Jupiter Oct 29th - improving processing routine

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I am trying out some processing routines so I can improve my planetary images.

The leftmost image was processed in Autostakkert, FitsWork and CS4 (RGB 500 frs per channel). The middle one was processed in Registax V6 (wavelets) and CS4 (RGB 1200 frames per channel) and the one on the right was also processed in Registax V6, but this time I used the de-rotate routine. Final image was combined in WinJupos 9.1.16 and CS4 (R-RGB 1200 frames per channel).

C11 f/20
DMK21AF (icx618)
RGB Astronomik IIc

Jupiter, GRS & Io - 201110292344UT - Reprocessed II

Jupiter, GRS & Io - 201110292344UT - Reprocessed.

Jupiter reprocessed on Registax V6, with de-rotation.

Jupiter, GRS & Io - 201110292344UT

Jupiter on the evening of Oct. 29th.
Seeing was very good but temperature was dropping steadily which prevented mirror cooling to match seeing.
I also had to struggle against corrector condensation and at some time through the evening, I had to work around it with my wife's hairdryer...
By the time I had it done, seeing got worse. Damn it!
C11 @f/20
DMK21AF
RGB Astronomik IIc
500fr per channel RGB
Autostakkert, Fitswork and CS4

Jupiter, GRS & Ganimedes 201110202215UT

Seeing has degraded over the past few days which makes it clearly more difficult to get sharp images. This one had to be overprocessed...
C11 f/20
DMK21AF
RGB Astronomik IIc
500 fr per channel

Clouds are rolling in and unfortunately, it looks like winter has finally arrived. Hopefully will get some cristal crispy clear nights and good seeing.

Jupiter, GRS & Europa 20111010 at23h49mUT

On the same evening seeing can trick you for sure... after just 5 minutes, seeing was much better than on the previous RGB sequence run (20111010-23h45mUT).

Captured with Lucam Recorder.
Autostakkert, Fitswork, CS4.

Jupiter 20111010 23h45mUT

C11 @f/20
DMK21AF
RGB Astronomik IIc

Jupiter, GRS and Europa
Fair seeing...

Jupiter, GRS & Calisto 20111006 at 00h30mUT

I just cannot believe how good the seeing has been the past days.
As such, I have been taking advantage of it, though some high clouds are rolling in at night, along with some haze. But hey, I am not complaining at all.

C11 @f/20
DMK21AF, RGB Astronomik IIc
500 frames per channel, in Fitswork and CS4

Jupiter 20111005 at 00h42mUT

Another Jupiter.
C11 @f/20
DMK21AF
Seeing was much better than usual... :-)

Jupiter 20111003

C11 @f/20
RGB 500 frames
20111003 @23h58m
Europa is visible just below and left of GRS.

Jupiter 20111003

I decided it was time to give my C11 a go and I did take the borrowed C14 away. I set the C11 up and shot Jupiter for a while.
Seeing was much better than the previous sessions but nevertheless my C11 outperforms the C14...
20111003 at 23h51m UT @f/20
IC Capture 1/23"
RGB - 500 frames per channel
Autostakkert and CS4. Processed on the fly, right after capture, meaning it can be improved, I guess.
My best so far.

Jupiter 20110919

First Jupiter of the 2011/12 season.
Seeing was fair/normal but much better than it has been this year. The weather has been so unbelievably poor this year that I have been hitting the sack really early...

C14 @f/22
DMK21AF
RGB Astronomik IIc
1000 frames per channel (1/30" @30fps)
20110919 00h20m UT

SN2011dh 20110619

Full resolution

SN2011dh today's magnitude. It is getting brighter everyday...

NGC6888 Crescent Nebula 201106 150min

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NGC6888, Astronomik Halpha 6nm, 150min (15x10min). FS102NSV F/8, ST-2000XM, autoguiding (SW70mm + PHD), SDMask, DDP, CS4, G-11.

Added more 90min (9x 600seg) to the previous Jun 15th 60min.
Still working on NGC6888, I intend to get more Ha integrations, as well as SII and OIII.

NGC6888 Crescent Nebula 20110615 new processing

wide field

NGC6888 Crescent Nebula 20110615

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NGCC6888, 20110615, Astronomik Ha 6nm, 6x10min, FS102NSV F/8, autoguiding (SW70mm + PHD), SDMask, DDP, CS4.

SN2011dh 20110614

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SN2011dh is getting brighter and brighter, which is pretty cool for a first Supernova catch :-)
One to keep a close eye on...

Moon - 20110611

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Moon on saturday June 6th, 2011.
FS102NSV, ST-2000XM, Red Astronomik, 20 x 0.025 sec
Leiria, Portugal

SN2011dh 20110610

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SN2011dh's magnitude is coming down and it is getting brighter and brighter :-)

M33 - 20101018

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This M33 picture, lost in my hard disk since October, got finally my attention. This is by far the best M33 I have ever pulled out.
Luminance, 85min (7x10min + 1x15min), FS102NSV f/8 (824mm DF) ST-2000XM, self-guided, SDMask, DDP, Curves, Levels, Unsharp, Noise, G-11.

NGC4565

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Edge-on spiral galaxy, aka Needle Galaxy, located some 30 to 50 million ly away, in Coma Berenices, was first spotted in 1785 by sir William Herschel.

Some other DSO's can also be seen in this galaxy rich neighborhood.

FS102NS @f/8 (824mm FL) ST-2000XM
115min
MaxIm & CS4

M101 Pinwheel Galaxy

Full resolution

The Pinwheel galaxy, also known as Messier 101 (M101) located in the Ursa Major constellation lies some 25 million light years away from us, was first discovered on March 25th, 1781 by Pierre Méchain, who later informed Charles Messier.

FS102NSV @f/8; SBIG ST-2000XM 25x 300"
June 3rd/4th, 2011.

M51 before and after SN2011 dh

M51 animation, before and after SN2011 dh.
Different exposure times between the two pictures make stars look brighter, though this is not true...

Supernova SN2011 dh in M51

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This is my first Supernova!
I used my Taka 4" at native f/8 focal length and SBIG's ST2000XM detector. Six 300" exposures aligned and combined in MaxIm, with DDP filter. Post processing in CS4.
Acknowledgement: Pedro Ré's magnitude determination.

M13 - 20110525

Full resolution

M13 is one of the most beautiful globular clusters in the night sky, comprising some 300,000 stars. Lying in Hercules, at 25,000 ly from Earth, it was first spotted by Edmund Halley (1714) and latter cataloged in 1764 by Charles Messier.
Under dark skies it can be seen with no telescopic aid, since it shines at a 5.8 apparent magnitude.

FS102NSV @f/8 + ST2000 XM

Alphonsus & Arzachel Craters

Full Resolution

Apollo XV Landing site - Hadley Rille

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mouse over to see landing site

David Scott and James Irwin landed their Lunar Module Falcon at Hadley Rille, on July 30th, 1971. This was the first lunar mission that carried a lunar rover in which they traveled for some 17.5 miles (some 28,2 Km).
Some processing artifacts are visible on the lower right corner :-(

Saturn - 20110508

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The C14 dovetail has finally arrived, after a long period of "who knows where it was shipped to". I was so anxious to get Saturn that I didn't allow the scope to cool down properly, nor did I precise collimate.
Binned L (1x1) RGB (2x2) on Firecapture.
Aligned and Staked with Autostakkert.
Wavelets on Registax 6.
Final tweaks on CS4.
Close to Fair Seeing conditions (see Damien Peach: http://www.damianpeach.com/seeingscale.htm)

Saturn - 20110425 @21h25m UT

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Saturn at f/20, aligned and stacked in Autostakkert with 1.5x drizzle routine, wavelet processed in Registax 6 and final tweaks in CS4.
Titan, Saturn's largest moon is visible.

Saturn - 20110414 @23h16m UT

details

Saturn, on the night of April 14th.
The storm that is putting on an awesome show on the North Tropical Zone can be clearly seen, along with Tethis shadow just below the rings, on the left lower quadrant.

Saturn - 20110414

Better seeing allowed collimation and this Saturn 2nd picture of this year's season. Transparency was not that good, making data acquisition very difficult for the Blue channel.
This is a LRGB, showing some red and green tints due to histogram equalization difficulties.
C11 @f/30 + DMK21AF(icx618) + Astronomik 2c


Luminance:

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Saturn - 1st season picture

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This is my first Saturn of the 2011 season.
I set the C11 up on top of the pier to start my Saturn season but had no luck with the weather. The clouds rolled in and I was only able to shoot on Luminance avi.
Could not work on the collimation so this is as good as it could get :-(

M51 - Remote controlled first light

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First light with full system ready.
I have finally managed to complete my project of setting up a remote controlled system, consisting of pier, mount, scope and camera. Control is possible via an internet based system, in which I can operate the system (laptop-mount-scope) with another laptop linked to the system.
No more freezing outside ;-)

FS-102NSV + ST2kXM + AO8
March 31st, April 1st @ 22h00m/1h14m
Cropped image.

Registax v6. - Jupiter reprocessed

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Last April 2nd Registax 6 was released. Time to go back to my old Jupiter avis I got in January and give them a new shot.
Registax 6 seems to be much better then v5, with its multialignment points and image processing is much quicker.
Great timing since Saturn season is right there.

March 2011 SuperMoon

bigger

Pier and Remote control ready to rock!
Great timing for this SuperMoon; this is the first picture I got with the new system setup.
FS-102NSV f/6 + ST-2000XM; RGB 1x 0.002" per channel.
Leiria, March 19th, 23h10m UT.

Finally, Pier is almost ready. 20110118

I finally did it.

Pier is bolted on to the floor (though these pictures show it before I did it), and G11 is placed on top of it. Now all it needs is a perfect polar alignment. I am working on it now.
Still a few things to work out, but it is going quite smoothly. =:-D

Rupes Recta 20110113

First light with C14.
Low transparency and unsteady skies....
Can't tell if out of focus or decollimated scope!
Hopefully this will be the last shot before my pier is ready :-)