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Posts Made By: Stephen Fugardi

February 20, 2006 06:51 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn 2/19/06, f25

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Best 800 frames of 2260 taken at 10fps with C11, 2.5x Powermate, and Toucam 840. Transparency 5/5, Seeing 2/5. Except for the frigid 10degF temps, this moonless night was about as good as it gets here in CT. I swore I would never image with below average seeing, but the perfect transparency was too tempting...

Regards,
Steve

March 2, 2006 01:54 AM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Moon and Mercury 3/1/06

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Shot taken using Canon Powershot A80 at approx 50mm, 1sec exposure 45min after sunset. The real conjunction was the night before where the 23hr moon was only a few degrees below Mercury - an absolutely incredible sight! Unfortuneately, I did not have my digital camera yesterday...

Regards,
Steve

March 5, 2006 02:02 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Venus f10 3/5/06

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Under a 4/10 sky this morning (3/5 trans, 1/5 seeing) I woke early going against my "never below 5 rating sky" rule but this was predicted to be the "best" for the week ahead. Hoping the CSC was wrong... Venus cleared the trees by 6:15AM and gave me 20min before hiding behind the next set of trees. Until last week I wasn't even sure I could see Venus from my observatory. Venus should get a little better as it approaches its greatest elongation on March 25. 2 years ago, Venus was my first Toucam target which I heavily over exposed by accident. This time I was careful not to over-expose it although the rising sun makes this difficult. Surprisingly, my initial video of Venus through the trees wasn't too bad, but I had to slow the shutter 1 notch.

C11, with Toucam captured in B/W with IR blocking filter, 1/1000sec, 45% bright, 0% gam, 100% sat, 0% gain, best 300 frames stacked from 2250, 10fps stacked in Registax3. Hopefully, the seeing will finally improve here in CT.

Regards,
Steve

March 5, 2006 07:38 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter 3/6/06 f10

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
This morning in 1/5 seeing at 4:30AM, I tried increasing the gamma on the Toucam settings to help capture the low hanging super gas giant. I started with a couple of small collimation tweaks on my C11, then used an IR filter, 1/100sec exposure, 10fps, 40% bright, 33% gamma, 100% sat, 10% gain. Best 300 shots of 900 stacked in Registax. There is no processing that can sharpen poor seeing no matter how hard I tried. My next Jupiter session will be in 3/5 seeing for sure...

Regards,
Steve

March 8, 2006 04:24 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Comet Pojmanski 3/8 Digital Shot

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
With all the hype on the Sky & Telescope web site on the "bright" comet Pojmanski, I decided to try my luck this morning between 4:30 and 5AM. I drove 15min to a farm on top of a hill and found average transparency and below average seeing. Using my extremely poor quality Sears 10x50mm binoculars I searched forever only to find a faint green fuzzy patch. At that point I knew I should have stayed in bed or tried my C11 on Jupiter again. Anyway, disappointed, I took a 15sec shot using a noisy 200ASA setting of this comet with my Canon Powershot and went home. If anyone has some decent comet shots please post them. Seems like the 5-6 magnitude may be "peak" for this one...

Regards,
Steve


March 17, 2006 07:02 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter 3/17/06 f25

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Happy St. Patrick's Day! Woke up early to catch Jupiter at its peak altitude around 3:30AM with a CSC sky rating of 6/10 (3/5 transp & seeing) which was the best of the month here in CT. The full moon wasn't a problem, but wouldn't you know it light wispy clouds rolled in from 4-5AM! I slightly tweaked my C11 collimation and went with my Toucam/IR filter set for 1/25sec, 40% Br, 0% Gamma, 100% Sat, Gain 20%, Auto toggled off once image color was stable which seemed to keep the colors more consistent throughout the 90sec at 10fps, 500frames in Registax. My focus was still not as sharp as it should be so I will try the raw mod next time out. Hope your night sky is 5/5!

Regards,
Steve


March 18, 2006 02:36 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Venus f10 3/18/06, shrinking 1% per day

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
With my C11 this morning, I imaged Venus around 6:15AM using a Toucam with IR blocking, 1/1000sec, BW mode, 45% Br, 0% Gam, 100% Sat, 0% Gain, 10fps, best 300frames stacked with Registax. Seeing was only 2/5 with clouds moving in fast. I tried my 2.5X barlow but the image was very unstable and not worth taking a video of.

Using Photoshop I combined this morning's image with the one I took on 3/5. As Venus approaches its greatest eastern elongation on Mar 25, it has gotten marginally dimmer but has shrunk considerably, 14% in 13 days.

If I had enough of these, an animated .gif of the Venus phases would be nice...

Regards,
Steve

March 30, 2006 06:32 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Saturn 3/29/06, f25

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
My nice "perfect" predicted seeing from earlier Weds never materialized, last night at 10:30PM seeing/transparency was average while I took this image. This was taken with normal Toucam factory settings and by the time I reconfigured the web cam for no raw mode, the clouds moved in. C11 with 2.5x powermate, Toucam Pro with IR blocking, 225sec, 10fps, 1/25sec, 50% Br, 33% Gam, 100% Sat, 33% Gain, Auto off, best 1000 frames stacked with Registax. This shot is my best so far.

Regards,
Steve

March 30, 2006 06:56 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter 3/30/06, f25

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
After the passing of the high clouds I started "imaging" Jupiter after 1AM, knowing the transit was 2:30AM. Even with my best collimation, I could not focus my webcam on the low hanging planet, not matter what I tried. Finally, by 2AM the detail was starting to improve and Jupiter was finally out of the trees. By 2:15AM I was surprised to see the Great Red Spot appear! With such a small window of time, I decided against trying the no raw mode. The "best" seeing which was really considered "average" peaked 15min before/after the transit time. By 3AM, the image of Jupiter was already too unstable.

This shot was taken right at the transit with normal Toucam factory settings, C11 w/2.5x powermate, Toucam Pro with IR blocking, 135sec, 5fps, 1/25sec, 50% Br, 0% Gam, 100% Sat, 10% Gain, Auto off, best 200 frames stacked with Registax. This shot is my first capture of the Great Red Spot. I would like to try the no raw mode next time, but am afraid to waste my 30min of "reasonable" Jupiter seeing in case it does not work again. At this point, we can only wait for 1 chance at perfect seeing between now and the opposition in April. Good luck getting at least one 5/5er!

Regards,
Steve

April 2, 2006 03:00 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Advice on Imaging Mercury

Posted By Stephen Fugardi
Folks, With Mercury approaching its greatest morning elongation on Apr 8th, I would like to try to image it. Unfortunately, my observatory is blocked by a hill and trees in the east so the only way to catch the elusive planet would be to image it approx 1hr AFTER the sun has risen.

My plan would be to start on Venus, sync my telescope coordinates with Thesky and determine the focuser offset between the eyepiece view and toucam image. Take a couple of avis, then slew to the predicted location of Mercury which will temporarily be in the trees. Then wait for it to clear.

Since Mercury is basically colorless, I was thinking of using BW. I'll skip the barlow but leave the IR filter in place. I am concerned about the longer exposure setting (vs Venus) will saturate the background. Maybe a dark frame could help the final image?

If you have any advice/experience on imaging Mercury please share it. This is one of those times I wish my C11 not permanetly mounted. As a backup plan I do have the C90 spotting scope camera tripod mounted but without a clock drive, but I doubt this would work...

Thanks!

Regards,
Steve

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