21 replies to this topic

[kevinbreen]

*Warning*

 

The opinion of the author on the "goodness" of the seeing is subjective. Any similarity to actual "good" seeing is purely accidental.

 

"Good" for this neck of the woods. All the indicators were wrong in terms of the prospects for good seeing actually - Jet Stream was overhead, winds blowing from over the mountain. But the sky remained clear and there was a decent amount of detail on the laptop screen. 100 GB of 3-min Jupiter captures and a 5-min Saturn capture thrown in for good measure. Cassini division was clearly visible and Saturn wasn't bouncing around too much.

Last year the best seeing for me was in May and early June. I thought therefore that it wasn't going to happen for me this year, but whaddya know?

Jupiter at its highest of 15 degrees and Saturn at 11 degrees.

 

 

 

 

[happylimpet]

Was pretty good for the altitude over here too. I got loads of data but teamviewer wont let me access my home PC so I cant process it while pretending to work. Bummer.

[aeroman4907]

Great job Kevin!

[kevinbreen]

And another one, slightly more aggressive processing

 

Attached Thumbnails

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Edited by kevinbreen, 02 July 2019 - 06:39 AM.

[RedLionNJ]

Nice-looking data, Kevin - particularly Jupiter.

 

With all the frames you have over a period, you can likely drive up the signal-to-noise level quite a bit more using Winjupos.  I see very good potential, there.  Something to do on all the nights with crappy seeing!

[yock1960]

Kevin, I experienced good seeing also! I'm sometimes amazed at 'simultaneous' good seeing events at far distant locales. Is it coincidental or somehow connected to some worldwide or hemispheric phenomena. Whatever it is...nice results!

 

Steve

[kevinbreen]

Thanks folks for the kind words, I really appreciate it.
Quick question:

Given that my latitude and Saturn’s paltry altitude mean I can discern zero detail on it, how long can I capture for, max?
I’ve been doing 5 mins. How about 10, 15, gulp, 20?

[Tom Glenn]

Kevin, very nice images.  I answered your Saturn question in your other post, but to reiterate here, I would not take a 20 minute capture, but rather take 4x5 min captures and then stack individually and combine in Winjupos.  The result will be the same, but you avoid the problems of a longer captures, notably field rotation on your Alt Az mount, as well as blurring of potential detail due to rotation of Saturn itself.  

[Billytk]

Very nice Kevin!

[Kokatha man]

I was going to reply to your other post Kev but I'm a bit lazy tonight: looks vey good from your latitude...a veritable triumph over pessimism tbh in many respects!    (I was going to type "a vtop tbh imr"...but thought that was carrying that sort of lingo a tad ott! )

[WicklowSkies76]

Superb Kevin. I am in Ireland also and just recently purchased a C11 XLT which is mounted on an AZEQ6 GT mount. I am planning on trying to image Jupiter and Saturn over the coming nights but still wrestling with the setup and GoTo features of the mount (AZEQ6 GT). I have a bit of a niggling feeling before getting started that I am going to be disappointed with the quality of the image I can capture due to the low position of the planets relative to the horizon but seeing what you've been able to do has reassured me somewhat! Do you use an ADC? What camera are you using? I have a Neximage 5.

 

I also read somewhere that the planets are going to be like this for the next decade or so... is this true? If so, I feel I may have made the wrong decision in opting for such a powerful scope to focus on Planetary imaging as it's possibly going to be overkill and the seeing will limit the image quality based on planetary positions.

[phileefan]

Nice outcomes bro! You know how those weather forecasts are. You just have to go for it and hope for the best!

Even then, when it looks good on the screen, it's crap when you play the video and vice versa.

If all else fails, get the guitar out!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[happylimpet]

Superb Kevin. I am in Ireland also and just recently purchased a C11 XLT which is mounted on an AZEQ6 GT mount. I am planning on trying to image Jupiter and Saturn over the coming nights but still wrestling with the setup and GoTo features of the mount (AZEQ6 GT). I have a bit of a niggling feeling before getting started that I am going to be disappointed with the quality of the image I can capture due to the low position of the planets relative to the horizon but seeing what you've been able to do has reassured me somewhat! Do you use an ADC? What camera are you using? I have a Neximage 5.

 

I also read somewhere that the planets are going to be like this for the next decade or so... is this true? If so, I feel I may have made the wrong decision in opting for such a powerful scope to focus on Planetary imaging as it's possibly going to be overkill and the seeing will limit the image quality based on planetary positions.

Dont panic - Mars has a good opposition, is it next year? and Jupiter will be much better in just 2 -3 years.

 

See figure at bottom of:

 

https://in-the-sky.o...hp?term=Jupiter

 

Plus Mercury and Venus put on periodical good appearances and you can get involved in looking for storms/features on Uranus and Neptune, which are roughly on the equator and both slowly moving north.

 

Its just Saturn thats a disaster for a few years yet..4-5 years til any significant progress.

 

https://in-the-sky.o...php?term=Saturn

Edited by happylimpet, 03 July 2019 - 06:24 AM.

[kevinbreen]

Nice-looking data, Kevin - particularly Jupiter.

 

With all the frames you have over a period, you can likely drive up the signal-to-noise level quite a bit more using Winjupos.  I see very good potential, there.  Something to do on all the nights with crappy seeing!

Thanks Grant - I actually have the Winjupos file naming whatzit turned on as a matter of fact so I can do some derotation. Thing is I tried it once and got frustrated and gave up. Expect tons of inane questions from me now when I get started !

[kevinbreen]

Kevin, very nice images.  I answered your Saturn question in your other post, but to reiterate here, I would not take a 20 minute capture, but rather take 4x5 min captures and then stack individually and combine in Winjupos.  The result will be the same, but you avoid the problems of a longer captures, notably field rotation on your Alt Az mount, as well as blurring of potential detail due to rotation of Saturn itself.  

Thanks Tom. As I expected... I was just chancing my arm trying to get away with doing as little as possible, as I am prone to...

[kevinbreen]

Nice outcomes bro! You know how those weather forecasts are. You just have to go for it and hope for the best!

Even then, when it looks good on the screen, it's crap when you play the video and vice versa.

If all else fails, get the guitar out!

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

                    . Look, the guitarist is a lefty, like me!

[kevinbreen]

I was going to reply to your other post Kev but I'm a bit lazy tonight: looks vey good from your latitude...a veritable triumph over pessimism tbh in many respects!    (I was going to type "a vtop tbh imr"...but thought that was carrying that sort of lingo a tad ott! )

LOL

[kevinbreen]

Superb Kevin. I am in Ireland also and just recently purchased a C11 XLT which is mounted on an AZEQ6 GT mount. I am planning on trying to image Jupiter and Saturn over the coming nights but still wrestling with the setup and GoTo features of the mount (AZEQ6 GT). I have a bit of a niggling feeling before getting started that I am going to be disappointed with the quality of the image I can capture due to the low position of the planets relative to the horizon but seeing what you've been able to do has reassured me somewhat! Do you use an ADC? What camera are you using? I have a Neximage 5.

 

I also read somewhere that the planets are going to be like this for the next decade or so... is this true? If so, I feel I may have made the wrong decision in opting for such a powerful scope to focus on Planetary imaging as it's possibly going to be overkill and the seeing will limit the image quality based on planetary positions.

Yay! I'm not alone! I thought I was the only lunatic planetary-imager in the country!! The seeing is really good by Irish standards this week so far, I'd iron out your problems asap and get out there tonight if I were you. 

Disappointment? Ha, that's par for the course with this lark, but there can be occasional great nights and it makes it all very worth while. Yeah, I use the ZWO ADC and it's invaluable given the low elevation of the planets. I have a NI 5 but I switched to the ZWO ASI224 two years ago and haven't looked back. I can get frame rates of well above 250 fps with the 224 using Firecapture - whereas with the NI 5, while a great camera, it peaked at around 60 fps as far as I remember. You won't need a Barlow with the NI 5 though, which is nice. 

As Nick (Happylimpet) has already said, it's not as bad as that in terms of elevations. Mars will be be great for us next year (although I see you're in Wicklow, so you're a tad further north than me  ). Here's an elevation forecast I threw together for J, S and M for the next few years.

 

 

See? Not so bad. 

[WicklowSkies76]

Dont panic - Mars has a good opposition, is it next year? and Jupiter will be much better in just 2 -3 years.

 

See figure at bottom of:

 

https://in-the-sky.o...hp?term=Jupiter

 

Plus Mercury and Venus put on periodical good appearances and you can get involved in looking for storms/features on Uranus and Neptune, which are roughly on the equator and both slowly moving north.

 

Its just Saturn thats a disaster for a few years yet..4-5 years til any significant progress.

 

https://in-the-sky.o...php?term=Saturn

Fantastic resources and info. Thank you. Cheered me right up . I am heading out early evening tonight to get polar aligned so I can try an get the GoTo working. Not sure I'll have a view on Jupiter/Saturn later based on my position and hedge height but I will give it a try. Unfortunately the C11 and AZEQ6 are not that portable! Clear skies right now - fingers crossed for later!

[WicklowSkies76]

Yay! I'm not alone! I thought I was the only lunatic planetary-imager in the country!! The seeing is really good by Irish standards this week so far, I'd iron out your problems asap and get out there tonight if I were you. 

Disappointment? Ha, that's par for the course with this lark, but there can be occasional great nights and it makes it all very worth while. Yeah, I use the ZWO ADC and it's invaluable given the low elevation of the planets. I have a NI 5 but I switched to the ZWO ASI224 two years ago and haven't looked back. I can get frame rates of well above 250 fps with the 224 using Firecapture - whereas with the NI 5, while a great camera, it peaked at around 60 fps as far as I remember. You won't need a Barlow with the NI 5 though, which is nice. 

As Nick (Happylimpet) has already said, it's not as bad as that in terms of elevations. Mars will be be great for us next year (although I see you're in Wicklow, so you're a tad further north than me  ). Here's an elevation forecast I threw together for J, S and M for the next few years.

 

Elevations Ireland.png

 

See? Not so bad. 

Cheers for that Kevin - appreciate the info and that's good news - thanks for sharing the table. Very useful. You're definitely not alone although I am just getting started really. I need to nail polar alignment and GoTo process first before I can really expect to do any imaging. Going to head out early this evening to get set up. Hopefully then have a crack at Jupiter. I realise the Neximage 5 isn't the best planetary camera but am going to get to grips with the process first and use it for a few months before I consider upgrading. Possibly to a ZWO 290 or something similar. I've looked at SharpCap, ICap and Firecapture SW options. Seems like Sharpcap is the best option for capturing.

[kevinbreen]

Cheers for that Kevin - appreciate the info and that's good news - thanks for sharing the table. Very useful. You're definitely not alone although I am just getting started really. I need to nail polar alignment and GoTo process first before I can really expect to do any imaging. Going to head out early this evening to get set up. Hopefully then have a crack at Jupiter. I realise the Neximage 5 isn't the best planetary camera but am going to get to grips with the process first and use it for a few months before I consider upgrading. Possibly to a ZWO 290 or something similar. I've looked at SharpCap, ICap and Firecapture SW options. Seems like Sharpcap is the best option for capturing.

Just point the RA axis north and then set your latitude. That’s what I’ve been told is very ample for planetary work. Precise polar alignment is crucial for long exposure DSO stuff, but that’s irrelevant as there aren’t any DSOs over Ireland anyway 😄.
You may need to nudge with the hand controller now and then to keep Jupiter in your ROI though. No harm in that, and 180 seconds is a good capture length for Jupe.

Good luck!

Edited by kevinbreen, 03 July 2019 - 07:59 AM.

[happylimpet]

 I've looked at SharpCap, ICap and Firecapture SW options. Seems like Sharpcap is the best option for capturing.

I dont know if sharpcap also has this feature, but firecapture will look at your images as they roll in and nudge the scope to keep it centred, possibly depending on how your scope is connected to the computer but it works brilliantly for me with an EQ8 and EQMOD. You can leave it running for hours if you like. Huge advantage.