2 replies to this topic

[Orion 3]

I imaged this the other night with my c9.25 xlt, zwo 678mc with Baader UV/IR cut filter, 2 speed crayford focuser with Rigel electronic motor focuser. Details: 2 minute video (it was drifting a little), smallest roi 320, 4.8ms, 214fps, gain 190, stacked in Autostakkert 3, Wavesharp 2 (first time using that). The seeing I don't think was that good, we had 25 mph winds most of the day and they subsided to about 10 mph at the time of capture. I feel the image is soft which could be caused by many factors such the seeing, my focusing, my settings or my processing. I've seen some great images of Mars with crisp detail and was wondering what improvements I could make. Tony

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[Kokatha man]

Very nice, but you should have captured for much longer than 2 minutes! (unless the "drift" was horrific to handle)

 

As I say often to people, your the image could easily handle a bit more scale. Sometimes when it's windy (surface) seeing can be fine, other times poor...the vagaries of seeing are enormous!

 

After collimation, focus is the most critical element in planetary imaging. (leaving seeing aside!) A histogram of 55%-60% and a very fast frame-rate, capturing for a full 6 minutes ensures that you can stack significant numbers of frames for your stacks, with WinJUPOS an additional option beyond that.

 

I've annotated you image (upscaled) to show various aspects of Mars that are best to concentrate upon when focusing, trying to get these aspects to appear sharpest (or even just appear) when you are focusing before hitting capture. You will note that these are what are often referred to as "extensions" in terms of Martian features, you need decent seeing conditions to pick these up onscreen when focusing but they, along with the sharpness/clarity of the polar caps or hoods give you a very good idea of how accurate your focus is when the seeing is good.

 

A couple of links to our website to see these aspects in very good seeing even if low elevation: https://momilika.net...OSITE-FIN.png       &  https://momilika.net...edDiskMap.png  

 

 

 

 

 

[Orion 3]

Thanks, I will try better focus technique and capture for as close to 6 minutes as I can get. I will also try WinJUPOS. Thanks