Re: good webcam planet under poor seeing condition

I have found that when stars twinkle alot (usually after the passage of a cold front) and the air is crisp, transparent and dry I can usually expect poor planetary seeing. In contrast, hazy stagnant air usually gives me my best planetary views. The webcam will give you a fighting chance in any condition since you can select those frames that occur when the atmosphere happens to be steady. However, in reviewing my planetary web cam images, the best images are still associated with nights of the best seeing. Bottom line is if it's clear give it a shot. A mediocre image is better than no image at all!

I managed to get decent images under fairly poor seeing conditions. I took the confirming photo of Don Parker's discovery image of the large scale dust storm on Mars back in december. I remember thinking that the seeing was so bad that Mars didn't look right. After I processed the image, I got a decent Mars, but more importantly I got the dust storm, which at that time showed 5 lobes. Bottom line, if it's clear, give it a shot. There was only 2 or 3 times that I didn't image after I set up because of seeing. I consider that even my worst webcam image is better than over 90% of my wet film images from years past.

Paul Maxson