52 replies to this topic

[evan9162]

I was planning on trying to pick up the moons anyways, since it's just darn cool on its own - but good idea on using that to establish orientation of the imaging train.

 

I'm certainly keeping in mind that capturing banding may simply be impossible for my scope, especially with U so low in the sky, but I'm definitely going to keep trying.  The optics on my C6 are excellent, and I've detected close doubles at or below the resolution limit of my scope - and that was with a DSLR.  

 

I'm hoping the ASI224 can help my scope stretch its legs a little bit more.  Though I may have to wait until next year for better skies to tackle U again.

[Kokatha man]

Yes, never say "never!" for sure.

 

With a well-tuned scope on an excellent night, who knows what might be achievable: I have a suspicion that given such parameters it might be possible to pick up polar brightening...but it's up to you guys to see if that happens..!

[nicolasM]

Hello,

 

First trial with a Questar 3.5" 

First time I see Uranus.

ASI224 on Ep port. Average seeing.

 

[azure1961p]

Now thats fantastic.  Very very sharp and cut and all things I'd expect from a fine instrument. That was one gutsy thibg you did going after it with a 90mm... many thing I was a bit optimistic trying with 150mm. You got the rewards though.  You do the Q proud.

 

Pete

[azure1961p]

I was planning on trying to pick up the moons anyways, since it's just darn cool on its own - but good idea on using that to establish orientation of the imaging train.

 

I'm certainly keeping in mind that capturing banding may simply be impossible for my scope, especially with U so low in the sky, but I'm definitely going to keep trying.  The optics on my C6 are excellent, and I've detected close doubles at or below the resolution limit of my scope - and that was with a DSLR.  

 

I'm hoping the ASI224 can help my scope stretch its legs a little bit more.  Though I may have to wait until next year for better skies to tackle U again.

 

Darin,

 

Your doublestar work is phenomnal.... I believe you may just get some detail on Uranus with the C6. Maybe not till next summer but,  if your doubles skills translate to planetary - look out!

 

Pete

[evan9162]

 

I was planning on trying to pick up the moons anyways, since it's just darn cool on its own - but good idea on using that to establish orientation of the imaging train.

 

I'm certainly keeping in mind that capturing banding may simply be impossible for my scope, especially with U so low in the sky, but I'm definitely going to keep trying.  The optics on my C6 are excellent, and I've detected close doubles at or below the resolution limit of my scope - and that was with a DSLR.  

 

I'm hoping the ASI224 can help my scope stretch its legs a little bit more.  Though I may have to wait until next year for better skies to tackle U again.

 

Darin,

 

Your doublestar work is phenomnal.... I believe you may just get some detail on Uranus with the C6. Maybe not till next summer but,  if your doubles skills translate to planetary - look out!

 

Pete

 

 

 

Thanks.  My next chance will likely be around September next year  - at least for imaging from home, since the entire Eastern sky is blocked in my back yard.  I'll have lots more practice with the '224 and an ADC by then - I will have Jupiter, Mars, and Saturn under my belt with the new setup.  Saturn and Mars will be quite challenging since they will be so low - hoping that the ADC will make a marked improvement on those targets.

[nicolasM]

Now thats fantastic.  Very very sharp and cut and all things I'd expect from a fine instrument. That was one gutsy thibg you did going after it with a 90mm... many thing I was a bit optimistic trying with 150mm. You got the rewards though.  You do the Q proud.

 

Pete

 

Thanks, but actually it was not very difficult. I have much more problems to get a polar alignment from Singapore, than to adjust the circle settings. Its magnitude is ~6, so it can be spotted without too much problem.

Edited by nicolasM, 14 January 2016 - 06:02 AM.

[Stargazer3236]

Here is my pic of Neptune and Triton, taken with my Nexstar 6SE and a ZWO ASI224MC camera.

Attached Thumbnails

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[SteelStar]

You say Nexstar 6SE but you picture is labeled taken with Skywatcher 10".

[Stargazer3236]

It was the Nexstar 6SE. I mislabeled the image.

[KiwiRay]

I've had nothing worth posting for a while now, so I thought I might as well upload these.  Captured in October with Nexstar 6SE and ZWO ASI224MC. 

 

Uranus is a composite of planet and moons - hard to find the dim moons in a Uranus image, given how much brighter the planet is. Clockwise from top, the moons are Ariel, Oberon, Titania and Umbriel. I did find Triton in my Neptune image, and increased its brightness relative to the planet.   Both images are cleaned up from the originals: fuzzy halos around planets removed, just a few pixels of each moon retained and brightened so they don't look like fuzzy blobs.  I consider producing images of the ice giants with such a small scope more art than science (and really, there's no scientific value in such images, so I might as well make them look nice.)  I didn't alter the colours - they are as captured by the camera.

 

Planetary north is to the right in the Uranus image, and up in the Neptune image.

 

 

[Kokatha man]

Excellent Ray!

I see "100916" on the 2nd image which I presume is October 9th this year (using the American dating sequence ) but it'd be interesting to know the UT also...roughly!

With Triton's position clearly seen it might be possible to validate what appears to be polar brightening on the disk of Uranus in your image - indeed in both images now that I look at the 1st one a little more closely.....this would be a truly remarkable achievement..!

nicolasM...in no way meaning to criticise your own image further up this thread: that small black dot in the centre of the disk is from over-sharpening the image & applying some denoise in Registax6 will assist, or not sharpening quite so much. The red fringe on one side of the disk & blue on the other is atmospheric distortion which can be easily corrected by using the "RGB Align" tool in Registax6 when processing the finished stack...it is quite common to see this in colour images & is often very easy to fix, especially on small disks unless the AD is horrific - & then an ADC is called for when imaging!

[KiwiRay]

Thanks, Darryl!  I messed up the dates - used US format for the Uranus image and "standard" format for the Neptune image. Uranus was  UT 30 Oct 2016 07:14:33 and Neptune was UT 10 Sep 07:23:03. Attached is the Uranus viewer image I used to help align the planet and moon images used in the composite.  I'm pretty sure any apparent brightening doesn't match actual brighter areas - seeing wasn't even the best. 

Attached Thumbnails

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[Kokatha man]

...well, I did go a bit awol in my head there Ray, thinking both were Uranus images & for the UT etc of your Uranus image any perceived brightening is on the wrong side - oh well, still a good image from that small scope!

 

I use the program you used also but I prefer the clearer graphics of WinJupos tbh...here's the WJ simulation for that Uranus fwiw. (any location on Earth makes sfa difference! )

 

[nicolasM]

Uranus 

 

Questar + Barlow Daikin x2.4 + ASI224MC @ gain 450. 5000 frames captured, stacked 25% in AS!2 and unsharp soustraction in PI. 

The signal was not very good...

 

[evan9162]

I posted these in my other thread, but they can go here as well:

 

 

 

 

 

I got my ASI290mm last week - tonight is looking promising (but cold!).  Going to try some mono/NIR tonight with the new camera, weather permitting.

[evan9162]

Finishing up a session with Uranus right now (taking 1s exposures to capture moons).  

 

ITS COLD!

 

Right now, it's nearing 0F.  The '290's sensor temp is below 0C.  Now I gotta go out and put everything away.

 

One thing I will say after doing some experimenting with DSO imaging and capturing Uranus's moons - The ASI290MM has 0 amp glow!  I don't need to take darks anymore like I used to with the ASI224MC.

[evan9162]

From Friday night.  Clear, cold, reasonable seeing, but very poor transparency (less than mag 4).  First light with the ASI290MM.  Not the best conditions for it to show its full capabilities.

 

 

[evan9162]

Saturday night.  Another clear and cold night, but with poor transparency.  

 

 

[KiwiRay]

This is excellent work, Darin. It really looks like you've captured the bright north polar region.  I've tried this a couple of times with an IR 610 nm filter, but any brighter areas I get don't match up with reality.   I've yet to attempt this in excellent seeing, so your results are the inspiration I need to keep trying. (And I need some inspiration - sitting outside in -3°C trying to image a small, dancing gray disk is not in itself rewarding work.)

[evan9162]

Thanks.  I'm hoping for a night with good transparency to see if I can improve on things.  These results just about match what I got with an ASI224 on a better night - the ASI290MM should just edge out the '224, hopefully better conditions will help.

 

-3c?  If only.  Saturday night it was about 5F (-15C).  Good for the camera, bad for the operator!  In fact, I swiped my wife's heating pad to stick under the laptop to keep the battery from freezing to death.  

[evan9162]

It feels like a one-man show here.  

 

I'd really like to capture Miranda.  It's a very difficult target - very dim, and close to U, so it's usually lost in the glare.  Larger scopes have a much easier time capturing the dim satellite.

 

I would imagine that a 6" refractor could easily pull it off as well, with less scatter and better contrast due to no CO.

 

I'm still unsure if this is a real result, or just a processing artifact/noise.  

 

[KiwiRay]

Good try there, Darin.  I'd probably make more attempts at Uranus myself, but living in Seattle, clear winter nights are infrequent, and the recent ones have had poor seeing.

Edited by KiwiRay, 27 December 2016 - 02:20 PM.

[evan9162]

Around here in the winter, seeing isn't too terrible, but transparency is a constant issue.  During clear days, the skies aren't a nice deep blue like in the summer, they are a washed out blue.  We probably lose at least 1 limiting magnitude on most nights here in the winter.

 

I'm using the IR-pass filter since with visible light, the glare from Uranus is even more overwhelming.  I see a lot of folks using long pass filters in the 600+ nm range for imaging Uranus.  That probably strikes a nice balance between cutting down glare, cutting through seeing, while not dimming things as much as an IR-pass filter does.

[Kokatha man]

 

I'd really like to capture Miranda.  It's a very difficult target - very dim, and close to U, so it's usually lost in the glare.  Larger scopes have a much easier time capturing the dim satellite.

 

You're doing fine! (an enormous understatement there tbh!  )

 

As to detecting Miranda, the last 2 paragraphs of my post #9 in my current thread address the self-same comments you make above...

 

http://www.cloudynig...but-no-hot-air/