, is fine, though you'll want a Barlow lens to help

Right now I'm working with Evie, she has 420mm f/l. Rio has 1000mm and I'll be bringing her out after this.

Evie = SkyWatcher EvoStar 72ED. Rio = Orion 203/1000

Lunar can be a challenge at that f/l. Most it'll capture is half the moon.

At least with the 585.

[rugged knoll]

i was thinking of buying a cheap 5x 3 element barlow, but im not sure

some are saying the barlow is the good choice, some are saying a smaller mak with more focal length with a weaker barlow is better

[white prawn]

The cheap ones aren't worth it. I bought my 5x from Orion before they went out of business. I have a Celestron X-Cel LX 3x and it works fine. YOu might benefit from the same.

[rugged knoll]

as of right now the only barlow i have is a really cheap svbony 2x

[rugged knoll]

so something like this isnt good? https://www.astroshop.eu/barlow-lenses/bresser-barlow-lens-5x-1-25-/p,59429

its a 3 element 5x, just like the other ones i was looking at

and around the same price, a tiny bit more actually

this is the one i have right now https://www.svbony.com/HD-MC-1-25-Inch-All-Metal-2X-Barlow/

[white prawn]

I'd trust astroshop to give you something worthwhile. Amazon sells "5x" for about $20-$50 ... they're NOT 5x. I paid $150 for mine, and the only other one at the time was a Televue for a bit more.

[rugged knoll]

im not buying from like random companies ive never heard of tho

[white prawn]

What I don't get is how they're getting you a 5x for that price. Like I said though, I would trust them since they're an astro shop. Bresser I think is a known brand.

Then again my 5x is a 4 element.

[rugged knoll]

i dont notice any chromatic abberation when using this

this is what i was able to do with it tho

[white prawn]

Not bad TBH

[misty glen]

how long should i leave my scope out

[rugged knoll]

id want a lot better though

as of right now, i have zero plans of spending the money on getting more than 6 inches of aperture

so if the newt is better than a smaller but slower mak, its going to be all i have for planets

so i do need to buy a barlow because im not really happy with that

[thick heron]

First and second time ever doing sat tracking. Planned to catch Tiangong but also got a surprise appearance from the ACS3 solar sail.

[white prawn]

@rugged knoll Understandable.

If more aperture is out of the question, the Newt will be the better deal. The mak has a larger obstruction for the secondary so it collects less light than a same-size Newt.

A 3x Barlow would introduce more focal length; that said, a 2x is not going to be bad. I wonder if you're being too heavy with the processing. I've seen @steep apex get better images of Jupiter than I was getting, with a smaller OTA than I have. I think that part of it was the camera (I was using a DSLR at the time), and part of it was the processing. Once I got the 585 I had to learn how to process the data that it gave me.

[rugged knoll]

I already own the newt, I was thinking of either getting a barlow with more power than the 2x I have right now

or if I should get a smaller mak with more fl than the newt, but it seems a more powerful barlow is the better option

and yeah i suck at processing both dsos and planets

Like how a 585 forced you to learn to process better, once i get a stronger barlow that actually let's me see smaller details I'll have to learn better processing to get them

but also a important thing

I never get good seeing

By never I mean not once have i gotten excellent, above average is extremely rare, average is rare, and below average is what i almost always have

But I won't spend that much on whatever I do end up buying to fix this since I want to buy a eqm35 soon

[limber reef]

Its a bit late but for as long as possible

[misty glen]

Okay

[rigid forge]

no the sun can potentially damage the optics and cause heat fluctuations that can damage the camera sensor

i will only leave my scope uncovered until around 7 am

[limber reef]

I normally setup in the night so i assumed everyone did 😭

[white prawn]

I put mine back in the garage and under a cover after I'm done.

"Time for bed, Rio." Back into the box and a blanket on top

[rigid forge]

rio is the newt right?

8” f/5?

[carmine void]

Do you have a talking rabbit aswell?

[white prawn]

Yep

[white prawn]

Not yet 😆

[clear pier]

that’s exactly what i have and i’ve gotten decent images of planets and dsos

i’d suggest the gso 2.5x barlow for the planets it’s good on a budget

[rugged knoll]

don't I need more than 2.5x tho

[thin aspen]

Do u guys focus throughout imaging session or just hope the focus remains?

As seeing plays with my mind if I’m in focus or not

[thin aspen]

Is this in direct sunlight or using a newt as a solar scope?

[hasty hull]

Yeah I adjust every few minutes tbh

[clear pier]

i mean you could but 2.5x worked very well for me, it's totally up to you

im pretty sure a very high mag, cheap barlow will mess up the quality of your images so be careful

[rugged knoll]

i just dont think 0.5x more magnification will get me what i want

[rugged knoll]

i mean its cheap yeah but its a 3 element barlow from a trusted company

[clear pier]

ah do you already have a 2x barlow?

[rugged knoll]

yes

[clear pier]

oh nice, hope it works out

oh yea then definitely don't get a 2.5x lmao that's my bad for not reading

[rugged knoll]

its really cheap though, its the cheapest barlow svbony sells

i prob wont use it anymore after i get a 3 element tho

[dark cargo]

Barlow power is not fixed, you can extend a 2x barlow to 3x or more if you just place the camera or eyepiece further away from the barlow lens.
Just need some extension tube eg an empty barlow tube.

[rugged knoll]

yea ik, i didnt see any 3 element barlows with less than 5x tho which is why im looking at thise

[heavy mirage]

Just get the 2x or 3x X-Cel. Can't go wrong with that

[rugged knoll]

it's double the price

[white prawn]

Is there anything in your world that isn't solved with an extension tube? 😆

"Can't focus" => Extension tube (solved it, just so you know)
"More Barlow?" => Extension tube (legit ...)
"Table too short" => Extension tubes
"CW can't go far enough down" => you guessed it ...

[dark cargo]

Yes, anything software related can be solved with pipp.
If you have both you can solve anything

[white prawn]

I've just discovered that I can run ser and avi files through AutoStakkert without having to run them through PIPP to remove the individual frames.

[heavy mirage]

Yes, but you will also not be looking for upgrades every other month. So I think you'll be saving money in the long run

[white prawn]

Also, guys, anyone who might have some insight, I'm kinda peeved.

#🤓-ask-a-nerd message

[rugged knoll]

what's wrong with the 5x 3 element?

[white prawn]

It's not a 5x 4 element

[rugged knoll]

The celestron x-cels are also 3 elements

[heavy mirage]

Either do @livid sierra suggestions of finding the ideal orientation based on the angle of your secondary. Or just rotate ADC so the bubble level is level. Start with the levers at the starting position, then slightly adjust both levers, one in one direction and vice versa but keep adjustments proportional. I typically never have to go above the third setting on my adc but that depends on the altitude of the planet you're shooting. For example Saturn gets near 40 degrees for me and I have both levers at the second setting.

[white prawn]

I've done the level bubble -> lever adjustment thing and all I got was lost focus or color spread.

[heavy mirage]

For me, it works best when levers are adjusted in opposite direction by the same amount

You either adjust too much, or too little. Or your adjustment isn't proportional

It is also possible that your focal length is way too high

[white prawn]

Right, that's what I do. Seems like no matter what I do or how I plug it in, the ADC is like "F you"

[heavy mirage]

Try using it for visual first, tinker with it until you think it's at the right position

[white prawn]

F14.8 after the Barlow is in.

[heavy mirage]

ADC also acts as spacer so your FL will be about x1.5 more

Also, do barlow -> ADC -> camera

Barlow first

[white prawn]

Yep, that's what I did. Barlow > ADC > camera

1.5x more? Seems a bit much. My 3x looks near 4x with the ADC in. I mean, I have exactly one good image that was taken using the ADC.

Well. I guess all I can do is try again.

Meanwhile.

Is this overdone?

[heavy mirage]

With my setup, native FL is 1200mm, with 3x 3600mm. Adding the ADC gets it to about 5400mm

Yes

Looks way too corrected. Fringing will be minimal if it is done correctly

Are you levers like vertical or something

[white prawn]

You mean too much RGB correction?

[heavy mirage]

Looks like your ADC correction is way too much. Even after the stacking rgb alignment is minimal

Here, check these out if you're interested. There is a zip file with my stacks the only rgb alignment was done during stacking AS!4. #1284285451632377978 message

[white prawn]

Oh! No, I took the ADC out of my imaging train after losing an hour and a half of imaging time because of it. I'm about ready to yeet it somewhere. That's just AstroSurface White balance/RGB align.

[heavy mirage]

To me, it looks like your image is either out of focus or just overcorrected either during imaging or in post

[white prawn]

😕

[heavy mirage]

Maybe try practicing the ADC with a bright star 30 - 50 degrees altitude. You should be able to get the star to have minimal fringing. Also, do you use a UV/IR cut filter when imaging in RGB @white prawn

[white prawn]

I don't. Well I think the 585 has something on it, because the image is awfully red when I'm working with it. But none of my own filters. I fight enough w/ focus as it is. If I can't get a 16" OTA I might get myself a better focuser. The one I have just slams back down under the load of Barlow/ADC/Camera and even Barlow/Camera

[heavy mirage]

The PO Uranus-C doesn't have an IR cut filter AFAIK. It has a clear AR glass. I'm not sure if your brand does but if it is awfully red then you definitely want to use an UV/IR cut filter. Such as this: https://www.highpointscientific.com/optolong-uv-ir-cut-astronomy-filter-1-25inch-mounted-uvir-125?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cse&utm_term=OTL-UVIR-125&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=20618277309&utm_content=&utm_term=&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwrp-3BhDgARIsAEWJ6Sy-ctbjxI316aWGD2vt6bcTLIzCNoSYPVzDVWO10zV3onbWzFaLNuYaAuFOEALw_wcB.

As for your focuser, you should be able to tighten it with an Allen key or Philips at the bottom of the focuser

[white prawn]

I can tighten it to hold the focus - just obtaining it is a pain in the arrears. I have to help it up if I need to focus in that direction.

I do have a UVIR filter, one of the first things I got. I'm using a ZWO ASI585 (my PFP). Wish I would have bought the Uranus-C but I was impatient getting an astro cam at the time.

The Uranus-C wasn't in stock and I would have had to wait at least a couple of more weeks.

Eh well.

[somber stratus]

I focus during my captures

little in-out just to check

[rugged knoll]

i just noticed svbony sells 3 element 3x barlows for the same price as the 5x ones i was looking at, so the 3x is better right?

[heavy mirage]

I was talking about tightening the focuser itself. Not the focuser locking screw.

It becomes tighter and isn't as loose when focusing

[white prawn]

Oh

[umbral kestrel]

@somber stratus when It comes to Saturn moon occultation how would you shoot that

Wouldn’t the moon blur

[somber isle]

That's what I wanna know

[umbral kestrel]

I’m trying to shoot it tonight

[umbral kestrel]

I might just make a hdr

[somber isle]

I wanna try aswell

[umbral kestrel]

You live in the right area?

[somber isle]

Yeah

[umbral kestrel]

Nice

[somber isle]

It'll be around 11:30

Which is not too bad

[umbral kestrel]

7 for me

So quite low

[somber isle]

Oh yeah wow

[umbral kestrel]

It stars 7

It leave behind the moon at a better time

Tho

[somber isle]

I might just try and do a video of it hiding

[umbral kestrel]

I’ll have to do it when it’s leaving

[somber isle]

Oh shoot I just looked at stellarium and i was wrong 🫠

It's not going to be visible

I totally thought it was bruh

Oof

[umbral kestrel]

Basicly only southern hemisphere

[livid sierra]

Use the filter.. I think people have said before to use the filter for imaging, even when using an ADC. Also, check if your ADC is a lefty or a righty (if you have the ZWO one). It’s probably a righty but can’t hurt to check https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/578410-newbie-question-how-the-heck-do-i-use-the-zwo-adc/, read the message from John Boudreau.

I’d send you the forum post where we discussed the orientation of the ADC in the focuser but I’m realising now that the forum posts absolutely suck when it comes to looking for a specific post

[heavy mirage]

Imaging rn, here is how my adc is set up although duifs approach may be best if you have time to figure it out.

And here is the Allen key screw for tightness of.the focuser (the one below the thumbscew for locking focuser)

[white prawn]

Thank you. I admit I feel a little foolish to not know that; one of my tripods has something very similar on the gear that holds the legs at height and I've had to tighten them before. Not sure why I didn't think to look underneath and see if that was the issue.

[white prawn]

I feel like having the UVIR on would make it harder for me to see if I have the ADC set right. Am I wrong?

[livid sierra]

Use the ADC tool in FC

Last time you said you didn’t use the UVIR cut I thought you meant just when adjusting the ADC

There’s no reason not to use the UVIR cut when imaging if you have it

And yeah like I said just use the ADC tool in FC. Skyinspector.co.uk has two articles about the ADC

[heavy mirage]

No worries! I hope you get it sorted out

[cloud copper]

My new image of Saturn

7 images derotated

850 frames each

Ok seeing but with some bad moments

[limber reef]

Niceee

I aint tried saturn yet

Only jupiter

I hope to go out this weekend and do saturn Jupiter and mars

[white prawn]

I tried that once ... no dice. I got software up and the camera in and no matter what I did there was no change. I'm like, wtf. I've seen great screenshots of what the ADC tool is supposed to look like and how it's supposed to work but it never did that for me. All it ever did was show me the image and not really change anything.

[heavy mirage]

I just don't think a 5x is worth it. It's too much power

I guess I technically shoot with 4.5x but that is with an ADC. I think just a 5x (no adc) will have so much fringing

What scope are you working with ?

[rugged knoll]

Reason I was going to buy a 5x was because I didn't see any 3x 3 element barlows for cheap, but now that I saw svbony has one for the same price as the 5x I'll prob get that instead

[rugged knoll]

virtuoso gti 150p dob, 150/750

The mount is SO bad, might as well be untracked

dw i will buy a eqm35 someday

[heavy mirage]

Are you buying a barlow for imaging or for viewing

[rugged knoll]

both

[heavy mirage]

Okay, and what camera will you be using?

[rugged knoll]

uranus c

[heavy mirage]

Okay well in that case, your f ratio should be no more than 5-7x the pixel size of the camera for best sampling. You have an f/5 scope at native focal length, and with a 5x barlow you'll be at f/25 which is quite oversampled. Ideally, you want to be at between f/15 and f/21 with the Uranus-C unless you're dealing with literally perfect seeing. I don't think a 5x is worth it

[rugged knoll]

Yea average seeing is rare for me, above average is very rare, and I've never gotten "excellent" seeing

It's almost always below average

[heavy mirage]

A 3x would get you at f/15 which is a very good starting point. And in the future, you may invest in a adc to reduce fringing due to atmospheric dispersion, with the adc and 3x your f ratio would be about f/22.5. If you're saying you have bad seeing I would definitely stick with a 3x or even 2x (plus ADC)

[rugged knoll]

I have a 2x rn

really cheap one tho

how much does a adc cost? never really looked at them

[heavy mirage]

it's about the same price as an x-cel barlow/eyepiece

[rugged knoll]

not that bad ig

[heavy mirage]

I mean if you live near equator where planets basically rise vertically. It may not be needed

[rugged knoll]

after I get a eqm35 and a lower fl refractor for widefield I probably won't be buying anything for a while

so I can get those things like the adc and a better focuser

rn 100% the worst thing I have is the horrible dob mount

[rugged knoll]

I need one

[heavy mirage]

Especially that you have a bad mount, a 5x will be a pain to deal with, every little breeze will make you lose the planet in the fov and probably cause more frustration for yuo

[rugged knoll]

I'll be with this mount for a bit longer

Few months

Less than 6 months def

But I want to at least be able to do planetary while I can't do dsos, so yea I'll get the 3x

[heavy mirage]

I think that's a good choice for the meantime

[rugged knoll]

the sv213 is fine right?

this https://www.svbony.com/svbony-sv213-1-25-3x-barlow-lens-3-element/

[heavy mirage]

I really can't say. You can try it out for a bit and return it if you don't like it

[rugged knoll]

Alr

Ig I'll do saturn with it since I don't want to wait until 2 for jupiter

Should be very easy to do better than what I have rn

[heavy mirage]

fringing will still be an issue due to the altitude of the planets, which is why I recommend an ADC as well but it can be quite difficult to learn how to use correctly.

[rugged knoll]

😭

[rugged knoll]

Adc will probably be after eqm35

and a new laptop or mini pc since the thing I am using to control my mount rn...

Ima to go sleep rn, ill prob buy the Barlow in a few days since rn I just have a bunch of clouds for a while

[heavy mirage]

The barlow/adc stuff will help improve your images, but there is also a lot to learn about the camera such as finding a good balance between exposure and gain. I think for your setup with just the 2x barlow your image looks about how I would expect

What I mean is that your image looks good

[rugged knoll]

I think my jupiter is a lot better

[rugged knoll]

i dont

When I got the Uranus c i wanted to do better details with it

not a line as the ring of saturn

[rugged knoll]

I don't think it's good but I think its better than the saturn

[rugged knoll]

for exposure and gain i just adjust stuff until i have 200+ fps and it looks like a planet

[heavy mirage]

In my opinion. You really don't need more than 100fps for both Jupiter and Saturn.

But anyways, just keep messing around with it and improvement will come

[carmine void]

How decent of an image can you get out of a 5inch dob Or is it completely dependent on the seeing?

[heavy mirage]

@summer field has some excellent photos that were taken with a 5 inch

[carmine void]

Does having an adc change the focus distance or anything?

[heavy mirage]

Yes

But it's probably fine, it's essentially just an extension tube

[carmine void]

Do you need to tinker with it or just plop it in?

[heavy mirage]

Yes, there is definitely some tinkering involved

[carmine void]

Thinking of getting the ZWO one

[heavy mirage]

Mostly adjusting orientation and messing with the corrections via levers but it is pretty straightforward

You can find some videos on YouTube

[carmine void]

Does it mess with the color of stuff and requiring some filter?

[carmine void]

Yea I’ll have a look

[heavy mirage]

No, just a good old uv/ir cut filter

[carmine void]

Dope

[thick heron]

Neptune through some light pollution.

[thick heron]

Caught the Moon occulting Neptune about an hour and a half ago. 80 frames stacked, which is 80 more than I was expecting to stack.

Raw footage with some intense gain and gamma adjustments in SER Player.

[carmine void]

Oh that’s cool

Is an adc essential for planetary and lunar even if your seeing is decent?

[heavy mirage]

The adc helps focus different wavelengths of light at one point. So even if seeing is perfect the atmosphere will still disperse the light, and it gets worse the lower the planet is in the sky as light has to pass through more atmosphere. So basically, unless you're lucky and planets reach upwards of 70 degrees the adc is basically always useful

However, it is probably not necessary for mono, UV and IR imaging

[carmine void]

Gotcha, looks like I’ll be adding it to my setup soon

[white prawn]

Can anyone give me insight on why AutoStakkert clips/crops the edge of the moon? I was imgaging last night and kept the moon along the center of the view, and AS4 decided to put it right at the edge of the window and cut off part of it instead.

[clear pier]

wait don’t you have a 6 inch dob? will the eqm35 be strong enough for it?

[rugged knoll]

it only weighs 4kg, im planning on actually putting more than just the dob on it since the eqm35 can carry more

it's light bc flextube

[clear pier]

i see, if you’re gonna do more dso imaging then a beefier mount is usually recommended but if it’s just planetary you should be fine

[rugged knoll]

why do i need a beefier Mount

isn't 60% of the mount capacity reccomended for imaging

ill be under that by a decent amount

10kg capacity

Im only 40%

I will be doing dsos more than planets but if my scope is only 4kg I don't see how a eqm35 wouldn't be enough

I don't plan on buying a heavier scope in the future for dsos too

[thin aspen]

Can u give a screenshot, I might know the problem

[rugged knoll]

tbh maybe just try astrosurface instead, i had so many issues with autostakkert until i switched to astrosurface

[heavy mirage]

Try using surface stacking mode?

[white prawn]

I use that for pre-processing before bringing it to Gimp, I haven't tried to stack with it.

[rugged knoll]

i use it for everything since it had everything i need, autostakkert almost always would do something wrong when stacking but astrosurface has been fine so far

[white prawn]

I know I kept it away from the edges on this run

[heavy mirage]

try use surface image stabilization instead of planet

It works much better for the moon

[white prawn]

Now what?

[heavy mirage]

ctrl click on a bright crater

then click analyze

and stack

after placing ap's

[white prawn]

Same q ... now what?

[white prawn]

Can't get much brighter than Tycho

[heavy mirage]

Ye,

Analyze, place ap's and stack

Also, based on histogram your moon is overexposed

[white prawn]

Well it shifted the image a bit but it didn't knock it out of the screen so I'll take a win.

[heavy mirage]

I think you can shift+drag to adjust it

[white prawn]

Cost of imaging during lunar eclipse and trying to get more moon than what should have been visible with the shadow going.

[white prawn]

Or, in other words, whoops.

I might be able to fix it in post by adjusting exposure and I'll probably lose more moon for it but oh well. I'll figure it out.

[heavy mirage]

It's clipped, you can really do much about it

cant*

[white prawn]

F

This makes me incredibly upset. I don't know when the next partial lunar eclipse will be in my area so this really sucks.

[heavy mirage]

I'm sure it'll be fine, its not too clipped but still best to avoid it

[white prawn]

Obviously best to avoid. Don't like that it happened and fudged up an image

[long rune]

Saturn from last night with my new RC

I didn't use a barlow and I had a low framerate on my camera

can probably do better

White balance is/was off too

collimation is bad as well

[frozen hound]

Buy a reducer and ur good to go for DSOs...150/750 is not too big for DSOs with the right equipment...after all...size doesn't matter...

And 585 is probably a good start for imaging DSOs

[white prawn]

@near quiver @mossy juniper

No, I don't have an LEO OTA ....

I think my el-cheapo lens might get a name. That and my DSLR picked up the partial lunar eclipse nuances better than Evie and my 585

[somber isle]

Saturn looked so good tonight. I got some decent moon data aswell

[white prawn]

I wanted you to know I just checked the settings on that image. Gain was set to 0 and exposure was 5.733ms. I couldn't get further down I don't think.

I wonder if I would get better results trying to do my lunar shots with a solar filter?

[heavy mirage]

What focal length were you shooting at? Also, couldn't you just lower the exposure a bit?

I think even 0.5ms will be fine for moon

[white prawn]

Was using my 72ED, so 420mm

[white prawn]

https://tenor.com/view/hmm-dr-iggy-frome-new-amsterdam-thinking-wondering-gif-16711162

[heavy mirage]

I would say try lowering exposure more

[white prawn]

Normally I'm not trying to capture lunar eclipse, heh.

Solar I go down to 0.032ms ... as low as it goes.

So. Solar filter for lunar imaging?

Oh! I tried dropping a "moon" filter in while I was doing this ... it's best used for visual because when I dropped it onto the imaging train it caused a lot of distortion that isn't visible to the naked eye but really, quite visible to the 585.

[heavy mirage]

I think, same reason as you mentioned, having that additional filter will only cause distortion. I'm not sure if it's necessary

[white prawn]

The solar filter doesn't add distortion. Lunar did. Great for visual, junk for photography.

Basically decrease exp next time. Okay, thanks!

[rugged knoll]

The only cheap reducers I saw were 0.5x and I was told not to buy those

[frozen hound]

Naaaah don't...indeed reducers are not very cheap...but maybe if ur already committed to thr hobby...u have an eq mount...a big ass telescope and an imaging camera...it would be a bit awkward cheaping out on a part that u will definitely need in the future and it will certainly come very handy to u...if DSOs is your aim with ap...

Unless u could just buy a Barlow just like another guy said and go for planetary ap

[thin aspen]

Should be good as 7 x 1.45um is 10.45 which is roughly your focal ratio. Might even be slightly oversampled with those small pixels

[mossy juniper]

Next March is a full lunar eclipse baby no worries

[thin aspen]

Yep for good seeing

Good-excellent

[dark cargo]

with planetary you try to have each pixel be a certain sampling(with the 7x formula thing mentioned above), both those sensors have the same resolution so at the same sampling they will have the same field of view.
Of course you do need more barlow to get to the same sampling with the larger pixels of the 585 compared to the 715.
And you do get more fov with no barlow which would be useful for conjunctions? but planets will be small in frame then.

[thin aspen]

Ngl when I had a dslr I stacked barlows and it worked quite well. However I would try extend the Barlow first.

[short granite]

Seems like my eclipse images can't be stacked well. I've tried Autostakkert 3 and 4.

[brazen moth]

Hey all, I want to improve the landing page of https://eise.app a bit, by adding a stacked+processed planetary image. I don't have good data myself, so could someone provide data for a nice stack or stack yourself using eise? I will also mention your name and link to your astrobin or insta etc. I will put it on the right of the page (see screenshot).

[rugged knoll]

I'm using the same scope for dso and planets, rn I have a goto dob that barely works but I'll be switching to a eqm35 soon, and i have a uranus c non pro, so I kinda have the cheapest setup for what I want

[frozen hound]

yeah it more than ok to kick off in astrophotography...although your camera is pretty decent for DSOs too...the lack of active cooling means that it wont perform as well as more expensive cameras with active cooling...but again that doenst mean that it wont server u well with DSOs...u could if u want...mod your uranus c and put a cooler on its back...a dude on this server called Lucas Goncalves he is an absolute legend he put a cooler on his phone and he takes some insane out of this world DSO images with his phone and a cheap Brazilian 114/900 newtonian...he is the hope for all of us dudes with cheaper setups...

but at the end its all up to u...whether ur more interested into DSOs or planetary

[rugged knoll]

Yeah I will add cooling later

[frozen hound]

noice

[rugged knoll]

More interested in dsos which is why I'm just getting a cheap 3 element barlow for planets

Rn the issue is my Mount is horrible so I can't find objects and my fov is too small for starhopping

[frozen hound]

plzzz dont cheap out on the barlow...but i guess 3 element should be enough...but plz dont cheap out on anything...in general...ik its very frustrating but i had made the mistake of buying a cheap barlow from Temu and it was pretty bad...chromatic abberation was AWFUL...and thats super important for ap

[rugged knoll]

my current extremely cheap 2x has very hard to notice ca

[frozen hound]

truth is that eq35 is indeed not a great match for a 150 aperture telescope...especially for very close range videos just like u do in planetary ap

[frozen hound]

?? fr?

[rugged knoll]

how?

why isn't it good

[frozen hound]

so...have u heard of the arcseconds?

[rugged knoll]

I was told get the heq5 but that's out of my budget and even the eqm35 is overkill

4kg scope

[frozen hound]

?

did u tell them what u actually want?

[rugged knoll]

yes

[frozen hound]

eq5 is minimum for your current situation...

u can ask others too...i think they will agree

[rugged knoll]

doesn't the eq5 have the same capacity

I just want whatevers cheapest

[coral seal]

Whats da topic

[frozen hound]

when i wanted to buy a 200 aperture CARBON FIBER scope everyone told me eq6 is minimum...which means for 150 eq5 is minimum

[coral seal]

This

If u want the cheapest

Then don't buy

My personal advice

[rugged knoll]

i need to😭

my current mount is so bad

[coral seal]

I understand budget tightness

Just save more

[frozen hound]

i have to agree with him...

[coral seal]

And buy a good one

[frozen hound]

dont worry im broke too 😭

[rugged knoll]

But I don't see what's wrong with the eqm35

Isn't it 11kg capacity

With a 4kg scope

[frozen hound]

dont look at it like that..

when ur scope is 4kg...u want to get a mount with at least 14kg weight

[rugged knoll]

I was told not to go over half the capacity for dso but I'm not over half at all

[rugged knoll]

what

[frozen hound]

for crystal clear images

and good arcseconds

thats what u need for planetary

its mandatory

at such a high mag

[rugged knoll]

i don't expect to get good planets that's why I'm not spending much on the barlow

[frozen hound]

also its more suitable for DSO longer exposures and longer capture period

[coral seal]

..

[rugged knoll]

i never get good seeing, like ever

[coral seal]

Dude if you buy a very good PC and buy cheap peripherals

You're cooked

[frozen hound]

yeah great example

[frozen hound]

do u live in B9 area?

[rugged knoll]

planets isn't the main focus

[rugged knoll]

no

[frozen hound]

then seeing is great

[rugged knoll]

?

[frozen hound]

unless...u have lots of clouds

[rugged knoll]

what does bortle have to do with the atmosphere

[frozen hound]

most peoples' concern is light pollution

[rugged knoll]

nothing I can do about that

I can't go to a lower bortle area

I'm in bortle 7 and that's all I get

[frozen hound]

its good enough

[coral seal]

Same situation

[frozen hound]

but u mentioned something about atmosphere

if u have a wobbly mount...

[rugged knoll]

Yes but what does bortle have to do with that

[frozen hound]

along with the shitty atmosphere

bro ur cooked

[coral seal]

Let me explain

[frozen hound]

bortle is about the light pollution

not the atmosphere

[frozen hound]

let him cook

[rugged knoll]

yes I know

[coral seal]

Just see this and you'll unde6

Understand

[rugged knoll]

dude

I know what the bortle scale is

[rugged knoll]

you said if I'm not in bortle 9 then seeing is great

how does that make sense

its the atmosphere not the light pollution

[coral seal]

Alright

[coral seal]

Noo

[rugged knoll]

That is what I'm saying

[coral seal]

You replied with "no"

[frozen hound]

didnt consider the atmosphere because thats rarely a problem for me forgive me

[coral seal]

And then he said "then seeing is great"

[rugged knoll]

Yes

which doesn't make sense

because bortle and atmosphere is different

[coral seal]

Well

Well well

[rugged knoll]

Basically what I'm saying is I don't want to spend much on planets since it's not my main interest

I care more about dso

[frozen hound]

ok then...u should go for a recuder

maybe a 0.8

[rugged knoll]

yes but how much does a reducer worth getting cost

[coral seal]

Oh

[frozen hound]

prices range around 200 euros

[rugged knoll]

alr yeah im getting a new mount first thrn

[frozen hound]

maybe u can find a cheaper one...150-160

[rugged knoll]

i still don't see what's wrong with a eqm35

[frozen hound]

it holds up to 11 kg of weight

[rugged knoll]

and?

[frozen hound]

firstly...that doenst only include the tube

it also includes the other partds

AND

[rugged knoll]

which is less than 1kg

[frozen hound]

u need some headroom for ideal arcseconds which are going to play a BIG role in your results

[rugged knoll]

I just checked eqm35 and eq5, both are 10kg capacity

[frozen hound]

firsly...eqm35 and eq5 is just the TYPE of the mount...each mount has different properties

there are multiple types of mounts

[rugged knoll]

wdym

if you mean like the pro after it In the name that's what I was talking about

[frozen hound]

i mean...skywatcher makes eq5 mounts...

[frozen hound]

the pro means it includes tracking

bresser makes eq5 mounts

ioptron makes eq35

and each one of those has different properties

[frozen hound]

usually comes at a higher cost which for me its not worth it...just buy an on step goto

usually it comes much cheaper

[rugged knoll]

what's the difference bc i don't see multiple eqm35s or smth

[frozen hound]

https://www.astroshop.eu/mounts-accessories/mounts/equatorial-without-goto/15_55_10_30/a,Zubehoer.Leistung.Max-Zuladung=10-15

these are mounts made by different companies...each one of them has its advantages and disadvantages

[rugged knoll]

they are half the price of a eq5 pro

[frozen hound]

and eq5 pro is half the price of eq6 pro

thats how it goes...unfortunately...

mounts arent cheap...

ik its frustrating

but thats how things are...

u may change a telescope

but generally

u keep the mount for longer

its maybe even more important than the telescope

itself

[rugged knoll]

I have no plan on upgrading past whatever mount I buy

[frozen hound]

u cant cheap out on the mount

[rugged knoll]

I knos

Know

and I'm not

but what im not gonna do is buy a eq6 pro for a 4kg scope

[frozen hound]

lol yeah ok...we can agree on that

look dude...u can probably buy a new good eq5 mount for maybe 600 euros...650...maybe less...maybe more...i include the onstep goto too

but if u want...u can try out with the eqm35 first and then decide

maybe im completely wrong and upgrading to an eq5 wont do much even if it improves your arcseconds

idk the conditions ur imaging in

i dont know your processing skills

u can try with the eqm35 and if u are pleased with the results then keep it

but just for u to know...eq5 would probably be the ideal way to go...

from what i know

[rugged knoll]

a eq5 is the same price and same capacity

[rugged knoll]

how do i know the weight capacity of onstep

[white prawn]

You get the appropriate model for you mount; it will support what the mount supports.

[rugged knoll]

yea that makes sense idk why I thought it'd be less

[coral seal]

What?

[thick heron]

Very nice seeing a little bit ago between clouds.

[thin aspen]

Looks brilliant

With good seeing like this I’m thinking I should go past 10ms exposure to something higher to increase SNR?

[carmine void]

do you guys ever use the drizzle function?

[thin aspen]

Nope

[somber isle]

Nah

If you are using a big dslr then maybe but otherwise nuh uh

[white prawn]

"between clouds"

If I image between clouds, I image soup.

Heck, if I don't have clouds I can't get that clear.

[rugged knoll]

try astrosurface, i had those issues with autostakkert all the time and with astrosurface i dont have any issues

[short granite]

I had to tweak some settings but yeah, astrosurface nailed it. Thanks!

[gaunt kite]

question for planerary use of dslrs: The max video resolution of my Canon is 1080x1920. The photo resolution is much higher though, so I guess that when filming a video only one every few pixels is recording. Is there a way, maybe using magic lantern, to have all the pixels in centre registering, sacrificing fov?

[keen ginkgo]

What is the use of that?

[gaunt kite]

1.5x, 2x or 3x resolution

[keen ginkgo]

So whats its drawback?

[gaunt kite]

you are not creating new data. the blurrines will remain the same

[gaunt kite]

nvm fixed it

[keen ginkgo]

So a 2x drizzle will make a 2x2 patch of black into 4x4?

[gaunt kite]

Yes basically

What I was trying to say is that it won't increase sharpness. Just resolution

[wispy pagoda]

it does improve resolution which can help for undersampled systems but it also introduces noise and artefacts

I use 1.5x since i'm undersampled when the seeing is good, but ideally you shouldn't have to use it

[lofty cosmos]

is this mercury?

[livid sierra]

No it's Uranus

[wispy pagoda]

I've seen it before and I can tell you it's not

[olive saddle]

It looks like a black and white image of Uranus though, like you can see the white cap

Like this (ignore Neptune on the right lol)

[whole osprey]

ARE THOSE YOUR IMAGES???, because those are great.

[olive saddle]

Oh absolutely not, those are Hubble images lol

You have great confidence in me, my 4.5 inch dobsonian, and my phone lol

[whole osprey]

Haha, for some reason I did not realise that was hubble.

[hasty hull]

???

Oh wait

Lmfao

[wispy pagoda]

Sorry that was lame

[wispy pagoda]

Ye it is, it's just me being a silly little boy

[olive saddle]

such a silly little guy

[gaunt kite]

finally something good with my dslr!

considering I'm using a 4.5" and a dslr I'm pretty satisfied

[crisp basin]

To the ones who take images of planets with a phone
Which app do you use to capture the videos?

[white prawn]

Dude!! That's nice work for a DSLR!

[uncut summit]

ProCam x

[uncut summit]

This is my first image of Saturn. It turned out worse than I would have expected considering the seeing was perfect. Anyone have any tips on how to improve?

[white prawn]

Don't expect a lot from the camera on a phone. That may be close to as good as what you can get with a camera phone.

[long rune]

Yooooooooo

Considering I did this without a barlow and with a narrowband filter, I would say this didnt turn out too bad

[long rune]

what the heck do you even have to be able to do that?

[fading plume]

Can you do a movie crop with EOSmovieRec?

[shell epoch]

Getting sharper with Saturn. Still trying for the cassini division though.
114mm, dslr, 3x barlow, 20%/8000 stacked. Regular seeing

From the 15th btw

[long rune]

working on a mosaic of the moon from a few nights ago

[gaunt kite]

That's what I did

[umbral kestrel]

Saturn this morning

[thick heron]

Minor unthreading incident this morning.

[olive saddle]

oh my

[carmine void]

how do you decide what AP size to go for? (in this case for lunar)

[thin aspen]

For lunar I just manually draw them. Like 20 big boxes

[carmine void]

What do you draw them on

Just the craters?

[shell epoch]

I'm pretty sure ap size is just how big the boxes are in pixels. So you pick a higher ap for a higher resolution or bigger target

Then click "Place AP grid" after you select a reference frame. Then stack at the target percentage and drizzle if you need

[carmine void]

i usually just selected any random ap size, wasnt sure what their purpose was

[long rune]

Is there any particular tutorial or workflow that anybody has followed for making moon mosaics that works well?

[thin aspen]

1. process individual frames, stack, sharpen.
2. put them into Microsoft ICE
   3)done

[wispy pagoda]

From last week

[short granite]

Ethereal look

[long rune]

Microsoft Ice?

[cloud copper]

Yes

[long rune]

hmm ok

that's a new one for me, guess I have something new to learn

[gaunt kite]

Gear?

[main flume]

photo of saturn with my phone and celestron starsense explorer dx

[wispy pagoda]

Hope there won't be too much clouds

[thin aspen]

ye it is very good and easy to use, literally drop all the images in a the software and it will align them for u.

[long rune]

oh no what have i done 💀

[long rune]

Holy moon

it's yellow for some reason, probably an incorrect WB in camera firmware, or Sharpcap

[deep island]

just do AutoWB in Ps or Astrosurface

[long rune]

I will when i get there

I don't remember where Ina Crater is but I think it could have been resolved with this scope.

[long rune]

Took me a bit of digging but I found MS ICE

[long rune]

well, here's my supermoon mosaic from the 20th taken by my 6" Ritchey Chretien, no barlow.

[somber isle]

Really good details 👌

[ruby tartan]

Use RGB Balance in registax

[heavy mirage]

Jupiter timelapse from the 21st, sorry about the flickering

[crisp basin]

Meanwhile mine

[heavy mirage]

Rough

[olive saddle]

honestly not bad considering your setup

If that was taken with what I think it was

[long rune]

how do yall do planetary timelapses?

[heavy mirage]

Essentially just shoot 1-2 minute videos continuously for some time. It can be done by shooting like every 5 mins but with varying seeing conditions it's best to just shoot the whole time

[white prawn]

Step 1: Take a series of images
Step 2: Process those images
Step 3: Follow steps in your preferred program to put the images back together in a single gif. Note that my experience with PIPP made gifs is that no matter what you do, the quality of the output is noticeably subpar compared to what gets fed into the gif-making function.

To be fair, I have experience with how I did mine. I wouldn't know how to work with editing a video the same way that one would work with an image, to get a decent result. Since @heavy mirage suggested it, I presume it can be done, I just do not have experience on the matter.

[heavy mirage]

I guess I should have been a bit more detailed. I meant that you would shoot those 1-2 minute videos, then do the processing like stacking, wavelets and color adjustments. Then put the processed stacks into PIPP or Davinci Resolve and you have a time-lapse. So basically what you said

[white prawn]

I need to revisit a Derotation/Rotation image that I did. I feel like it came out worse when I tried to do the white/RGB balance after I derotated vs. before.

[left spindle]

the rings really have tilted

[gaunt kite]

Is this old or new?

[left spindle]

old

[gaunt kite]

Next year it should be great

[left spindle]

i guess this pic is from april but not sure

it cant be

[gaunt kite]

Like, imo the best angle

[hasty hull]

Hard disagree

[umbral kestrel]

i mean it means we get moon tranists

[long rune]

GUUUUUUYYYYYYS

my sharpest view of Jupiter EVER

[white prawn]

https://tenor.com/view/cheering-minions-despicable-me-cheer-gif-4968109

[candid flare]

yoo
what scope did you use?

[long rune]

My now beloved RC6

[long rune]

Saturn wasn't as good because I still had issues with it being too dim, but I'd say it's pretty good still

[umbral kestrel]

Nice

[brisk yacht]

woahh niceee

this makes me wanna buy one even more in the future

what fl

[long rune]

1377 mm native, with 2x Barlow it was 2754.

I want a 3x Barlow to get even better results, though.

[brisk yacht]

ah alright

well i only wanted the "barlowed" fl anyways

what exposure time per frame for both?

[long rune]

Was around 30 ms

[flint veldt]

captured this yesterday 1 hour and 3 min jupiter rotation

[wispy pagoda]

Forgot about this one

Crappy data but the double transit was cool

[wispy pagoda]

By about how much should I space my camera from the barlow to make it go from 3x to 4xish? I don't know the focal lenght of the barlow but an order of magnitude would be good so I can order the extension tubes

[dark cargo]

Hmmm if you measure distance from lens to sensor, then the effective focal length of an image taken at that distance I think you could figure out the barlows focal length. And then figure out the exact distance needed for any barlow power you want. https://www.astropix.com/html/astrophotography/astrophotography-calculators.html#eflbp

If its a popular barlow someone might have already measured it, I'll try this method to measure my 3x xcel to see if it actually works.

but as a pure guess, maybe 25mm of extra spacing?

[wispy pagoda]

Thanks! I forgot about this site, its great

Do you know from where the "barlow to sensor" distance is measured?

(the first lens of the barlow, the last one, the middle...)

[dark cargo]

I assume from roughly the middle, should be accurate enough.

[umbral kestrel]

jupiter this morning

[gaunt kite]

why doesn't it align?

[somber isle]

Did you stack it in auttostakkert?

[heavy mirage]

Your capture may have a time where the planet is outside the fov, if you remove these bad frames (via PIPP or something) it should stack fine

Maybe you're using too small AP size as well if the above isn't the case

[white prawn]

That always annoyed me ... I mean, isn't the program supposed to remove those?

[heavy mirage]

Unfortunately nothing is perfect

[heavy mirage]

cool shadow eclipse

[thick heron]

But will it actually look like that given Jupiter is slightly oblate, which that simulation doesn’t show?

[heavy mirage]

I guess we'll find out tonight

[thick heron]

SkySafari

[gaunt kite]

Ohh that could be why

[gaunt kite]

Yep

[umbral kestrel]

better prossesed

[gaunt kite]

it's not getting out of frame, but it's moving quite a bit. I've read that this could affect the result. Is this true?

[heavy mirage]

As long as autostakkert is able to track it and keep it in center pf frame it should be fine

Make sure you are on planetary mode

[heavy mirage]

I think i'm oversampling a bit

[random pecan]

I agree, wouldn’t hurt to try a bit wider sampling

[somber stratus]

lol

just a little

[rugged knoll]

svbony sv213 is good right?

[brisk yacht]

i dont have it myself however from what i can tell it should be good

[olive saddle]

That looks really good so far though, the details are crazy

[white prawn]

I have 2 questions.

1. How in the world do you get that type of clarity before processing? What equip?

2. Why do I even bother?

[heavy mirage]

I used a 254/1200mm GoTo Dob and Uranus-C cam. The perfect seeing conditions, good collimation and high altitude of the planet make the shot possible

Also, in that video I was shooting with X-Cel 3x,.2x and ADC. I guess that makes the focal length around 13000mm. However, this is way overkill with my setup, but I just wanted to see what would happen

[hasty hull]

https://tenor.com/view/star-wars-more-gif-21856591

[heavy mirage]

Here let me just get amother 3x

More like hold my beer

[left spindle]

Use diff planetary software. I got tiered of using autostakkert not stacking properply so i switched to astrosurface

[gaunt kite]

Is it free?

[left spindle]

Yes

[umbral kestrel]

Venus

[deep island]

Tycho. Crop from a mosaic of 30 panels of the entire moon

I made some adjustments to brightness and contrast

114/900mm Newt + Sv905c. 2x celestron omni barlow

[gaunt kite]

Is it too bad if my max focal lenght is F10 (2μ pixels) and my scope is F12?

[dark cargo]

Where did you figure out the max focal ratio from?
The formula I use would give a 1.16x barlow(so F14) with that setup:
max barlow = 7 times pixel size in um divided by focal ratio

[gaunt kite]

Isn't the limit the px size x 5?

[dark cargo]

7 is roughly the maximum afaik.
Ideally each pixel sees a distance that is 1/4th of the scopes dawes limit, eg ~0.15" for an 200mm aperture scope with a dawes limit of ~0.6"

5 is fine too, you won't always get good enough seeing for the maximum anyway

[gaunt kite]

That's really helpful, thank you

[main flume]

just got this of jupiter and a few of its moons

[cunning lily]

I can have over 7x barlow damn

[umbral kestrel]

just cus u can dosnt mean u should

like 1000 reasons thats a bad idea

my 3x barlow is pushing it

sampling wise

im quite oversampled

[hasty hull]

@tiny topaz working pretty well. Not perfect but it’s staying in frame for over a minute rather than the 10s we get normally untracked

Extremely freeing

[tiny topaz]

Dang I’ll really have to look into doing that now, thank you! Also is this Firecapture? If so how do you have a cutout grid around the planet, while also seeing the whole sensor? I usually select the recenter ROI option and it’s such a pain to use but what you are using looks a lot easier to manage

[hasty hull]

Yep firecapture! The cutout feature is insanely helpful. It’s the scissor icon looking thing

[fluid shore]

pretty eh results from my imaging session this morning. Im very annoyed by the edge artifact its especially apparent on mars. Does this mean i have to collimate my telescope?

[tiny topaz]

Oh okay I’ll have to try that out next time, thanks!

[hasty hull]

Yeah looks like colli is out

[somber stratus]

yup, you said it

[whole osprey]

Are you imaging with a phone?, you may want to turn the exposure down.

[white prawn]

Good luck w/ that. I tried to photo Jupiter w/ my phone ... wouldn't dial exposure down for love or money.

May or may not have played a role in my purchase of a planetary cam. Even after having a DSLR.

[whole osprey]

You may need a 3rd party app. A dedicated cam would be really good though.

[white prawn]

Yep! I do have the dedicated cam. Couldn't w/ cell phone, was okay w/ DSLR, wanted better, so got the dedicated.

[umbral kestrel]

worst seeing of my life

god dam

5.9 arc sec

[tiny topaz]

how did you calculate that, if you dont mind me asking? Would it be windspeed, temp and something else?

[somber stratus]

I think he's talking about sampling?

[umbral kestrel]

Seeing. Although apparently predictions ar very inaccurate

[somber stratus]

why is it per pixel?

seeing is measured in arcsec

[umbral kestrel]

My bad. Didn’t mean to put that there

[livid sierra]

CH4, UV/deepblue and visible light data from tonight

Surprisingly good seeing

[rugged knoll]

150/750 newt
2x barlow
above average seeing conditions
IMX585 sensor (uranus c)
processing: astrosurface, winjupos

[somber isle]

Dang man that's insane

[rugged knoll]

It's a huge improvement from my last jupiter image (exact same setup, only difference is seeing conditions)

[somber isle]

Yeah that's a huge improvement. Seeing is sooooo important for planetary and it's so annoying

[rugged knoll]

fr it's just luck based😭

[white prawn]

"lucky imaging"

[umbral kestrel]

fr seeing is so anoying

[tiny topaz]

Seeing is brutal here in Canada, this is with better seeing

[rugged knoll]

bro that's insane

How do you get yours to not look sharp while still having detaip

I think Mine has a bit more detail but that's bc I did a stronger sharpen and yours looks better bc of that

[shell epoch]

I just got back from a planetary session and I took 20x1 minute videos 💀

The more the marrier ig

[rugged knoll]

Winjupos

[thick heron]

Dark rings.

[white prawn]

You just reminded me that I have a Saturn image to process. Looks nothing like that.

[long rune]

that's incredible

[cloud copper]

Does anyone know why planet following setting from firecapture doesnt work?

I even set the treshold to max and still nothing

not even in the cutting setting works

[heavy mirage]

Are you using 16 bit mode?

[thick heron]

Think we need a bit more context.

Screenshot of FC failing to track would help tremendously.

I think whether the cutout tracks or not is in the settings.

[cloud copper]

ill do that in like 20 min, I have to go outside to my telescope

[cloud copper]

@thick heron

[thick heron]

It looks like your histogram is around half, which is not going to detect anything to track if the threshold is at 71%.

I've only seen cutout and autoalign break when 16-bit mode is enabled, which we can't see since it's off-screen to the top left.

[cloud copper]

Should I use 16 bit?

[thick heron]

No.

It's not necessary and breaks cutout and autoalign.

[cloud copper]

Still doesn’t work

[thick heron]

Max threshold will ignore every pixel.

I would leave it automatic enabled and continue troubleshooting from there.

[cloud copper]

That’s what I did, it still won’t work

[thick heron]

This is everything I would check:
16 Bit is disabled, found on the main window.
Automatically compute threshold value is enabled in the AutoAlign page in the settings window.
Let the CutOut box track the planet is enabled, found by clicking the carat next to the cut-out icon on the main window.
Make sure AutoAlign is set to Planet for the profile you are using, found in the Profiles page in the settings window.

[cloud copper]

Thanks!

This is the final pic from today, Im happy with the results.

another version