Conjunction shots

[chuckp]

This is my first process. I took 5 sets of red green and blue filters. I only went thru 1 set. This was taken at 2350mm. I'll post if I get anything better,

This one is a little better with the color. All other shots I took were not as good because of seeing.
Let me explain how I did this. I'm using a 9.25 in telescope shooting at 2350mm. The larger the scope the better resolution. The camera is a astronomy camera which also helps. Use the computer to focus, much easier to get good focus. I'm taking video at 50 fps with the image cropped down to the size I want. The smaller the area the smaller the video file size so it doesn't clutter up your computer with large files. I used Autostakkert to stack the videoframes and used the best 50% of the frames. For sharpening Registax has the best sharpening tool for planets and the moon. I used a mono camera which has better resolution. I did take a shot with a color camera which I will post after I process it. I got the brighter object exposed correctly which is Jupiter and then in post processing used the magic wand to pick Saturn and used levels and curves to brighten Saturn. Its always better to brighten an underexposed object. I hope this help because you still have a day or so to get a better shot if you didn't get one yet.

I reprocessed to bring out Jupiter's moons. Ganymede is the closest to Jup.. Io is below and Europa is on the top.

 

[Ben Egbert]

Wow, I am afraid to even look at the ones I took tonight. These are great.

 

[Kyle Jones]

You win!

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice. 2350mm ? I can manage about a 3rd of that.

 

[chuckp]

Wow, I am afraid to even look at the ones I took tonight. These are great.

Thanks Ben!

 

[chuckp]

Nice. 2350mm ? I can manage about a 3rd of that.

I was really hesitant at first but I'm glad I used the C9.25

 

[JimFox]

Hey Chuck, I will agree with Kyle, you are the winner with the best Conjunction photos. I don't even have to download mine from tonight to know that. These both are super sweet with lots of nice colors and the rings on Saturn look so nice. I also like the color banding you got on Jupiter, I hope I get some of that, but the color I had seen was just a tan color, no banding like you got.

 

[chuckp]

Hey Chuck, I will agree with Kyle, you are the winner with the best Conjunction photos. I don't even have to download mine from tonight to know that. These both are super sweet with lots of nice colors and the rings on Saturn look so nice. I also like the color banding you got on Jupiter, I hope I get some of that, but the color I had seen was just a tan color, no banding like you got.

Jim, Thanks! I'm using a large telescope that is why the banding is so prominent. Try adjusting focus to get the banding.

 

[Mike Lewis]

Chuck,

Wow, that is phenomenal! Absolutely stunning results! Thanks for giving us the details on what gear you used and how you went about getting these results. I am reminded of the juxtaposition between the lousy views I got from the cheap reflector junk box KMart telescope I had at age 10, with the positively jaw dropping images they put on the outside of the box it came in Your image is the amazing shot on the outside of the box, my efforts so far are the crummy telescope on the wobbly mount results

No substitute for having some aperture for this kind of imaging, plus a higher FPS and large number of video frames to let the software cull through to pick the instants of best seeing. Great result - thanks for sharing!

ML

 

[chuckp]

Chuck,

Wow, that is phenomenal! Absolutely stunning results! Thanks for giving us the details on what gear you used and how you went about getting these results. I am reminded of the juxtaposition between the lousy views I got from the cheap reflector junk box KMart telescope I had at age 10, with the positively jaw dropping images they put on the outside of the box it came in Your image is the amazing shot on the outside of the box, my efforts so far are the crummy telescope on the wobbly mount results

No substitute for having some aperture for this kind of imaging, plus a higher FPS and large number of video frames to let the software cull through to pick the instants of best seeing. Great result - thanks for sharing!

ML

Thanks Mike!

 

[ckcarr]

Wow, Never seen that before. Excellent!

The sky was perfectly clear here last night and they were perfectly positioned in the middle of the portal from my driveway. But just looked like little dots...

Ha! at first I thought this was fake! Like a cartoon...

But now I see why people can get hooked on astronomy. Another expensive hobby...

 

[chuckp]

Wow, Never seen that before. Excellent!

The sky was perfectly clear here last night and they were perfectly positioned in the middle of the portal from my driveway. But just looked like little dots...

Ha! at first I thought this was fake! Like a cartoon...

But now I see why people can get hooked on astronomy. Another expensive hobby...

I've been hooked for quite some time. Thank You.

 

[ckcarr]

What would be a good, decent telescope, like on the B&H website for the niight sky? I have such dark and clear skies all the time it might be interesting..

 

[chuckp]

What would be a good, decent telescope, like on the B&H website for the niight sky? I have such dark and clear skies all the time it might be interesting..

That's a tough question to answer. It all depends if you want to image or just for viewing. If you want it just for viewing it is easy , 10" or larger dobsonian with a computer goto. If you want it for imaging you can use your camera lens and attach it to a cooled astro camera. You will need a mount that has autoguiding capabilities. With this set up you will be able to capture nice wide field nebula shots and nebula will show up nice. If you want to shoot galaxies you need a longer focal length which is a little harder to image with. Galaxies are very small except for Andromeda. The shorter the focal length the easier it is. You will also need a guide camera to take longer exposures. So if you tell me your budget and what do you want to image I can point you in the right direction.