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Magellan
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/26/06
Posts: 540
Loc: Dartmouth, NS Canada
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Frames: 370
Gain: 40
Brightness: 30
FPS: 30
Scope: Celestron Nexstar 102SLT
Camera: Celestron Neximager
Barlow: Ultima 2x
This is the best I could get so far from my new scope. For some reason this is brighter than most and I am not sure why, I use the same settings everytime. Even the AVI file is bright.
Comments and suggestions most welcome. I really need to make better notes of settings used. I am just so excited to get it working I guess at them most of the time. How does everyone make notes of settings/avi file captured?
Thanks,
Jeff
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Jeff D
Coulter Odyssey 2 8" Dobsonian
Celestron Nexstar 102SLT
Antares EQ-5 Mount
Celestron Skymaster 15x70
Messier Certificate Count: 71/110
St. Croix Observatory RASC-Halifax
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Gendo
Post Laureate
Reged: 12/12/05
Posts: 3231
Loc: Rexburg, ID
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Hi Jeff,
As much as I tell myself to write down settings, I never do.
Not a bad capture for being so far North and using a 4". Looks like seeing was probably average which never helps.
Just remember, you and I are looking through about twice as much atmosphere (~120 miles) as our South Pacific friends here are (~60 miles), so we can't expect too much out of low lying Jupiter this year (<30° maximum where I'm at). 
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DarkStar72
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/19/06
Posts: 2419
Loc: 32°52'24"N 87°00'00"W
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Right off the top of my head the first thing I would suggest is slow that Fps down to no higher than 10.
Aside from that its a great second attempt. Keep at it, and you will continue to improve. I usually name the file with the settings, that way I cant forget later when I am processing.
ALso, make sure the scope is well adjusted to the temp outside. And try to use something like festoons or ovals as focus points if at all possible.
Chris
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DarkStar72/Chris
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Meade DS-2090 AT-TC 90mm f/8.8
Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic f/4.7 DOB Newt
Orion SVPro8 EQ f/4.9 Reflector-Moonlight CR1-DC Motor Focus
Current Imagers:
SPC900NC-CCD-Lunar/Planetary
Meade DSI ProII w/Filters-DSO's
http://www.freewebs.com/darkstar72
Lay Lake Observatory, AL
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Magellan
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/26/06
Posts: 540
Loc: Dartmouth, NS Canada
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lol I touch the focus knobs and the image bounces all over the place using such a high mag. I used the moon to focus, seeing was terrible, partly cloudy, hazy in spots. Focusing is a challenge for me as it looks like *Word deleted by the CN gnaughties gnomes* to begin with on my P2 Laptop screen. I tried diffraction method, Doesn't work, I don't see spikes on bright stars and the hartmen only gets you "close".
I am going to try naming the files according to my settings next time, my naming convention atm is dd/mm/yyyy-objectx directory followed by objectxx.avi. I used the convention from that tut that was posted in the forums.
Also, slowing the FPS would lessen your chances to get that brief moment of good seeing wouldn't it?
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Jeff D
Coulter Odyssey 2 8" Dobsonian
Celestron Nexstar 102SLT
Antares EQ-5 Mount
Celestron Skymaster 15x70
Messier Certificate Count: 71/110
St. Croix Observatory RASC-Halifax
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DarkStar72
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/19/06
Posts: 2419
Loc: 32°52'24"N 87°00'00"W
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Quote:
lol I touch the focus knobs and the image bounces all over the place using such a high mag. I used the moon to focus, seeing was terrible, partly cloudy, hazy in spots. Focusing is a challenge for me as it looks like *Word deleted by the CN gnaughties gnomes* to begin with on my P2 Laptop screen. I tried diffraction method, Doesn't work, I don't see spikes on bright stars and the hartmen only gets you "close".
I am going to try naming the files according to my settings next time, my naming convention atm is dd/mm/yyyy-objectx directory followed by objectxx.avi. I used the convention from that tut that was posted in the forums.
Also, slowing the FPS would lessen your chances to get that brief moment of good seeing wouldn't it?
A fast FPS like that would cause too much compression IMHO to pick up any good detail, at least for a NexImage. Most NexImage & ToUCam users stay in the 5fps for "good" seeing and 10 for everything else range. Focus can be a pain, but keep at it.
If you would like I can post a single raw frame @ 10fps of one of my better captures to show you where you should be aiming for as far as focus and exposure. Just let me know if you want to see one.
Chris
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DarkStar72/Chris
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Meade DS-2090 AT-TC 90mm f/8.8
Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic f/4.7 DOB Newt
Orion SVPro8 EQ f/4.9 Reflector-Moonlight CR1-DC Motor Focus
Current Imagers:
SPC900NC-CCD-Lunar/Planetary
Meade DSI ProII w/Filters-DSO's
http://www.freewebs.com/darkstar72
Lay Lake Observatory, AL
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Magellan
professor emeritus
Reged: 01/26/06
Posts: 540
Loc: Dartmouth, NS Canada
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oh yes, please I would love to play around with some footage.
I love coming here, everyone is so helpful when it comes to nubs.
Focusing does get better? thats something to look forward to.
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Jeff D
Coulter Odyssey 2 8" Dobsonian
Celestron Nexstar 102SLT
Antares EQ-5 Mount
Celestron Skymaster 15x70
Messier Certificate Count: 71/110
St. Croix Observatory RASC-Halifax
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Gendo
Post Laureate
Reged: 12/12/05
Posts: 3231
Loc: Rexburg, ID
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Focusing is hard, and it only gets harder as the seeing gets worse. I too have found the Hartman mask to be worthless. I get closer to focus without it by just watching the preview window as I focus (time consuming if your mount vibrates like mine does when you touch the focus knob). I like to overexpose the planet a bit (to make it brighter) and focus in until the disk edge looks as sharp as I can get it. Then I turn the exposure back down and fine tune focus on a surface feature like Jupiter's festoons or Saturn's Cassini Division.
I recommend converting your avi into bmp frames, and running them through the PpmCentre Front End beta. It will sort and renumber your frames, putting what seems to be the most in focus (using gradient method) first and the least in focus last. Then just run the first 100-150 frames through Registax. It also centers the planet in each frame which makes things easier in Registax.
Here's a comparison of one of the better raw frames and the final image from my capture on July 8th. Seeing was not only average, but also shifty. Shifting seeing will make a lot of your frames look out of focus, especially at a low altitude.
This was at 5fps and 1/10 exposure with gain at 0%, gamma and saturation at 100%, and brightness at about 2/3rds.
Not bad I guess for only being 27° above the horizon.
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Lester
sage
Reged: 07/05/06
Posts: 205
Loc: South Australia
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Hi Jeff,
I use a neximage, best settings= 5fps always gain 65-80% any less and you will get onion rings gama 0-15% higher gain will reduce detail saturation 50% brightness I use about 25% but you can alter that so you get a good looking image on the laptop.
Good luck.
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DarkStar72
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 03/19/06
Posts: 2419
Loc: 32°52'24"N 87°00'00"W
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Quote:
oh yes, please I would love to play around with some footage.
I love coming here, everyone is so helpful when it comes to nubs.
Focusing does get better? thats something to look forward to.
Well its not footage, just a single frame from one of my better captures. This will hopefully give you an idea of what I look for in focus and exposure.
Capture settings:
Brightness-50%
Gamma-25%
Saturation-100%
S/S-1-20th
Gain-30%
Fps-10
Seeing ( which makes a huge difference ), was 5/5 as was the trans. This dosent happen all that often so dont get your hopes up ( the conditions I mean, and they did not last long )
Equipment:
Orion XT10 Classic ( Non-tracking )
Celestron NexImage
2x meade barlow
2x Lanczos resize in VirtualDub
As mentioned the focus gets harder with worse seeing, but as far as learning how to focus, that does get easier. You will work out your own system and get better at it in time.
Chris
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DarkStar72/Chris
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Meade DS-2090 AT-TC 90mm f/8.8
Orion SkyQuest XT10 Classic f/4.7 DOB Newt
Orion SVPro8 EQ f/4.9 Reflector-Moonlight CR1-DC Motor Focus
Current Imagers:
SPC900NC-CCD-Lunar/Planetary
Meade DSI ProII w/Filters-DSO's
http://www.freewebs.com/darkstar72
Lay Lake Observatory, AL
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Gendo
Post Laureate
Reged: 12/12/05
Posts: 3231
Loc: Rexburg, ID
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Yes, 5/5 seeing is rare except in the winter (here anyways).
I felt lucky just to have the 6-7/10 seeing for that capture.
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tegea
sage
Reged: 11/29/04
Posts: 340
Loc: Gif sur Yvette - FRANCE
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Quite nice ! You have now to wait for a good seing night.
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Thierry
 - article here
- Intes MK66 Maksutov-Cassegrain Rumak
- Intes MN61 Maksutov-Newton
- Televue TV76 doublet APO refractor
- Takahashi FS-60C fluorite doublet APO refractor
- Skywatcher EQ5 german equatorial mount
http://gauthiet.club.fr/anglais/index.html
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