Saturday, February 11, 2006
Bi Jupiter
These images of Jupiter are taken roughly an hour apart. The top image is the earliest, the bottom the latest. You can clearly see the rotation of cloud features and the movement of satellites. The pale "hole" in the lower equatorial band is The Great Red Spot (which has been rather pale these last few years). The Moons are, from furthest to closest, Io, Europa
and Ganymede. The images are composites, I shot the detailed Jupiter images at exposure times of 4 and 3.5 (on the slider) in Vega, then did the satellites with exposure times of 6 and 5. Jupiter was vastly over exposed in the satellite shots, so I just cut out and pasted the low exposure pictures. The images had a wavelet transform of 9.8, and have been enlarged 4 x and a light unsharp mask applied, but no other post processing. In the top image , the long satellite exposure markedly trails the satellites, the bottom image has rounder moons, but much dimmer. In the top image also, the amount of cloud detail is far less, I suspect the longer exposure blurred the detail more (and the brightness may have washed subtle features out. I also haven't selected out bad frames in these images, or corrected for chromatic aberration, so they could be better. Next time I'll keep the shortest possible exposure compatible with imaging features, and see if I can make a movie of the rotation. I was rather chuffed, as sometimes I think the details in the bands could be artifacts, but to see the same features an hour apart, rotated, means they are real.
# posted by Ian Musgrave @ 9:44 pm 
Comments:
<< Home
By gosh I don't think it's all artifact. Great job! What did you use for a scope, exposure etc?
# posted by 
: 9:17 am
: 9:17 am
114 mm Newtonian, unguided, Connetix QuickCam VC modded with Steve Moggs webcam adaptor directly in the lens tube (ie just the cam and no lenses in the way) and driven by the Vega image capture program. I have no idea what the exposure time is (that's why I specified slide positions of the Vega), but not from lack of trying.
I have checked the web for the VC cams spec's, and what I have found hasn't enlightened me. (now if I could only get a Quck Cam 3000, or a Philip ToUCam, ar the MEade LPI drools
I have checked the web for the VC cams spec's, and what I have found hasn't enlightened me. (now if I could only get a Quck Cam 3000, or a Philip ToUCam, ar the MEade LPI drools
Hi Ian,
I have the Quickcam 3000 - go with the ToUcam if you can get it. It produces much better photos.
I never got these good of results using my 114mm unguided Newtonian!
I have the Quickcam 3000 - go with the ToUcam if you can get it. It produces much better photos.
I never got these good of results using my 114mm unguided Newtonian!
# posted by : 12:38 am
: 12:38 am
Okay ToUCam it is then.
What are you using to drive the QuickCam? I'm using Vega a really sweet, free image capture programe with a HUGE focus screen, beats the others by miles). It can do all sorts of things that I haven't got around to using, but the main thing is that I shoot 2 second AVI’s at 30 frames per second (with video qualitty on "best") to stack in Registax.
When imaging, I line up the onbject at the edge of the CCD image frame, and let it drift to near centre frame before aquiring the image (this means that any vibration has damped out, and the QuickCam VC is best in the centre region).
I have got much better results from stacking AVI's than from sequential bitmaps. Stacking is absoultely critical for getting good planetary images (the Moon in contrast allways looks good). You have to fiddle with Registax a bit to get the best quality, and manually discarding bad frames is a must for the best quality images. There are other image programs and other stacking programs (KC3D Tools and AstroVideo for example), but Vega and Registax work well for me.
Also, some days you just can't get a good image. I have had no great success with Saturn at all. I jupiter looks good in a 6 mm eyepiece,on your scope, then it should look good in a webcam image. Focus may be a problem, try a Hartmann mask, or focussing on lunar craters before imaging the planet.
What are you using to drive the QuickCam? I'm using Vega a really sweet, free image capture programe with a HUGE focus screen, beats the others by miles). It can do all sorts of things that I haven't got around to using, but the main thing is that I shoot 2 second AVI’s at 30 frames per second (with video qualitty on "best") to stack in Registax.
When imaging, I line up the onbject at the edge of the CCD image frame, and let it drift to near centre frame before aquiring the image (this means that any vibration has damped out, and the QuickCam VC is best in the centre region).
I have got much better results from stacking AVI's than from sequential bitmaps. Stacking is absoultely critical for getting good planetary images (the Moon in contrast allways looks good). You have to fiddle with Registax a bit to get the best quality, and manually discarding bad frames is a must for the best quality images. There are other image programs and other stacking programs (KC3D Tools and AstroVideo for example), but Vega and Registax work well for me.
Also, some days you just can't get a good image. I have had no great success with Saturn at all. I jupiter looks good in a 6 mm eyepiece,on your scope, then it should look good in a webcam image. Focus may be a problem, try a Hartmann mask, or focussing on lunar craters before imaging the planet.
Vega makes oh-so much more easier than messing around with the Quickcam controls. To start off with, it's got a HUGE focus screen (takes up my entire laptop screen), so you can get a good idea of how well you are focusing. It also has automatic file naming, so you don't have to klat around typing in a file name as your planet sails off screen.
Looking at your images, I'd say you have a focus problem.
Step One: Look at the filter over the CCD chip on the Quickcam. I had terrible problems because there was some contamination of the filter, in the end I had to remove it.
Step 2: Image the Moon (try using a combination of 165 for the gain/brightness, and 2-2.5 for the exposure time (the lower the exposure, the less smearing), with video quality set on the very highest). Fiddle with the focus until the Moon looks great, THEN go and image Jupiter. I create a two second AVI with 30 frames a second. I also adjust wavelet channel one to about 9.8 in registax after stcaking is completed.
Step 3: Get a Hartmann Mask, for those times you don't have the Moon in the sky to help focus.
How are you attaching the Quickcam to the scope? If you don't have a Mogg adaptor, get one right now.
Looking at your images, I'd say you have a focus problem.
Step One: Look at the filter over the CCD chip on the Quickcam. I had terrible problems because there was some contamination of the filter, in the end I had to remove it.
Step 2: Image the Moon (try using a combination of 165 for the gain/brightness, and 2-2.5 for the exposure time (the lower the exposure, the less smearing), with video quality set on the very highest). Fiddle with the focus until the Moon looks great, THEN go and image Jupiter. I create a two second AVI with 30 frames a second. I also adjust wavelet channel one to about 9.8 in registax after stcaking is completed.
Step 3: Get a Hartmann Mask, for those times you don't have the Moon in the sky to help focus.
How are you attaching the Quickcam to the scope? If you don't have a Mogg adaptor, get one right now.
--
Hello Ian,
I have a Hartmann Mask that I use every chance I get. But only on my 10" SCT and especially when I have my Canon pluged in at prime focus. I am using the demo version of MaxDSLR to get focus now - but last night in the cold, getting focus ate batteries up fast.
The Newtonian I focus while the object is on the screen. I don't use the Newtonian, actually I should say I haven't used the Newtonian since I picked up my LX200.
On my Logitech Quickcam, I have removed the IR filter and cleaned the chip directly as recommended by a Quickcam Astro site, and even used a television remote to "zap" the CCD chip to scatter the dust particles :-)
I use a scopetronics 1.25" adapter to plug the webcam in to the eyepiece holder. My ToUcam has the same setup - with an IR filter too.
I downloaded Vega and haven't gotten around to installing it. We have plenty of clouds here now.
I have been favoring the ToUcam for planetary photography, but may alternate between the two now. If nothing else, the Logitech does do pretty decent Lunar photography.
Thanks Ian, I'm glad I stumbled across this posting. I will be sure to post some of my results at my site - good or bad.
Hello Ian,
I have a Hartmann Mask that I use every chance I get. But only on my 10" SCT and especially when I have my Canon pluged in at prime focus. I am using the demo version of MaxDSLR to get focus now - but last night in the cold, getting focus ate batteries up fast.
The Newtonian I focus while the object is on the screen. I don't use the Newtonian, actually I should say I haven't used the Newtonian since I picked up my LX200.
On my Logitech Quickcam, I have removed the IR filter and cleaned the chip directly as recommended by a Quickcam Astro site, and even used a television remote to "zap" the CCD chip to scatter the dust particles :-)
I use a scopetronics 1.25" adapter to plug the webcam in to the eyepiece holder. My ToUcam has the same setup - with an IR filter too.
I downloaded Vega and haven't gotten around to installing it. We have plenty of clouds here now.
I have been favoring the ToUcam for planetary photography, but may alternate between the two now. If nothing else, the Logitech does do pretty decent Lunar photography.
Thanks Ian, I'm glad I stumbled across this posting. I will be sure to post some of my results at my site - good or bad.
# posted by : 12:03 pm
: 12:03 pm
Well, If you have an 10" SCT and a ToUcam, then there isn't much incentive to dust off the Newtonian and Quickcam.
If you do dust off the Newtonian, try Vega with either Lunar focusing ro the Hartmann mask (everything else looks fine), I'm sure your pictures will improve dramatically. Check out todays post for my animations of Jupiter. I'd be very surprised if you couldn't do something like that.
If you do dust off the Newtonian, try Vega with either Lunar focusing ro the Hartmann mask (everything else looks fine), I'm sure your pictures will improve dramatically. Check out todays post for my animations of Jupiter. I'd be very surprised if you couldn't do something like that.
Hey Ian,
The Vega download links are dead. Do you know where else you can get the software?
The Vega download links are dead. Do you know where else you can get the software?
# posted by : 10:13 am
: 10:13 am
Shessh, that's a bummer. All the download pages on that site are now dead, and there is no author contact.
SO I have made the file temporarily available here (1 Mb download). Have fun. I will dig around to see what I did with the doc files, but it is fairly straight fowrwrd.
SO I have made the file temporarily available here (1 Mb download). Have fun. I will dig around to see what I did with the doc files, but it is fairly straight fowrwrd.
Thanks from me too, Ian.
Been looking all over for Vega since a fellow student at the OU recommended it.
Post a Comment
Been looking all over for Vega since a fellow student at the OU recommended it.
# posted by : 8:16 pm
: 8:16 pm << Home
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
Click to read about or order
