Telescope: Meade Mak 7 @ f/38, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI224MC, 2.5x Powermate

Filter: Meade IR cut filter

Seeing: fair, 3/5

Exposure 6x(3min x 50ms), gain 300, saved as SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert, Registax, WinJUPOS, Nebulosity, Photoshop

I finally got an image of Jupiter that I am happy with, and once again it almost didn’t happen. I left my gear set up planning on switching over to deepsky imaging, but the transparency wasn’t cooperating so I decided to take one more set of source images of Jupiter. For this set I switched amplifiers from a GSO 2” 2x ED Barlow to a 2.5x Powermate and I swapped out an ASI294MC Pro for an ASI224MC. The uncooled 224 is smaller and lighter than the cooled 294 and has slightly smaller pixels. I was interested in the smaller pixels and not hanging the weight of a cooled camera on the end of the Powermate. The 224 had couple of hot pixels, but they processed out fairly well. The smaller pixels resulted in a high degree of over-sampling that I took advantage of by down-sampling the images by binning them 2×2. This did a great job taming the noise and still giving an appropriate image scale that was just a tad over-sampled. The next step will be to try an ASI462MC to take this approach of taking over-sampled source images and binning them 2×2 in post-processing one step farther and to give this a try on my C11 or C9.25 and down-select to which scope I’ll be using for the rest of this imaging season with Jupiter and Saturn.

Fun stuff!

Telescope: Meade Mak 7 @ f/30, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 0C, GSO 2” 2x ED Barlow

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR cut filter

Seeing: poor, 2/5, smoke, haze

Exposure 5x(3min x 25ms), gain 400, saved as SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert, Registax, WinJUPOS, Nebulosity, Photoshop

I’ve decided to use the period between the waxing and waning gibbous moon to work on my planetary imaging starting with an evaluation of different equipment combinations. I started with my C11, which it where I expect to end up, but I also want to spend some time with my C9.25 and Mak 7. Of these I am particularly interested in the Mak 7 as it has the best optics that I have seen in a consumer telescope and I’m interested in how it stacks up against my larger options.

This is the first test image taken with the Mak 7 and it almost didn’t happen. I usually limit my imaging to the eastern sky as my house blocks most of the sky on the west side of the meridian. To catch Jupiter before it reaches the meridian I need to catch it before about 3:45. On this morning I stepped outside around 3:00 and found a solid cloud cover almost all the way to the southern horizon, so I parked my scope, pulled off the expensive bits, and covered everything up. I stepped outside again a little after 4:00 and found that the clouds had moved northward enough that Jupiter was in clear air, though it was past the meridian and I was close to losing it behind my house. I quickly pulled the covers off, put everything back on, powered everything up, set the focus, and grabbed five 3 minute sequences. The seeing wasn’t very good and I was surprised that it turned out as well as it did. I’ll probably leave my gear in this configuration for the remainder of this imaging opportunity. Next month I may stick with the Mak 7 and switch to a more conventional planetary camera like the ASI462MC and a 2.5x Powermate.

So much to try, so few clear nights!

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/20, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 0C, GSO 2” 2x ED Barlow

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR cut filter

Seeing: fair, 3/5, Smoke, haze

Exposure 1h35m: 3min x 75ms, gain 400, saved as SER

Exposure 3h24m EDT: 5x(3min x 50ms), gain 400, saved as SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert, Registax, WinJUPOS, Nebulosity, Photoshop

These two image sets were taken about 2 hours apart on the morning of July 20^th. The first image was a single 3 minute capture taken while Jupiter was fairly low in the east as insurance in case the sky conditions worsened. As I was setting up to start the sequence I had to wait a few minutes as Io was emerging from behind the planet and I wanted to be sure it was clear of Jupiter’s western limb. It was really neat to watch how fast Io moves! The second image was taken as Jupiter was nearing the meridian and was about as high as it was going to get above the horizon, about 37 degrees. This was a set of five 3 minute images sets de-rotated and combined in WinJUPOS. This technique reduces noise in a manner similar to dithering a deepsky image and it is informative to compare to compare this image with the single stack taken at 1h35m. This also illustrates how fast Jupiter rotates. For example, the ovals seen at the lower right in the first image have rotated completely out of view over the eastern limb in the second view. Also, Europa and Io have moved out of the field of view to the left. Neat stuff!

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/20, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 0C, OPT 2” 2x Barlow

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR cut filter

Seeing: poorr, 3/5, smoke, haze

Exposure: 3min x 20ms, gain 400, saved as SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

These two image sets were taken about 90 minutes apart on the morning of July 19^th through thick smoke from wild fires burning in Canada and the Pacific northwest. In the first image taken at 2:10 the Great Red Spot is rotating out of view to the lower right, Io is the bright spot against the gray limb darkening near the equator at left, and Io’s shadow is near the center. In the second image the Io’s shadow is about the leave the face of Jupiter and Io itself can be seen as a gray spot against the white equatorial zone.

Jupiter – 7/18/2021 2h17m & 3h17m EDT

Telescope: Celestron C11 @ f/20, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: ZWO ASI294MC Pro, 0C, OPT 2” 2x Barlow

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR cut filter

Seeing: poorr, 3/5, clouds, haze

Exposure: 3x(1024x100ms), gain 300, binned 3×3, saved as SER

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: SharpCap Pro, AutoStakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

These two images were taken as part of an initial test of using this equipment set for lunar and planetary imaging. I had expected the conditions to be rough and the primary objectives were to get the equipment assembled, aligned and focused and the take a look at the field of view and field quality. Getting useful images would have been a bonus. I got up about 2am to fine tune the focus and image Saturn right before it reached the meridian. Unfortunately, the sky was covered with a veil of thick haze and clouds. I could see Saturn through the clouds using long exposures, but imaging was out of the question. Jupiter was brighter, but not much better. I found that if I set the exposure to 100ms (about 10x longer than normal) I could catch glimpses of the planet through thinner spots in the clouds. Just for yucks I grabbed 3 sets of 1024x100ms images each with the hopes of snagging at least a few usable images. I stepped outside about an hour later hoping to catch Jupiter before it reach the meridian, and the conditions were even worse, but again I grabbed 3 sets of 1024x100ms images just to see what I could get. I also binned the source images 3×3 to work within the rough seeing conditions. Surprisingly, the results weren’t that bad! At 2:17 I caught Europa approaching Jupiter with its shadow in transit, and at 3:17 the Great Red Spot was just rotating into view. Europa was now in transit and lost against the planet, though it’s shadow was still clearly visible. The planet itself showed a nice amount of detail and beautiful colors. It will be fun to see how this system performs when it is actually clear!

Telescope: Astro-Tech RC8 @ f/8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Canon EOS Ra, Baader Mk III MPCC

Filter: Highpoint Scientific IR Filter

Exposure: 64×1/250 sec, ISO 3200, saved as RAW

Seeing: Poor, 2/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Backyard EOS, Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

I stepped outside this morning to begin the process of covering my gear after a long night of imaging and found the moon peeking through a gap in the bush next to my scope, so I grabbed a quick set of images to close-out the first full night of testing my new camera. Unfortunately, the sky is veiled with smoke from wild fires burning in British Columbia, but it was still a very pretty sight.

Telescope: ES DHL Comet Hunter MN6 at f/4.8, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: Baader modified Nikon 610

Filter: 2” Radian Triad Ultra Hb, OIII, Ha, SII filter

Exposure: 32x1/1000sec, ISO 1600, saved as RAW

Software: Nebulosity, Registax, Photoshop

Just a quick image of the moon taken last night while I was setting up my gear for an all-night imaging run; hence the narrow-band filter. It’s usually shear insanity to try to do any deep sky imaging with a nearly full moon in the sky and haze drifting through, but narrow-band imaging does a good job cutting through the crud as long as you select suitable targets like emission and planetary nebula. The main target for last night was M17, the Swan Nebula in Serpens Cauda, just a few degrees to the northeast of the moon, and later NGC 7635, the Bubble Nebula in Cassiopeia.

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -10C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 900 (of 1,800)x0.020sec saved as SER

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Photoshop & Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Autostakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

After a full night of imaging I grabbed a quick set of images of Jupiter and Saturn as dawn began to brighten the morning sky. This image of Saturn is a good match for what you would see through a small telescope including the equatorial bands, the Cassini Division, and the shadow of the planet falling across the rings.

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -10C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 900 (of 1,800)x0.005sec saved as SER

Seeing: fair, 3/5

White Balance: Photoshop & Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Autostakkert, Registax, Nebulosity, Photoshop

After a full night of imaging I grabbed a quick set of images of Jupiter and Saturn as dawn began to brighten the morning sky. This image of Jupiter showed the Great Red spot and 3 of the Galilean moons; Europa to the left, Ganymede to the near right, Io to the far right. Callisto is out of the field to the left.

Telescope: Celestron C9.25 @ f/10, Orion Atlas EQ-G

Camera: QHY 168c, -20C

Filter: Orion Imaging Skyglow Filter

Exposure: 2x(128×0.001sec), saved as FITS

Seeing: poor, 2/5

White Balance: Nebulosity Automatic

Software: Sharpcap Pro, Nebulosity, Registax, ICE, Photoshop

This is a 2-panel mosaic of the waning gibbous moon taken at the end of a long night of imaging shortly before dawn. (Photo credit; John Graham, 5/31/2021)