Planetary Imaging

[lyric dome]

Omg fr?

Are you sure it wasn’t higher

[livid sierra]

In the summer this is

[lyric dome]

No way

[livid sierra]

I’m sure

[lyric dome]

Damn, I remember like September 2024 for me it felt like over 60 degrees but idk

Ohh

36?

Not nearly as high as I thought haha

[somber stratus]

Technically it’s several minutes as the horizon can be several degrees below horizontal.

(For mountain top locations)

[somber stratus]

Lucky.

I’ve also been suffering alongside Duif with low altitude imaging of Saturn. A good challenge but not so fun.

Becomes usable this year at ~37 degrees at peak. Still far from optimal though.

[lyric dome]

Unfortunately I got my first ever telescope 3 months after this 😭

[lyric dome]

I got to see Saturn visually a bunch but didn’t get an Astro camera until late January

Phone photographing lmao

[lyric dome]

Beautiful dude

What equipment?

[low oar]

My solar system so far this year

[lyric dome]

The mercury and mars are so good

[halcyon wagon]

Im going to send this message so I cna be part of the thread I wanna read this lol

[lyric dome]

lol

[lyric dome]

How did you make this? Photoshop?

[low oar]

Ye

[lyric dome]

Cool

[lyric dome]

Could you make something similar if I sent you my photos? I don’t have photoshop

[sterile marsh]

8 inch dobsonian

Though im buying a 14 inch dobsonian

[lyric dome]

Old data I assume

[somber isle]

Yeppers

[low oar]

sure it will take like 5 min

you prob can use something like canva or photopea though for free

[lyric dome]

Ohhh

[lyric dome]

Not sure which Jupiter is best

[shell epoch]

1st one is best imo. Others look unnatural

[olive saddle]

Agreed, first one has the best processing

looks more natural and the details are soft looking, whilst remaining sharp and noticeable

[somber stratus]

Agreed. Spacecraft-esque is what I aim for in terms of natural looks, and the 1st image could plausibly fit the bill.

[white prawn]

You succeed. To the point that we would be fair to wonder if you actually have some equip that's spacebound beyond earth's atmospheric effects.

[olive saddle]

He's actually just playing Elite Dangerous irl, flying his starship near the planets to image them with a nice zoom lens.

[rain mauve]

i dont know, people saying today is smiley face but mine turns sad face, i got venus, moon w/eartshine and saturn here

[rain mauve]

i got venus also, i use 300mm focal length to shoot this

[white prawn]

Might be a reason that it's empty. Kind of hard to build on mountains and not many people want to live in a desert.

[bleak rose]

ik

[waxen solstice]

What 4 months of progress looks like

Kinda just reposting till I get a clear night

[white prawn]

#🔭-astrophotography-chat message

[rugged knoll]

jupiter under a bit below average seeing

[white prawn]

I'll have to see what comes out of the mess that I imaged the other night.

[rugged knoll]

is this better?

[woven tundra]

Yes I’d say

Very nice image wow

[rugged knoll]

This was my previous best, shot in above average seeing

[rugged knoll]

Do you think this is better than it

[woven tundra]

Hmm

I mean the details are very similar

[woven tundra]

But i like this colors more

[olive saddle]

your previous best has slightly better details I think, but worse processing than your most recent

[rugged knoll]

Yeah skill>seeing

I've improved since then

[olive saddle]

if you processed the old data in the same way as the more recent one then it could look even better

[rugged knoll]

Yes but sadly i lost the data

[olive saddle]

Aww man

[rugged knoll]

real, i spent so long looking through my files on multiple devices trying to get it back

ive never gotten better seeing since

[summer pebble]

which image of mars looks better?

[fading plume]

Somewhere between the two. Leaning towards left.

[rugged knoll]

Imo right

[sharp ridge]

Left better

Right iz cooked

[somber stratus]

Left, but agree with this

[woven tundra]

[summer pebble]

Ahhh I see, perhaps an image like this?

[lyric dome]

Can you scale up a little?

[summer pebble]

might end up a bit too pixelated

[lyric dome]

Maybe not that much but I think it looks better a little more than the first image

[low oar]

@summer pebble

[summer pebble]

Ahh… I really really need to analyze text more efficiently

[low oar]

Jupiter last night 😬

Not the best

[brisk yacht]

jupiters looking a little bit different isnt it?

like the top of it is different

[white prawn]

I see your "not the best" and raise you by "what the 🦆 "

[sterile marsh]

Thats not that bad mine is whorse

[lyric dome]

Worse*

[sterile marsh]

Nice

[lyric dome]

Beautiful

[main flume]

whorse

[main flume]

mween :D

[lyric dome]

Jupiter?

[lyric dome]

That’s some crazy clear seeing

[somber stratus]

good one

[white prawn]

😭 I had clouds and bad seeing

[lyric dome]

Is that titan?

On the left

Hm

[low oar]

Where are you located, what scope and cam?

[low oar]

Awesome

I need to try

[low oar]

Oh dang what

I have a uv and ir cut filter I use for Jupiter

[low oar]

A uv/ir cut filter

[summer pebble]

colors are a bit iffy cause i wanted to bring out the moon's color, but other than that, i feel this image is greatly improved from my previous take on the same data

[ruby compass]

@low oar do you think I could find mercury during daytime at an fov of 0.05x0.04° without goto?

[thick heron]

Saturn a couple hours ago.

[low oar]

Gear?

[low oar]

Uhhh without go to idk prob not I did it but 🤷‍♂️

[low oar]

Also location?

[ruby compass]

Yeah dont think so either. I have high clouds

[low oar]

Ye

[ruby compass]

Looks like a voyiger 1 image fr

[ruby compass]

I did shoot an airplane 70km away and some cool ducks

[low oar]

Wwww

I got this today

Haha

[somber isle]

Very interesting looking planet

And I see you got the great bird nebula next to it

[lyric dome]

What’s your focal length bro

[thick heron]

FlexTube 400P & Uranus-M just outside San Antonio, Texas, USA.

[thick heron]

~8200mm

[ruby compass]

Image of Finnish airplane i took 2 days ago. (Yes. I took an image of a plane in a whoal diffrent contory.. (250km distance)

[low oar]

nice

[lyric dome]

@thick heron my friend

[thick heron]

They're gonna look almost normal by the time Tom can shoot it.

[lyric dome]

Heck yeah

[somber stratus]

They'll still be notably dim, but nothing like this.

I'll get a reasonable view by early July.

Sun rising time is as much of a problem as Saturn's altitude... 3:55am Sunrise during mid-June here.

[sour cradle]

you can see the chemtrails in such detail

[ruby compass]

I think it turned out quite good! Is it possible to lucky image?

I have a video of the plabe

Plane*

[sour cradle]

ppl lucky image the iss so probably

[ruby compass]

Would u be able to help me?

[sour cradle]

try the default stuff for lucky imaging and see if it works i guess

[ruby compass]

It doesnt really.

Can we vc so I can show u?

[sour cradle]

idk then
never shot planes b4

[sour cradle]

anyways i wanted to ask, on the topic of things that arent normal
how screwed will i be with a t stop of about, a hundred thousand to a million
heard of a diatom before? yeah thats the effective aperture im dealing with
one of those boys

[ruby compass]

@sour cradle ?

[sour cradle]

if normal alignment and quality estimation doesnt work, i dont have any idea what would

[ruby compass]

Can I just show u the issue?

[sour cradle]

you can

[ruby compass]

Its deff an easy fix

Like in vc?

[sour cradle]

yeah

join speak easy

[ruby compass]

Yh

[ruby compass]

@sour cradle plen

[ruby compass]

@sour cradle ?

[sour cradle]

ye?

[ruby compass]

U wanted the data to process

[sour cradle]

yeah
i wasnt able to get any better really

[ruby compass]

Oh

Here is the one I got btw

[late pollen]

Also plen.

[olive saddle]

plane-tary imaging

[livid sierra]

Took this picture 3 years ago with my 6” Dob and Nikon D5300

[keen ginkgo]

Rare occurance where ive seen images of a beluga flying normally and not at an airshow

[livid sierra]

Yeah I've been told that those Beluga planes are pretty rare. This was a Beluga XL, not sure how rare those are. But yeah this one happened to just fly over my house

[olive saddle]

That's an incredible shot, holy wow

[wispy pagoda]

Over toulouse I see belugas pretty often

[lyric dome]

@somber stratus These people didn’t mention you in there post…. Did you give them permission?

[shell epoch]

If it is the same footage. I'd assume it's stolen

[lyric dome]

Exactly

That is unacceptable

[somber isle]

What account is this?

[lyric dome]

Cosmic.travelerr

And someone elee

[somber isle]

Yeah that's 100% Tom's video

That's insane bro

[lyric dome]

Yeah fr

[somber stratus]

No

Stolen, but what’s new.

[lyric dome]

Damn I’m sorry man, I reported them

[somber stratus]

It is what it is.

[somber isle]

Lmao it was such a crappy edit too. Not sure what dude was thinking

"We"

[thick heron]

Needs more comments by lady_es_gara.

[somber stratus]

Except he didn’t tag me.

But hey ho

[lyric dome]

Oh shoot yeah he should have

[lyric dome]

There you go

[somber isle]

Still says "we captured the space station live"

[lyric dome]

Yeah I don’t think the guy speaks English very well tbh

Still in the wrong though

I spoke to him in DMs briefly and it was kinda broken English

[signal holly]

@fading plume look at his phone jupiter, that is mad and defo deserves mininerd

[fathom oak]

planetary usually won't get you mininerd. If so it has to be like Tom level stuff. That's what one of the mods said before anyway

[signal holly]

tom level should be meganerd with extra glaze

[fathom oak]

well he is meganerd XD

but I think the reason is that DSO is harder than planetary and takes more knowledge

[signal holly]

in some ways

my dso that got me mininerd was gobshite and didnt take much knowledghe ir skill

[fathom oak]

recently they've raised the bar a lot

[signal holly]

tuff

i'd like to say i meet the standards now though

[fathom oak]

I had to get a 2h tracked image of Andromeda to get mininerd. Back in the day I had gotten it from a dookie untracked Orion.

[signal holly]

did you get denerded?

[fathom oak]

yeah a few times actually lol

[candid flare]

people thought he was underage

[signal holly]

oof

[fathom oak]

that was not the reason

[signal holly]

got my acc banned from that lol

[fathom oak]

I did act immature tho

but I was 13 when I first got discord

[signal holly]

i was 11 on a very old acc (this was in 2019-2020)

[main flume]

same

more on the knowledge side tho

[flint siren]

CH4 at 15°

[low tendon]

yooo u joined again!

[low tendon]

welcome back

[flint siren]

Yeah i need human Contact

[low tendon]

u doin better that before u left?

[flint siren]

Nah i'm at the lowest and still digging

[low tendon]

fck, wanna chat in dms?

[flint siren]

Imma go to sleep so tmrw

[low tendon]

ok bro gn

[tidal crow]

Good night!

[low tendon]

https://tenor.com/view/we-breaking-bad-walter-white-gif-14928204287258878513

[left spindle]

any cool targets on the moon other than ina?

[candid flare]

Pythagoras thing

[left spindle]

i might have done it

lemme check

i havent

ill do that then

is it on the middle right ?

nono its the same region just not the correct phase

[lean island]

Attention thread lurkers, your thread has been selected in the champion of thread comps. Go vote! #1369694419963613295 message

[white prawn]

Sending the question here for more exposure.

On a level of 0-10, how crazy is tossing about 50K tif images into MS ICE to get a moon stitch?

Eh, actually 38,400

[white prawn]

May heaven have mercy on my CPU/RAM

[keen ginkgo]

I hope ur house aint made of wood cuz otherwise its gonna burn down

[somber stratus]

Won't work.

[low oar]

What would you stitch 50k images for

[fading plume]

I think ICE loads images in RAM, so you’ll need a few TB of RAM/RAM disc and a few decades of time.

[white prawn]

Why not?

[white prawn]

A big lunar mosaic.

[somber stratus]

^

[low oar]

Yea but why haven’t they been stacked first?

[white prawn]

What happened is that I imaged it like Ben asked for a project he was working on for lunar mosaic. His instructions were to not track, just film as the moon passed through.

So I thought, Rio's up for the task, set her up like I normally do for planetary, and followed directions.

Nine times. Set up to film a strip of the moon, let it pass, rinse and repeat. I wanted there to be good overlap to have plenty of data per video.

So there wasn't anything to stack per se, because each individual frame was offset from the one before/after it. The stack was itself was supposed to be compiled with this individual's program. Problem is, he couldn't open the ser or smaller avi files that I made from it. Stuck there, I thought I'd see what I could do.

@fading plume @somber stratus in my defense when I ran the frames from one video (little under 5,000) it seemed to be playing nice. I was watching my CPU/RAM stats and the RAM didn't seem to be getting overloaded. I'm processing off of a Samsung T7 external SSD. Maybe if I make more room on the SSD being used?

[white prawn]

Not only is it wood, it's possibly built in the 1850s and my computer is in the upstairs area that didn't go through the same extensive remodeling as the downstairs. Still has the original horsehair plaster under the original wallpaper that got painted over.

[keen ginkgo]

Uuuuhhhhhh. Good luck is all that i will say

[ruby compass]

@somber stratus do you think it would somehow be possible for you to image the cave?

I mean I would deff asume not.

8.3355°N 33.222°E

Thats the cords

[lean island]

Reminder to vote in round 2 of the thread competitions #1369694419963613295 message

[low oar]

Ahh

[somber stratus]

depends on diameter

would need to be at least several hundred meters across

[ruby compass]

Yeah uhm..

If im not mistaken its either 100 or 40~

@somber stratus but like. Is it possible to reach sharper details than this with an 8"? Seeing was quite good and I was shooting in IR. But like i feel that there should be more to get.

Ina btw (Blue Lake)

[somber stratus]

IR inherently has less resolving power, so yes.

could get better in VIS

[ruby compass]

Yeah

Tho I dont have an uv/it cut

Would it help to get sharper?

[somber stratus]

yes, if the seeing cooperates

[ruby compass]

It never does 😭

Avarage seeing for me is like 2.8arc/s

😭😭😭😭😭

[somber stratus]

https://app.astrobin.com/u/Cherubino#gallery

check out this guy's work. Also 8" for reference

[ruby compass]

Dang

[ruby compass]

Do you have a turorial on how to remove the atmosphere above your house? 😭

[ruby compass]

Crazy

[ruby compass]

Here is my Compernicus.

One of my sharpest lunar images ever

[flint siren]

get ping spamed loser

[elder venture]

aaaand we got another general chat protostar

[flint siren]

?

[native plume]

cool
what telescope do you have? an 8"?

[torpid oracle]

This is my copernicus image

[fathom oak]

my Ina with 8" newt (cooked saturation to try to get it to show up)

[ruby compass]

8" skywatcher classic 200p dob

[ruby compass]

Thats really sharp

Mine (IR)

[fathom oak]

@ruby compass I used a small ROI at 3600mm fl and this was my actual FOV lol

[hasty hull]

I had this with a 6” at 3600mm, just need the right seeing and sampling

[ruby compass]

What.

[ruby compass]

I also use 3600mm lol

[fathom oak]

how

my seeing is literal soup and I hate it

[somber stratus]

FL alone is irrelevant tbh. It's the FL*+camera* that determines sampling.

[ruby compass]

The issue is my 3.76pix size

😭

[fathom oak]

I have 3.75um pixels as well. Is that a problem?

[hasty hull]

I normally have a few nights like this typically in the early autumn

But overall seeing is rough here

[somber stratus]

Late summer/early autumn is the good stuff

[fathom oak]

my average seeing is like this

actually maybe a bit worse than that

[somber stratus]

need a video to determine seeing tbh

[hasty hull]

That looks good, tho tbf I haven’t looked at many Astro images lately so

[somber stratus]

No, if you match it with the focal length required to hit critical sampling

or thereabouts

[hasty hull]

Been working and in HS for the last several months but I graduate very soon so im getting back into it

[somber stratus]

Luckily there isn't much about. I've been busy with exams also but haven't felt like I've missed much

[ruby compass]

I have a few problems. 1. My avarage seeing is nearly 3arc/s. 2. I cant image during summer due to living 63° North. 3. During winter (when I can image) it can get down to -25C°.. 4. 3.76 pixel scale. 5. Im not Tom

[fathom oak]

lemme see if I can find a short clip of some planetary video I have

[somber stratus]

Probs the best seeing I've had with the 16". September of last year.

raw

[ruby compass]

My ahh seeing (IR)

[hasty hull]

scrumptious

[somber stratus]

lol

[ruby compass]

50° above horizion..

[hasty hull]

It do be like that sometimes 💔

Pain

[somber stratus]

I had a night like that recently. Happens

[ruby compass]

Tom getting horrid seeing?!

[native plume]

you can have a good telescope but you cant fight the weather

[somber stratus]

Happens fairly regularly. I just don't bother imaging/posting if it's poor.

[ruby compass]

Real

[ruby compass]

Thats like the best i have ever gotten..

[hasty hull]

How often do you go out and image

[ruby compass]

You prob remember this image Tom.

[hasty hull]

Nooo there’s no way

Seeing has to be pretty good for that image

With an 8”

At the very least 5-6/10

[somber stratus]

Whenever it's clear. I usually do visual first whilst aligning the scope. Can tell if it's a good night from that alone. Most of the time I just don't bother putting the cam in if it's shite.

[ruby compass]

Yeah. Its like one of my best seeings ever

[somber stratus]

(if you're talking to me)

[native plume]

nice
this is my best attempt (so far) on copernicus

[ruby compass]

Actually crazy

[somber stratus]

vs 2 weeks earlier. Same scope, same sampling.

luck of the draw

[fathom oak]

I don't have any Jupiter raw video but here's a short clip of some of the best seeing I ever got on mars with 8" newt.

[native plume]

the diffrence is crazy

[fathom oak]

this was the result I got

[ruby compass]

Better than Voiadgers final images😭

[native plume]

i deleted all of my previous jupiter raw videos

[somber stratus]

yeah that's fairly nice

[hasty hull]

I love the sort of soft look of these raw videos, vibes are unmatched

[native plume]

was this during the opposition?

[somber stratus]

Idk, the stack is juicy too but I see what you mean. Seems more "real" in a sense.

[fathom oak]

not sure but it was many months ago when mars was a lot closer

[ruby compass]

@hasty hull this is really good if you knew the barlow i used. (Tom knows)

[hasty hull]

Yeah just aesthetics wise

[fathom oak]

I use the good ol X-Cel LX 3x barlow from celestron

[ruby compass]

Same. But at time it was very different..

[somber stratus]

Same night Mars IR. Some really nice moments.

[native plume]

the only mars opposition image i got was this and that was like in late february

[ruby compass]

Holy.

[fathom oak]

I need to image Saturn in the morning but it's just so much work to set all this up

[somber stratus]

I want to, but I can't. Still so poorly placed here.

ecliptic is near horizontal at sunrise

[sour cradle]

dont let the sun stop you

[fathom oak]

I doubt it would be visible currently since I have trees on the east though

[native plume]

i got my telescope wayy too late and now the only saturn image i have is saturn without rings

[ruby compass]

I did image a really cool thing. Mars was extremly close to a mag 6 star. Ill try to find the images both with and without barlow

[fathom oak]

actually it might ngl just checked on stellarium

[fathom oak]

show

[ruby compass]

Here

[fathom oak]

this is the oldest saturn pic I have lol

[native plume]

thats awesome

[ruby compass]

How.

[fathom oak]

a few years ago I had some very lucky seeing somehow

[ruby compass]

What scope?

[fathom oak]

now all I get is this

[fathom oak]

8" f/6 newt (was a dob but I put it on an eq mount for easier tracking)

[ruby compass]

@fathom oak

[somber stratus]

Do you acclimatise the scope for a few hours before?

[ruby compass]

Yes

[fathom oak]

uh I forget sometimes lol

[somber stratus]

well there ya go

that could easily account for the difference in those 2 images

[ruby compass]

Yeah

[somber stratus]

obviously could be seeing too, granted

[fathom oak]

it's that important?

[somber stratus]

oh yeah, big time

[fathom oak]

oh wow ok I guess I'll make sure to do that next time

[somber stratus]

I don't have a direct comparison on hand, but it makes a big difference. I use a desk fan on low power all night with the 24". Aim it at the back of the primary

[ruby compass]

Do you think it is an stupid idea for me to use 7200mm of focal? (it includes the shit barlow)

[somber stratus]

Also might be worth covering the scope with reflective foil (even thick cooking foil will do). Stops the "top" of the scope that's pointed at the sky from cooling off more rapidly than the bottom of the OTA. Causes asymmetric temperatures and induces tube currents otherwise. It's a careful balance.

e.g Martin Lewis' here.

though this is an actual insulating material

forgot the name

[elder venture]

This shit looks like a probe

i love it

[somber stratus]

it's a 18" home built dob. Bit of a weapon

[somber stratus]

again depends on camera and scope

[elder venture]

its a chonker, thats for sure

[somber stratus]

but probably not worth doing

[elder venture]

oh right i have been meaning to ask, what kind of cam do you use?

a lil birdie said the Uranus C

[somber stratus]

P1 Uranus-C mostly.

Just picked up the Uranus-M last week though. That'll be replacing my ZWO ASI462MM for mono work.

[elder venture]

uncooled right?

[somber stratus]

ye

don't need cooled ones for planetary

[ruby compass]

here is the mars resoults i get 😭 (not croped)

[elder venture]

ok good good

excited for results

[elder venture]

ye exactly

[elder venture]

beats this

[native plume]

awesome saturn

[ruby compass]

Thought it was jupiter 😭😭

[hasty hull]

Syrtis Major spotted

[ruby compass]

Yup

[ruby compass]

@sour cradle could u vc now?

[ruby compass]

how do i make moon mosaics?

[sour cradle]

just like say what you need cause i have to move out of my dorm today, and then tmr i have to unpack stuff, im gonna be busy for a few days

[ruby compass]

alr.

need help merging 2 images in gimp

(color and ir)

[sour cradle]

color > decompose to layers, then channel mixer on the colors you want to keep, then change to addition layer mixing, and delete unwanted layers

[ruby compass]

@sour cradle okay so. i have made the images look good but i now need to take just the colors from the color data

[ruby compass]

how do i combine?

[sour cradle]

change the layer mixing

[ruby compass]

where?

[sour cradle]

you prob wanna change it to color mixing

[ruby compass]

what is it in swedish? 😭

i know its directly translated to färg mixning or färg blandning

[sour cradle]

ur the swede lol

[ruby compass]

is it HLS-Color?

it looks right

[sour cradle]

hsl color should work

[ruby compass]

it looks good

how do i combine them literally? like to 1 layer

[sour cradle]

right click merge down

[ruby compass]

there we go

ina

do i want to crop out the bw part?

[sour cradle]

up to u

[ruby compass]

making mosaic rn

@sour cradle how do i remove the very visible line?

[sour cradle]

nah
i do not fw mosaics
aint nothing good happen with me an mosaics

[ruby compass]

i think i just need to increse birghtness of bottom image

how do i change brightness?

[sour cradle]

curves

in color

[ruby compass]

k

[ruby compass]

nothing happends when i change it

[sour cradle]

you have send a picture of nothing changed

[ruby compass]

YOO

I GOT IT TO WORK

I JUST NEEDED TO CHANGE THE MODE OF THE BOTTOM PIC TO ADDITION

@sour cradle Can u vc for like literally 1min so i can show u what i mean with nothing happening?

[ruby compass]

@sour cradle HOLY

[ruby compass]

.. (not my moon just used moon image by vikipedia)

look closley..

[rugged knoll]

I made it harder to tell lol

[ruby compass]

its more contrast tho

and sharper

[rugged knoll]

Ik

[ruby compass]

here it is

kinda crazy with an 8" ngl

Can u teach me tom😭

[flint siren]

The lesson : aperture

[native plume]

aperture and seeing

[olive saddle]

and luck, and money, and...

[elder venture]

If I remember correctly, he didn’t even spend that much lol

He got majority used and just built his setup for way cheap than you think

[somber stratus]

24" was 3.5k, with tracking and the lot.

Still a lot of money, but for a 24" it's a steal.

all relative

[ruby compass]

Yeaj

Yeah*

[teal sandal]

It is a steal for a 24 inch. 16 inch scopes in my country sometimes cost more

[teal sandal]

https://youtu.be/rPzYp4lmXPI?si=6zTmFwMa2QsnSOay

Mars is insane

Especially the clouds

[fathom oak]

anyone else notice how cooked his planetary processing is? Looks like he maxes the contrast slider lol

[teal sandal]

ive noticed this in jupiter uranus and venus

mars turned out really well

[somber stratus]

I still think Mars is oversaturated but ig that's personal preference.

[sour cradle]

i can get a 24 inch aragoscope so much cheaper, and it will only have the slight issue of a collecting area the size of a cell of rice plant

[white prawn]

Well ... wish me luck.

38K tif images to mosaic.

I'm just going to let it sit and bake for a while.

[flint siren]

and why the hell would you do that ?

[ashen raft]

Can someone help me I tried taking a picture of mars using my celestron 8 se and a camera and a 2x Barlow but mars had no detail, it was soft and zero detail

[fathom oak]

Could be a multitude of reasons. Out of focus, bad conditions, bad processing, overexposed...

Can you show the image?

[native plume]

good luck
make sure you cool down microsoft ice with ice

[ashen raft]

@fathom oak

[native plume]

do you have the original raw video?

[ashen raft]

I think so wait let me check

[fathom oak]

not sure what file that is but no astro software will open it

some sort of weird tif

only windows photo viewer opens it lol

straight off the bat though it looks like a mixture of bad collimation, possibly bad focus, and bad seeing

I'd need the raw video to tell for sure though

[ashen raft]

I can’t send it

It’s more then 100 Mb

[native plume]

might not be a collimation issue because hes using an 8se

[fathom oak]

wdym lol SCTs need collimation too

[native plume]

might

[fathom oak]

in the picture he sent I can see a flair on one side of mars so it very well could be part of the problem

[native plume]

can you send it through something like wetransfer

[ashen raft]

i am compressing it right now

it might take a minuute tho

Is the 8se actually cable of taking decent pictures of mars?

[fathom oak]

with a decent planetary camera yes. Which camera were you using?

[ashen raft]

A mirrorless camera I think it’s the Sony a5100

[fathom oak]

wait why do I hear rain in the video

[ashen raft]

It’s a fountain

[fathom oak]

oh lol

[ashen raft]

In my house 😂

[fathom oak]

I was like how are you shooting through rain

[ashen raft]

🤣

[fathom oak]

hmm that may be limiting you a bit

[ashen raft]

ya I know

Realistically I knew it would limit me but I did not expect it to not show any detail

[fathom oak]

Mars is pretty small right now and will be very hard to get detail

a few months ago when it was in opposition it was a lot bigger

[ashen raft]

The thing is it’s the only planet that’s going to be out for like a month or two

[fathom oak]

but yeah in the video it looks like a mixture of bad collimation, bad atmospheric conditions, and the mirrorless camera probably isn't helping things

[fathom oak]

saturn is rising in the early morning right now but yeah currently the positions of the planets aren't good

[ashen raft]

So you think I should collimate my telescope and try again? Or should I wait for other planets to come up

[fathom oak]

tbh I doubt you'll get detail on mars since it's so small right now.

You can try but it will be difficult

[ashen raft]

and honestly the mount is kind of inaccurate so no deep sky objects is possible unfortunetly

[fathom oak]

I tried a few months ago with a 8" newtonian and planetary camera and only managed this but now it's even smaller and you're using a mirrorless cam so I kinda doubt you'll resolve anything

[ashen raft]

damn so you think the camera is limiting me that much

[fathom oak]

DSLRs and mirrorless cameras have big sensors and low framerate so yeah it's not optimal

[ashen raft]

oh and another question do you think the camera and 2x barlow is enough magnifcation

This was my first time stacking so it did take me hours to try to figure it out especially on a mac

[fathom oak]

yeah

[fathom oak]

what software did you use?

[somber stratus]

Orbital positioning is limiting you the most.

It's very poorly placed now.

[ashen raft]

whats that?

[ashen raft]

AutoStakkert by running a windows on my mac

[somber stratus]

Mars & Earth are far from each other currently.

[ashen raft]

oh ya

[ashen raft]

but it is the only planet out so i have no other choice

[somber stratus]

Granted. Saturn is on it's way back though. Depends where you live as to it's visibility. Southerners have a good view already.

[fathom oak]

I'm at 34 degrees north and saturn is already fairly high in the morning

[ashen raft]

where is that

[fathom oak]

that's my latitude

[ashen raft]

Ah ok

[white prawn]

Huh.

Fixed the layout and back to not responding.... and I remembered that I need to make an adjustment to the layout for the start corner. sigh.

[thick heron]

Saturn already gets to 40 degrees before sunrise here.

[ashen raft]

Do planets like saturn and jupiter get effected by light pollution alot

?

[ruby compass]

his processing was kinda questioneble. Atleast jupiter. tho mars is great imo

[white prawn]

Not that I've seen. They're impacted more by seeing/transparency/out of control BBQs.

[ruby compass]

nah

could somone fix colors?

its my moon mosaic

[fathom oak]

nah they're so bright it doesn't matter

[ruby compass]

how do i make mosaics?

[white prawn]

I'm using Microsoft ICE, it's a legacy software. I'd have to google search it, they discontinued it.

[low oar]

Mars is really far away currently, I was having trouble with my C11 the other night haha

[low oar]

Take panels and stitch them together very easy

Not the best but this is 7 panels from last night

[ruby compass]

yes but arent there any programs for that?

[low oar]

I do it manually

Which is better in my opinion

I can keep what I want and such

[ruby compass]

yeah

kenny could u vc rq?

[low oar]

Sorry gang at work

Just chat whatcha need

@ruby compass

[ruby compass]

kk

[ruby compass]

Nah its just i dont know how on earth im gonna pull of a moon mosaic.

this is the kind of levels of zoom we are talking... (colored one)

@low oar

[low oar]

Why are you so zoomed in

What’s your setup

[ruby compass]

skywatcher classic 200p with homemade eq platform zwo assi224mc and celestron lx xcel 3x barlow

[ruby compass]

total: 1100$

[low oar]

Take off the Barlow

[ruby compass]

no

to zoomed out

[low oar]

Uh why? lol

Only use the Barlow for high res imaging for like craters and stuff

[ruby compass]

i want the entirety to be high res

[low oar]

Yea

[ruby compass]

you tell me whats better

[low oar]

This is 30 panels

I know get a lot of frames

The one on the right

[ruby compass]

but ur Kenny

[ruby compass]

ofc. thats with bralow

[low oar]

Yea

[ruby compass]

with a much much mu7ch worse one btw

[low oar]

That’s one planet which is very small

To even make a good mosaic you have to find the right balance

[ruby compass]

3x oversampeling is great

[low oar]

Yes but the framing is way to small for mosaic

Your gonna be processing for ages

[ruby compass]

not really. jusy need alot of pannels

[ruby compass]

that pannel alone took 4hours to edit

[low oar]

Yea for a full moon like 100-125

[low oar]

Yea see what I’m saying

My mosaics take like 2 hours

My quick ones

[ruby compass]

i like torturing myself

[low oar]

Then keep doing what ur doing haha

[ruby compass]

btw wanna see the pannel?

[low oar]

Didn’t you show me?

[ruby compass]

its here

[ruby compass]

yes but thats cropped

[low oar]

Oh

Show me what your regular panel looks like

[ruby compass]

here

[low oar]

I thought it was cropped

[ruby compass]

no

thats a mosaic lmao

[low oar]

You got me so lost man haha

[ruby compass]

mb

[ruby compass]

i meant that in this image my part look pixalated

[low oar]

Oh ye I saw

Ur gonna need so much data if you wanna mosaic like that

I’m just saying how I do it

Find a workflow

This was 30 panels all full frame no Barlow

[ruby compass]

yeah.. the hard part is if i want a color one. Since im using IR data for details and color data for color..

[ruby compass]

awsome

[low oar]

You shoot detail and color sperate

[ruby compass]

my field of view with balow is 0.04x0.03 degrees.....

[ruby compass]

yes

[low oar]

Ye like 2 different cameras

[ruby compass]

same camera

[low oar]

Planetary cams can be a tad sensitive but you do you

I would stack dslr photos for color

[ruby compass]

i combine these

[ruby compass]

to get this

[low oar]

Here is the full moon pic panels from above

[rugged knoll]

damn the ir helps a lot

what nm

[ruby compass]

ik

[ruby compass]

685

[low oar]

I mean you do you

That’s just my workflow

[ruby compass]

yeah

[low oar]

I just see it as 4 hours for that is kinda wild in my opinion when it could take 5 min

[ruby compass]

but 1 question Kenny

[low oar]

How many frames was that?

[ruby compass]

im not used to giump

[ruby compass]

color data like 1.3k and ir like 2k

[low oar]

Hm?

[low oar]

How did it take 4 hours?

[ruby compass]

gimp*

[low oar]

I don’t use that

[ruby compass]

finding where to do shit and blending stuf for the mosaic

[low oar]

Wdym

[ruby compass]

hard to explain but there are actually 2 pannels of Ir in that data

[low oar]

Ye but you just make it a color overlay

[ruby compass]

but

how do i make just the lake blue?

[low oar]

Huh

Get a bigger scope lol

[low oar]

What’s ur appature?

[ruby compass]

guess

[low oar]

Idk 5 inch?

[ruby compass]

gonna cry 😭

no

[low oar]

6?

[ruby compass]

no 😭

@low oar 8"

[low oar]

Are you collimated?

[ruby compass]

yea

[low oar]

So this is what I call a quick mosaic

Like super easy to do

Probably 10 panels or so

100 frames per panel

And this is with a 6 inch

[ruby compass]

100 frames aint getting me shit

[low oar]

It’s sending 1 sec

[low oar]

Wdym

[ruby compass]

how long do you think my subs are?

[low oar]

Wdym

Wait what camera do you use

[ruby compass]

color data with 100 frames are not happening

[ruby compass]

224mc

[low oar]

To zoomed in

That pic above is all off one shoot

Like color and detail from each pannel

Panel

[ruby compass]

that makes sense

[low oar]

Gotta zoom out man

Haha

[ruby compass]

to big pix size

[low oar]

Wym

[ruby compass]

if i get more zoomed out ill loose detial

[low oar]

You won’t

[ruby compass]

i will.

pix scale of 3.76 lmfao

[low oar]

Even if you do it will be so minor it compensates for the days of processing lol

Ye ur chill

Just test a mosaic at full frame

[ruby compass]

well if u send me a full frame than sure

i dont have a job unlike you 🤣

[low oar]

I may be wrong but I know if you just practice and trial and error every clear night your find your workflow with your equipment

[low oar]

Wdym

[ruby compass]

i would never have the money for it

[low oar]

You have a good camera lol

And a 8 inch scope

You can get really insane pics

Mine are pretty basic tbh

You can do insane stuff with your setup

[ruby compass]

my cameraq is shit

[low oar]

How

Isnt it like super entry level and good for planetary

[ruby compass]

it was great in 2016.

that was 9 years ago..

[low oar]

Fair

My cam is only like $350

I just sold my dslr for it

I was tired of single shot mosaics with a 5 inch lol

[ruby compass]

tho. somehow it was 300$..

[low oar]

Huh

[ruby compass]

swedish prices.,.

[low oar]

Idk much about that

[ruby compass]

ik. your American..

[low oar]

Ye

[ruby compass]

okay lemme explain it in american. Place called europe. state in europe called sweden. thats where me lives. Sweden prices big. because america (where the camera is from) far away from sweden.

[low oar]

W

Point is

[ruby compass]

hope u understand

[low oar]

Get in your own workflow for mosaic

That’s how they get good

[ruby compass]

yeah. kinda hard without tracking that actually works nor goto

[low oar]

Zoom out lol

[ruby compass]

how?

[low oar]

Take that Barlow off lol

[ruby compass]

nah

[low oar]

lol

[lyric dome]

Mine is one of these (been 2 months forgot)

[low tendon]

def posssible i got this with a 6" (you prob have seen it already)

[ruby compass]

Yeah

[somber stratus]

nicely processed

[low tendon]

thanks man, do you think its possible to get a sharper shot with a 6" or will i need a fatter scope?

[somber stratus]

This looks pretty close to the limit for a 6" unfortunately.

so yes, a fatter scope

[low tendon]

damn, the seeing was like 0.8 arc sec with 2m/s jetstream so its logical smth sharper isnt possible with a 6", ill get an 8" quattro for dso (my main focus is dsos) with a better barlow with more magnification so i can also shoot planetary

[somber stratus]

Thing is you'll max out a 6" in barely above average seeing. Diffraction limit is your limiting factor on most non-shit seeing nights (assuming no collimation or optical issues).

8" you'll see some improvement, but not much. It's only a 33% increase in resolve.

[low tendon]

still an improvement

[low tendon]

my collimation has remained perfect for 2 years, ive cheaked multyple times, im not joking

[somber stratus]

Yup. I would usually recommend saving up for a bigger scope as to have a larger jump in aperture, but it's fine since you're doing DSO with it.

[low tendon]

idk if an eq6r pro can handle a 10"

[somber stratus]

and 10" DSO is pain. Need a whole new mount probably, gets expensive quick

ye

that's the issue

[low tendon]

i want to be safe from wind so 10"+ would be bad cuz its a wind sail and heavvy

[somber stratus]

Whereas if you're solely planetary oriented it's just big Dob go brrr. It's fine though, if DSO is your thing the 8" will do nicely.

[low tendon]

here in greece in the summer there are strong winds

[low tendon]

yeah

[ashen raft]

Guys if I want to record Saturn to then stack it how long should the videos be because I have the celestron 8 se on the mount that it comes

[terse night]

Hell yeah 🔥

[white prawn]

Most planetary is about 90s recordings.

Definitely true for Jupiter, I think Saturn is the same. Because rotation

[ashen raft]

can i take 2 minutes for saturn?

or itd better to do 90

[terse night]

2 minutes is fine

The most experienced take multiple videos and then derorate the image, I'm clueless about the process so ask @somber stratus for details

[somber stratus]

2 mins is fine. The length of each video doesn't matter if you choose to derotate. Tbh AS!3/4 can deal with up to ~5 mins just fine.

[white prawn]

While I choose to agree with you ... were you one of the folks who said I should go down to 90s when I said I was dropping from 3m to 2m? 🙂

[lyric dome]

Hey Steve! Long time no talk, been very busy

Tried Saturn for the first time since February

Got a titan eclipse

750 FL, I need a real Barlow

I chose not to use my trashy one because it probably would do more damage than good

These are with my old scope 900mm but a trashy refractor, they aren’t that different…. I need a better Barlow like I said

[lyric dome]

Hey man, 2 questions, 1. Do I have to worry about how long my Saturn clip is for stacking? I know there is only so much point in more than a certain number of frames but how can I find that number? I don’t think I should worry abt field rotation with Saturn and I’m not trying to pull detail.

2. Is it possible for a 6 inch to see the gap in rings yet?

[somber stratus]

No idea. It's highly dependent on aperture, seeing, and the target at hand.

[white prawn]

8", usually average seeing, Jupiter/Saturn/Mars.

Did trash seeing once, yikes.

[somber stratus]

So I wouldn't be surprised if I did, but it's key to have context. For Saturn I've always said 2m is fine, as far as I can remember.

[somber stratus]

Each planet has different optima.

[somber stratus]

This is the whole idea of derotation. You capture say 15 x 2m and derotate them as to integrate 30m of data.

[white prawn]

Fair. That's what I was thinking too since my main target at the time was Jupiter, I was told that Saturn is similar. Didn't really get to discuss Mars.

[somber stratus]

90s sounds right for Jup.

[lyric dome]

Ohh i see, can that help show the gap at all? Because of when i came into astro, I have never seen gaps in the rings

[somber stratus]

Possibly.

[lyric dome]

Cool.

without a barlow is 750 fl too low?

[somber stratus]

6" is enough to resolve the cassini div, but it's poorly oriented atm

[lyric dome]

indeed

[lyric dome]

This doesn’t apply if they are different exposures right? I took Saturn in so many different ones from 4:30-6 am

[somber stratus]

It is possible if you weight the stacks accordingly but it’s a bit of a pain.

Typically you just stick with the same exposure time

[lyric dome]

I would rather wait until tonight haha

What do you recommend?

I have found 8ms is pretty good

[somber stratus]

~10ms is a safe bet. Anything from 5-15ms is fine.

[lyric dome]

Cool, thanks Tom

[white prawn]

I usually have mine set at just under 10ms, 9.75, and have found that it's safe.

[lyric dome]

Cool

[white prawn]

Saturn images were not bad, by the way.

I also have a Celstron 130SE ... 130/750 ... so 5" F5.77 Now if I could only find the image of Jupiter that was taken with it.

Wasn't bad for the seeing.

[lyric dome]

Thanks man

[lyric dome]

With pipp, is ser or avi better? Or does it not matter

[white prawn]

I take my stuff directly to AutoStakkert. It'll stack the frames in the ser or avi.

[lyric dome]

Oh cool

I’ve never tried that

[cloud copper]

Is a push-to upgrade wort it for my 12” dob?

Sometimes I have trouble finding planetary nebulae

I found one at 150€

Second hand

[low oar]

Saturn with Titan transit

[white prawn]

Less than ideal seeing on that

[low oar]

It was very bad, Canada just screwed me with wild fire smoke and the Sahara desert is also hitting me with dust

I can’t win

[white prawn]

You have my empathy and sympathy. Coming from someone who also has less than ideal seeing.

[low oar]

It’s on my only clear days too

Had clouds for weeks

[deft spoke]

Tom could you get pluto and sharon like ik it sounds funny but what abt getting them as 2 little low quality specs

[flint siren]

He will not, Pluto is too low from his location.

[white prawn]

I mean, that is probably the only thing limiting him from imaging it.

[flint siren]

Interest too, he doesn't do much of niche imaging.

[olive saddle]

y'know I feel like people underestimate just how small and far Pluto is

like, vastly.

It's only about 2/3rds the size of our moon, but orbits on average around ~6 billion kilometers from the sun. Mars, for comparison, orbits ~230 million kilometers away.

the fact that Hubble could barely resolve Pluto as a few pixels, I doubt even the most incredible amateur planetary rig could resolve Pluto as anything more than a single pixel, possibly not even a gargantuan observatory telescope could do it.

[white prawn]

Except for Tom ... I'm convinced that the laws of physics would bend for him if he wanted to image Pluto. Him and Damien.

"Oh those guys? Here, let me move the atmosphere around, huh, that is pretty distant, well I guess we can throw some more light. I'm sure that we can work something out so the mirror can resolve it a little larger and better."

Meanwhile if I want to image solar or Jupiter. "Yo, Steve's out! LET'S GET THOSE CLOUDS AND JET STREAMS! How's that you little $&@#$! Aw you can still see something? Here, take some wildfire smoke and Sahara sand! $#@** you Steve!"

Ahem.

[rugged knoll]

We have a lot in common

[livid sierra]

Everything ok?

[somber stratus]

Declination is too poor. Only rises to like 14 degrees.

[somber stratus]

I did vesta just a handful of weeks ago bruh

And for the record I’ve imaged Venus nightside, Uranus rings and mapped Ganymede in the past.

[flint siren]

It's all in the frequency ma boi. Discipline.

[somber stratus]

[low oar]

Holy crap

[low oar]

Not tryna be weird but how old are you?

[flint siren]

You're being weird. Why does that matter ?

[low oar]

Just curious lol

[flint siren]

17

[white prawn]

I saw the Ganymede map, impressive. Tried to image Ganymede with my 8". It definitely didn't resolve as well as yours. Smaller aperture and seeing likely wasn't as ideal as what yours seems to be.

[lyric dome]

Finslly investing in better gear

@white prawn

I think we good seeing and this my 6 inch will do worlds better than no Barlow

[lyric dome]

Is your location the issue? Or

[lyric dome]

I saw your post man, insane work

On insta

[low oar]

Seeing, I’m getting hit with Canada wild fire smoke

Out of nowhere

[lyric dome]

Gotcha

Same

[thick heron]

Well actually it’s out of Canada.

[low oar]

Wdym

[ruby compass]

@flint siren can u send me the raw data from the impact?

Fits sorry

[flint siren]

I'm uploading it

[ruby compass]

Okay

I wanna process it in like a few hours

[low oar]

Saturn this morning

[livid sierra]

Looks weirdly denoised

[low oar]

It’s my first ever one

Idk

[livid sierra]

What did you use for denoising

PS camera raw?

[low oar]

Yea I think a bit of basic noise reduction and then just camera raw

I de rotated too

[livid sierra]

Looks like primarily camera raw denoise was used. That makes it look very plasticky

Best to let derotation do all the denoise or if needed use a little bit of gaussian blur

Can also use despeckle but makes it look very artificial too sometimes

[low oar]

Okok I might process again later

I’m beat lol

[flint siren]

First of all calm down on the pings pls and second look at ur dms.

[low oar]

Can I please get some feedback on my moon shot from last night

Anything I should change?

[ruby compass]

Idk. Slightly to sharp near ina imo

[left spindle]

Bit too much sharpened, colour looks great, is it a mosaic?

What did u use to sharpen?

[flint siren]

The overall looks nice. Try adjusting the darker regions so they look more natural. Having everything at the same brightness, in an HDR style, often looks exaggerated. The colors are pretty nice, although i would try to bring more natural tones, less orange, more cyan and brown and little bit more blue.

May not be the best version but here's my typical color balance.

[low oar]

Registax

[low oar]

I agree I like the natural look as well I was going for a more rough and sharpened look this time around

It was only 25% of 15,000 images

Tonight I took 90k

So we’ll see how that comes out

[left spindle]

Thats also a lot

[low oar]

Huh?

[left spindle]

I generally reject 95-99% of the frames

[low oar]

Jeeze bruh

I got good data thou

[left spindle]

Great, then its fine

Gonna lucky img?

[low oar]

My line crosses at 25%

[low oar]

?

[left spindle]

Are you gonna try lucky imaging soon?

Also is this a mosaic?

[low oar]

Yea

27 panels or something

I did another tonight

84 panels

90,000 frames

[left spindle]

Wooaaahhh

90k frames per panel?

[low oar]

Oh no no

Haha

Total

[left spindle]

So per panel close to 1k?

[low oar]

Yea

[left spindle]

I am assuming you stack induvisual panels and then stich them?

[low oar]

Yeah

Stacking rn

[left spindle]

it will be better with less grains

[low oar]

Here were some separate high res shots I got last night, prob about 3,000 frames each

[low oar]

Huh

[left spindle]

The grainy effect you had in your mosaic

[low oar]

Where

[left spindle]

Zoom in on lava lake

[low oar]

Oh ye I should have fixed that part

[left spindle]

Stack less

There are stacking atrefacts

[low oar]

I’m doing 20% tonight

[low oar]

Show me

[left spindle]

Some of the frames are overshot

So it isnt clear

[low oar]

Not seeing it

[left spindle]

Are you using autostakkert for stacking?

[low oar]

Yea

[left spindle]

Try astrosurface once

[low oar]

Why

[left spindle]

Wanna check if it is stacking error

[low oar]

I already deleted the files

[left spindle]

Aww man

[low oar]

And I’m not tryna download a whole software rn lol

[left spindle]

Nvm

[low oar]

I don’t see the artifacts

[ruby compass]

Me Vs Tom

Tom is actually Crazy

[left spindle]

Look closely on the side of craters, its duplicated, everwhere

Everywhere its duped

[low oar]

That’s the crater lol

[left spindle]

Shifted bit to top right

[ruby compass]

Yeah thats the crater

[low oar]

lol

[left spindle]

Oh lol mb

Sry

[ruby compass]

Nah dw

Very Good Honestly

[left spindle]

where is this?

[ruby compass]

What one?

[left spindle]

same part (test stack of abt 500 frames)

[left spindle]

left

[ruby compass]

Theophilus Crater

[left spindle]

i see

[low oar]

W

[flint siren]

Somethin' ain't right in your stacks.

Some motion blur or miscollimation going on.

[ruby compass]

Motion blur

[flint siren]

And also go smoother on the wavelets, the diffraction is too visible.

[left spindle]

Exactly

I thought it was stacking error

[low oar]

Collation is perfect

It’s just the style I was going for

[flint siren]

Lmao that's not a style. Just an error in either the acquisition or processing. Seeing can produce something like that too so i don't rule it out.