1087 replies to this topic

[kbev]

I looked it up, and Mars was only about 12.6" at the time of your image - this is a great image for such a distant Mars!  Conditions might be far more challenging this year, but on that rare perfect day, the much larger apparent size of Mars should give us a good chance of capturing a nice image.

 

 

 

I went into my photobucket album and found the original image, it was dated April 16th.  Looking it up on Stellarium it shows that Mars was only 11.2 arcseconds in diameter but it was also culminating at around 70deg altitude.  I remember it was a reasonably cold night for mid-April but the seeing was just rock-steady for about an hour and a half and I used as much of that time as I could to enjoy the views.

[nicolasM]

Mars this night from Singapore. Good to excellent seeing and transparency (for the region). It was almost 60˚ of altitude in the sky. 

 

Questar 3.5" Standard and ASI224MC, AS!2 2.6.6 and R-L deconvolution. 

 

[Lacaille]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for this very enjoyable thread. My Celestron 8SE doesn't allow me to contribute to this thread when I am at home in Canberra! However, I am spending some months here in Strasbourg and was just given a Celestron 127 Mak-Cass by my dear wife to keep my hand in.  We are three floors up in a small apartment but I can see Mars low over a disused brewery to the south over the city from our kitchen window. Given the unpromising situation, I have been very pleased with the performance of this small scope.   I attach this morning's effort (127 mm diameter, 1500 mm focal length, Neximage 5, 40 fps, no Barlow), with a screen shot from Stellarium for comparison.

 

I also attach the series I am working on, which will culminate in opposition (late May-June) when I will be staying here, to complete the series (the 127 is the last in the series, with the Neximage  - the rest are with the 8SE and a ZWO120MM and RGB filters). There is a fair bit of colour variation, partly due to operator error!  But I don't think the 127 is very much worse than the better of the 8SE images.  I need to lift my game with the 8SE back in Canberra!

 

Regards

 

Mark

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[gfstallin]

Hi all,

 

Thanks for this very enjoyable thread. My Celestron 8SE doesn't allow me to contribute to this thread when I am at home in Canberra! However, I am spending some months here in Strasbourg and was just given a Celestron 127 Mak-Cass by my dear wife to keep my hand in.  We are three floors up in a small apartment but I can see Mars low over a disused brewery to the south over the city from our kitchen window. Given the unpromising situation, I have been very pleased with the performance of this small scope.   I attach this morning's effort (127 mm diameter, 1500 mm focal length, Neximage 5, 40 fps, no Barlow), with a screen shot from Stellarium for comparison.

 

I also attach the series I am working on, which will culminate in opposition (late May-June) when I will be staying here, to complete the series (the 127 is the last in the series, with the Neximage  - the rest are with the 8SE and a ZWO120MM and RGB filters). There is a fair bit of colour variation, partly due to operator error!  But I don't think the 127 is very much worse than the better of the 8SE images.  I need to lift my game with the 8SE back in Canberra!

 

Regards

 

Mark

Fantastic work with a 127! I have one from Orion telescopes (same producer, likely) and I did not think it was possible to get that kind of detail on Mars with it. 

 

It's a nice little scope, and if you have to be away from your 8SE, you certainly could do worse. 

[nicolasM]

Mars 2016-05-07 1526UT, Questar, average to poor seeing. Transparency Ok. 

 

 

[Lilvipa]

Can't hold a candle with any of these pics but I tried anyways with my C102R/SPC900 combo.  I still want another crack at mars with this setup before retiring my cheap rig, but its just so low in my northern ontario location. Awesome pictures, everyone, trop bien À la votre/cheers!

 

Edited by Lilvipa, 10 May 2016 - 08:28 AM.

[Lilvipa]

Beauty!

Mars 2016-05-07 1526UT, Questar, average to poor seeing. Transparency Ok. 

 

Mars20160507-232558_g4_ap59.jpg

[Lilvipa]

Putain, thats amazing for what youre using. Well done.

I know I already posted this a few days ago, but since we now have a "small bore challenge" thread...

 

 

 

This was taken early Sunday morning (4/17) in excellent seeing.  Shot with my Quickcam 4000 Pro through 130mm f/5 Newtonian and 5X barlow.  Processed through PIPP (best 1200 frames), stacked in AS2! (25% of remaining frames, 300 total), wavelets and color balance in Registax 6, tweaked with Photoshop CS2.   Camera limits me to 10fps, so I will take a LOT more frames the next time out.  Hopefully conditions will be similar near opposition, and I can get even more surface detail.

[KiwiRay]

Hi Lilvipa.  Is that a montage of three separate images you captured?  The two at the bottom are really good. 

 

Ray

[Lilvipa]

Thanks Kiwiray!  The bottom 2 are from same night and the other was from yesterday.  I was happy to find the big volcano present so I placed an arrow to relish it lol

Hi Lilvipa.  Is that a montage of three separate images you captured?  The two at the bottom are really good. 

 

Ray

[Lilvipa]

Back again! Had another crack at it and def. an improvement from the other night. http://imgur.com/vfUToIV

[KiwiRay]

There's some nice surface detail there, Lilvipa.  It's always exciting to improve on previous efforts.

 

Have you tried using RGB align in  AS!2 (beta version) or Registax?  It will remove the blue edge on the top and red edge on the bottom of your image.

Edited by KiwiRay, 11 May 2016 - 05:08 AM.

[KiwiRay]

Here's my latest effort from this morning (May 11).  The ringing on the bright limb is pretty severe, but I'm very happy with the clear surface details and wispy cloud in places.  I used an ADC for the first time, although I didn't get it quite right, as RBG align still helped (but much less than usual).  Nexstar 6SE with asi224mc camera.

 

Edited by KiwiRay, 11 May 2016 - 08:03 AM.

[gfstallin]

Here's my latest effort.  The ringing on the bright limb is pretty severe, but I'm very happy with the clear surface details and wispy cloud in places.  I used an ADC for the first time, although I didn't get it quite right, as RBG align still helped (but much less than usual).  Nexstar 6SE with asi224mc camera.

 

2016-05-11-0839_6.png

That only looks about as good as my best efforts thus far using a C9.25. 

 

I hope your total rig weighs less than my C9.25 on an Atlas. I hear those ADCs add a lot of weight....

 

Joking, of course. That shot is fantastic! 

[azure1961p]

Can't hold a candle with any of these pics but I tried anyways with my C102R/SPC900 combo.  I still want another crack at mars with this setup before retiring my cheap rig, but its just so low in my northern ontario location. Awesome pictures, everyone, trop bien À la votre/cheers!

 

Lilvipa,

 

I processed out the refractor violet. Hope you don't mind.

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Edited by azure1961p, 11 May 2016 - 07:12 AM.

[Lilvipa]

thanks! much better

 

 

Can't hold a candle with any of these pics but I tried anyways with my C102R/SPC900 combo.  I still want another crack at mars with this setup before retiring my cheap rig, but its just so low in my northern ontario location. Awesome pictures, everyone, trop bien À la votre/cheers!

 

Lilvipa,

 

I processed out the refractor violet. Hope you don't mind.

 

th

[Lilvipa]

How was seeing, the image points to good!

Here's my latest effort from this morning (May 11).  The ringing on the bright limb is pretty severe, but I'm very happy with the clear surface details and wispy cloud in places.  I used an ADC for the first time, although I didn't get it quite right, as RBG align still helped (but much less than usual).  Nexstar 6SE with asi224mc camera.

 

2016-05-11-0839_6.png

[KiwiRay]

Lilvipa:  Seeing was really good, considering the planet was at 20-21° while I was imaging. I could see the surface details continually sharpen and blur during capture, but there were enough sharp frames to stack to produce a clear image from each of my three videos.  I stacked just 10% of 20000 frames from each avi, and combined the three sharpened images in WinJUPOS.  Hopefully I get a night like this close to opposition, when the Syrtis Major face of Mars will be showing during my short imaging window.

[Lilvipa]

Thats pretty cool, does it only show up high in sky a specific time I presume? Also, how many fps did you record mars at?

Lilvipa:  Seeing was really good, considering the planet was at 20-21° while I was imaging. I could see the surface details continually sharpen and blur during capture, but there were enough sharp frames to stack to produce a clear image from each of my three videos.  I stacked just 10% of 20000 frames from each avi, and combined the three sharpened images in WinJUPOS.  Hopefully I get a night like this close to opposition, when the Syrtis Major face of Mars will be showing during my short imaging window.

 

Edited by Lilvipa, 11 May 2016 - 10:46 PM.

[KiwiRay]

I recorded at 100 fps for the above image.  I'm not sure what you mean by "high in the sky" (21° is certainly not high!), but I have a short imaging window each night because of neighbours' trees to the south. 

[Bomber Bob]

Mars 2016-05-07 1526UT, Questar, average to poor seeing. Transparency Ok. 

 

Mars20160507-232558_g4_ap59.jpg

 

Simply amazing!!  I'm going to try & image with my Questar for the very first time this weekend (already got nerve pills stocked up!), and see what BB, the Q, & the Philips can do...

[Lilvipa]

100 fps? Holy shizer.  I must be working out of the 90s with this spc900nc.  When i upgrade my planetary scope, I will have to invest in a usb 2/3 webcam.  Alot of ppl recommend the zwo branded ones, is there one you would pick in the 200 $ range?

I recorded at 100 fps for the above image.  I'm not sure what you mean by "high in the sky" (21° is certainly not high!), but I have a short imaging window each night because of neighbours' trees to the south. 

[WarmWeatherGuy]

The ASI120MC will do over 200 FPS at 320x200. It costs $200. I did 200 FPS on Mars last time around and it is a USB 2 camera.

[azure1961p]

Okay guys, I had a MISERABLE Pickering 5 lastnight, but I did my first ever Mars vids.  Seen it visually over the years .... this is my first digital image. My sharpening was too aggressive but I like the smaller details coming into view as I did this. Oddly, the haze over Syrtis Major was a startling white. At first glimpse I thought it was the polar cap. In processing , the contrast and wave effects real knock the stuffing out of it.  I'd love to preserve some of the brilliance but again, my best shot a a string of vids last night.  I framed it for the occaision.

 

Anyway, C6@F18-ASI120MC/AS!2/Registax6

 

Thanks guys for the advice past and future. I'm going to fiddling with the avi's over the coming week.

 

 

Pete

 

 

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[KiwiRay]

Well done, Pete - that's an excellent first! 

 

I'm also having trouble making the clouds stand out in the processed image.  I even have clouds in the same place as you in my image above, but you can barely see them.

Edited by KiwiRay, 13 May 2016 - 12:54 AM.