Paul's astro pics

Jupiter in good seeing 30th July (IR)

2011-07-30T23:26:00.002+01:00

Jupiter IR 28th July

2011-07-30T23:24:00.001+01:00

25th July in IR

2011-07-30T23:18:00.002+01:00

Jupiter in IR with red spot-11th July

2011-07-30T23:15:00.002+01:00

Jupiter in IR-first of this season 10th July

2011-07-10T21:40:00.005+01:00

Captured early this morning in poor to fair seeing. Link to animation.

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/attachments/4684391-jupiteranimationa.gif

Saturn 3rd March in IR742

2011-03-05T13:24:00.001Z

Saturn animation of storm 2/3 March

2011-03-04T22:10:00.003Z

Click here to see an animation of the large storm on Saturn.

http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/attachments/4426351-anibest2.gif

Schiller and a mosaic-14th Feb

2011-02-16T17:49:00.003Z

8th Feb-Saturn

2011-02-12T16:29:00.008Z

Much better seeing this time around.

Gassendi and Aristarchus-16/01/11

2011-01-16T23:52:00.003Z

RGB and IR jupiter-9/1/11

2011-01-16T23:48:00.002Z

Petavius and Atlas-09/01/2011

2011-01-16T23:45:00.001Z

Saturn and storm 9/01/11

2011-01-16T23:40:00.002Z

Finally managed to capture the storm. Seeing appeared steady although the cassini division was never really apparent apart from a hint of difference in contrast. Either the collimation was out or the seeing was worse than I thought.

Jupiter 3/01/11

2011-01-16T23:36:00.001Z

Poor to fair seeing.

Another from the 16th - Ramsaden Crater

2010-12-22T20:49:00.003Z

Currently waiting for the moon to raise above next door's house. Here is Ramsaden with an unusual N shaped rille. Not completely happy with the sharpness so I'll have another attempt at this at some point.

Crazy conditions-19/20th December

2010-12-20T15:07:00.003Z

Very cold for the last 2 nights, down to -8 degrees centigrade at times and I can't find my gloves :(

Started last night trying to image Jupiter but the seeing was so bad that I was unable to resolve any of jupiters moons into disks (and that was using the IR filter). I then turned my attention to the moon and attemped to image pythagoras but the seeing was to jittery to determin focus although transparency looked good. I attempted captures a couple of hours, the seeing was much better although there was lots of fog and possibly thin clouds that caused the capture levels on the histogram to change during capture.

In the morning I caught Saturn under fair seeing although the low and changing transparancy made the captures noisy.

Lunar captures-16th December

2010-12-18T10:00:00.002Z

Fair seeing with moments of good seeing. I'm alot more confident about the mirror and collimation now. If I can get consistant good seeing I should be able to get better images :)

New scope

2010-12-05T21:23:00.004Z

I've had my new scope for just over a week. I decided to purchase a newtonian instead of an SCT although my C9,25 has done a stirling job (currently retired to the down stairs toilet :), I now consider it portable compared to the new scope). My biggest reason for selecting a newtonian was being able to collimate during the day where as the the C9.25 needed good seeing for a star test and I never felt that it kept good collimation as it was moved from one part of the sky to another. It also meant that I could get a larger aperature scope without having to buy a mount.

In the end I selected an orion optics CT12L F5.3 newtonian with an electronic focuser. Orion optics are renowned for the quality of their optics (the strehl value is very high) although this scope also appears to be mechanically excellent. I've made slight changes to the collimation and appears to be holding theses changes regardless of the direction in which I'm pointing the tube.

I'm using the scope on a EQ6-pro and it appears to handle it very well (the picture shows the scope on top of Dave Tylers old mount, although at the moment I'm finding this mount too difficult to use for imaging). The scope is hugh and I imagine its going to be problematic in high winds. I currently have to remove the tube from the observatory and mount it outside. At some point I'll have the mount and scope permently setup in the observtory.

At first I was unable to get the focuser working but after communicating with the makers of the controller for the focuser it was found to have supplied with the incorrect software. This scope really needs an electronic focuser otherwise vibrations making acurrate focusing for high resolution imaging all most impossible, especially with a long tube newtionian. Last night I used the focuser it works very well indeed.

The scope also have 3 fans which seem to do a good a job at bring the scope to ambient and especially useful as the scope the primary has an issue with dewing up but only after imaging sessions when I've placed the cap on the end of the tube. I need to keep the tube open and run the fans for a good half an hour before packing up.

The scope appears to be doing well although I've not had the best seeing recently. I also need to tweak the collimation a bit more using an autocollimator but I'm trying to read up on that subject befor I make a start.

Here are some images of the scope from last Sunday and some images collected from early this morning.

Solar images-22/08/10

2010-08-25T11:59:00.006+01:00

Click images for full size. Taken with the 150mm PST.

Jupiter 3rd August

2010-08-06T18:40:00.001+01:00

Best image from a recent session.

Lunar images-3/08/10

2010-08-05T01:56:00.004+01:00

After imaging Jupiter I turned my scope onto the moon. The seeing was starting to deteriorate and the transparancy was a little low but its was nice to get a bit of practice in. Shots were taken using the 2.5x powermate and 3x barlow, C9.25, DMK and red filter.

Jupiter 3rd July

2010-07-13T23:56:00.001+01:00

Ha shots-3rd July

2010-07-13T23:15:00.001+01:00

Sunspot 3rd July-Whitelight

2010-07-13T23:09:00.002+01:00

C9.25, baader film, 2x barlow and red filter (bottom), 2.5x powermate and green filter (top) and DMK camera

Sunspot and other features in Ha

2010-07-13T23:06:00.003+01:00

Using the 150mm PST and a 2x barlow.

Sunspot-27th June

2010-07-13T23:01:00.002+01:00

Whitelight image taken with the C9.25, baader astrofilm, red or green filter(I need to start recording what i'm using) and DMK camera

Sunspot in whitelight, transiting the limb -26th June

2010-06-26T17:19:00.003+01:00

Shows the Wilson effect

C9.25, 2x barlow and red filter. Below is a Ha shot with the 150mm system.

Jupiter 26th June

2010-06-26T17:17:00.001+01:00

Jupiter 25th June

2010-06-26T17:15:00.002+01:00

Jupiter and transit of Io and shadow-23rd June

2010-06-26T17:07:00.003+01:00

Jupite 21st June

2010-06-26T17:03:00.002+01:00

Ha solar shots-13/06/12

2010-06-20T19:57:00.003+01:00

Flare from 12/06/10

2010-06-20T19:46:00.004+01:00

9:20UT
9:23UT

I caught a flare in progress. Material in the filament was being thrown out.

Smoother version

2010-06-20T13:32:00.002+01:00

Jupiter 20/6/10

2010-06-20T06:54:00.003+01:00

Managed to workout what happened with the filters last time, I was imaging IRs and R filters. This time I made sure that I rotated the filters in the correct direction. RGB C9.25, 2x barlow.

Jupiter in IR.

Jupiter-14/06/10

2010-06-17T16:56:00.003+01:00

Imaged using the C9.25 and 2.5x power mate but I managed to mess up the order of the filters, so it might be an RGB but I'm not sure. Best to call it a false colour image.

Jupiter in IR-4/6/10

2010-06-04T23:27:00.003+01:00

Resized to 150%

Full disk Ha-4/6/10

2010-06-04T21:02:00.001+01:00

Imaged with a 50mm filter.

Jupiter-4/6/10

2010-06-04T17:12:00.002+01:00

Left image is Ir(702)RGB and the right side image is RGB

Interesting feature-2nd June

2010-06-03T23:43:00.000+01:00

I know these have a name but I can't remember what it is.

Sun in Ha-3/6/10

2010-06-03T20:11:00.001+01:00

Some use of the invert function in photoshop.

Sun in WL-3/6/10

2010-06-03T20:09:00.003+01:00

I now have some of the photographic baader astrofilm instead of the visual kind.

Colour Jupiter-3/6/10

2010-06-03T20:03:00.003+01:00

Really can't wait for Jupiter to get to a decent height this year :)

1st Jupiter this season-3rd June

2010-06-03T05:30:00.002+01:00

Not a great image but the best I've ever managed of Jupiter. I do have some RGB files but I'll process those later. This was imaged through a red filter.

Saturn 2nd June

2010-06-03T01:42:00.002+01:00

3xbarlow and RGB filters. Final image is a RRGB. I finding it very difficult to control the noise even with a large stack size. I'm assuming that this is due to having a histogram which is only 1/4 full.

12th April (I think)-Another Saturn

2010-06-01T19:57:00.005+01:00

Another Saturn from my unstable portable hard drive. I may have a few other Saturn's worth posting if I can transfer them to my laptop. Still trying to hunt down the avi files for this but I think this was imaged on the 12th April.

RRGB Saturn 22nd May

2010-06-01T13:57:00.002+01:00

Here is an RRGB version. Colours are very odd but its difficult to get good colours when the histogram is so limited.

Saturn-22nd May

2010-06-01T13:17:00.002+01:00

A rubbish Saturn season for me this year. I've had collimation issues due to a loose collimation screw (I shifts backwards and fowards when force is placed on it, so rotating the screw has to be done carefully) and also managed to rotate the secondary mirror, although I think I have it back in position now. My primary portable hard disk also stopped working correctly although I think I have most of the important data off it now.

Here is a capture through a red filter. I used a large stack, so no storms but I think there is a hint of the cassini division.

Full disk-30th May

2010-05-30T19:51:00.002+01:00

Too windy to use the 150mm PST, so I used a lunt 50mm filter instead.

23/5/10-good seeing

2010-05-29T13:40:00.002+01:00

22/5/10-spectral spread

2010-05-29T13:35:00.003+01:00

18/5/10

2010-05-29T13:33:00.002+01:00

17/5/10-flatworm filaprom

2010-05-29T13:30:00.003+01:00

16/5/10

2010-05-29T13:26:00.003+01:00

15/5/10

2010-05-29T13:14:00.003+01:00

9/5/10-Shots in Ha

2010-05-29T13:03:00.002+01:00

Surface shots-3/5/10

2010-05-03T15:47:00.006+01:00

I need to get into the routine of posting more often :)

The Sun appears to be breaking out in spots again. PST150mm, sunspot number 47.

CME

2010-04-13T19:30:00.005+01:00

8:45UT

8:33UT

8:25UT

8:15 UT

CME-13/04/10

2010-04-13T15:44:00.002+01:00

Proms and filaproms-21/02/10

2010-03-04T18:44:00.004Z

I had really good seeing on this day :)

Proms and sunspots-20/02/10

2010-03-04T18:40:00.001Z

Proms-19th Feb

2010-03-04T18:38:00.001Z

Sun 16/02/10

2010-03-04T18:35:00.002Z

Saturn-01/03/10

2010-03-04T18:27:00.002Z

First RGB image of saturn this year. As ususal Saturn's low brightness makes a good capture difficult.

Mars 20/02/10

2010-03-04T18:18:00.002Z

Mars-16th Feb

2010-03-04T18:10:00.003Z

Mars

2010-02-15T09:41:00.004Z

I have been very pleased with the recent seeing when imaging Mars. I still have loads of avi files that I have not processed yet and at some point I will reprocess all the images to try to keep the processing more consistant.

Recent sun shots

2010-02-15T09:21:00.008Z

14/02/10

13/02/10

06/02/10

30/01/10

Active region traversing the limb of the Sun-31/10/09

2010-01-20T20:51:00.003Z

A bit late but most work to date with the 150mm system.

Here is an 80 frame clip showing an active region over a 40 minute period.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t78aK6JIW2M

Sunspot images-17/01/10

2010-01-20T20:39:00.006Z

CaK and Ha images

I recently brought a new PST in the hope that the etalon would have better performance than the old etalon that I have been using. Overall I think it does. Another advantage was that there was no glue between the gold tube containing the objective and the black box, so it was very easy to remove the etalon.

Here is a shot using the etalon in its native 40mm configuration.

In its 150mm configuration with normal gamma.

Reduced gamma to increase contrast

CaK module and 90mm megrez

A couple of shots of Mars from this season

2010-01-20T20:35:00.002Z

Both shots obained using a 3x barlow, DMK camera, RGB filters and C9.25 under fair seeing.

Sunspots-23/09/09

2009-09-24T20:22:00.002+01:00

Sunspots-22/09/09

2009-09-24T20:10:00.003+01:00

2 new active regions appeared

Fast changing prom-20/09/09

2009-09-24T20:01:00.002+01:00

Please click on image

2009-09-24T19:56:00.000+01:00

2009-09-24T19:51:00.000+01:00

19/09/09-AR

2009-09-24T19:46:00.002+01:00

13/09/09-proms

2009-09-24T19:39:00.001+01:00

12/09/09-Proms

2009-09-24T19:34:00.003+01:00

150mm,2.5xpowermate, PST etalon and DMK camera

Prom-6/09/09

2009-09-24T19:13:00.001+01:00

150mm aperature, 2.5x powermate and DMK21 and PST etalon

Proms and AR-05/09/09

2009-09-05T16:50:00.005+01:00

150mm skywatcher refractor, pst etalon, BF15.

Proms and AR-3/09/09

2009-09-05T16:45:00.003+01:00

Using a 150mm refractor

Proms-01/09/09

2009-09-05T16:38:00.002+01:00

Imaged using the 150mm skywatcher refractor

AR in Ha and CaK-1/09/09

2009-09-05T16:33:00.002+01:00

AR-31/08/09

2009-09-05T16:30:00.002+01:00

Using a 150mm skywatcher refractor. The aperature was reduced to 115mm. The AR briefly produced sunspots which stopped the long drout of sunspots.

Proms-29/08/09

2009-09-05T16:25:00.002+01:00

Using the 80mm vixen

Proms-25/08/09

2009-09-05T16:23:00.002+01:00

This shows what the Vixen system can do

Proms-23/08/09

2009-09-05T16:20:00.002+01:00

Imaged using the 80mm Vixen

22/08/09

2009-09-05T16:13:00.005+01:00

Imaged using the Vixen 80mm

19/08/09

2009-09-05T16:04:00.008+01:00

Imaged using the 80mm Vixen

17/08/09-proms

2009-09-05T15:59:00.002+01:00

Imaged using the new 80mm Vixen.

11/08/09

2009-09-05T15:53:00.003+01:00

Imaged using the 80mm equinox

Proms-08/08/09

2009-09-05T15:40:00.004+01:00

Imaged using the 80mm equinox.

New OTA for PST modification

2009-09-05T14:30:00.005+01:00

Please note the image above does not show the energy rejection filter which is placed in front of the objective lense to reduce dangerous wavelengths of radiation from reaching the eye.

Warning-Please note that modifying a PST could damage either the equipment you are using or more importantly your eyesight. It is vital that if you are considering any modifications that you have fully researched all apects of a conversion e.g. how each part works and why it is needed in a solarscope. This is not a tutorial on how to modify a PST but should point people in the correct direction.

Recommended forum for research

http://ukastroimaging.co.uk/forums/index.php solar equipment section under the Telescope/Equipment/Accessories

I had previously used an 80mm starwatcher equinox refractor which had been cut down by astroengineering.

http://paulsastropics.blogspot.com/2009/04/pst-modification.html

The etalon in a PST works best when an f/10 system is used although the equinox was a f/6.25 system. After seeing the images being produced by others using a system closer to f/10 it was clear that there better detail and contrast in both proms and surface features.

The Vixen A80MF was being recommended as a cheap OTA (95 pounds-bargain) for a PST conversion. The scope is achromatic but this is not a problem as we are only dealing with one wavelength of light. The telescope has a focal length of 910mm and a 80mm aperature and therefore has a f ratio of 11.4 much closer to the f/10 that the etalon should work at. As with all other modifications the the etalon be placed 200mm in front of focus. In other words 710mm behind the lens. This meant that the tube would have to be cut down. The focuser would also have be replaced as the modification needs a 2inch focuser.

My father cut down the tube for me (I would only get it wrong if I tried). At first about 5cm was reversed but although the system came to focus with all barlow systems it would not come focus at prime focus (it needed about another 1mm of inwards travel). Another 1cm was removed which allowed all combanations to come to focus. How much is removed depends on the focuser being used.

I had a featherlight focuser which I purchased with a lunt CaK scope although I never really used the tube and the focuser was therefore not being used. The ring that connects the focuser to the telescope was a good match with tube of the vixen although it is threaded and the inside of the tube was not. My dad unfortunately pushed in the ring and was unable to remove it again and so it was in reality fixed in place.

The performance of the new system blows the equinox out of the water. There is better contrast and resoultuion when imaging both proms and surface features. Spicules on the surface are clearly resolved.

There was unfortunately an apparent shadow when imaging proms. I have later found that the focuser ring was slightly loose (I can now remove it completely although it won't just drop out) which meant the alignment was out and the system was detecting one of the three cell holders for the lense. At some point The fosuser will be reatacthed to stop these shadows.

Sun in Ha-30/07/09

2009-07-31T01:57:00.011+01:00

Reprocessed Jupiter-28/7/09

2009-07-28T10:14:00.003+01:00

More agressive use of wavelets in registax

A touch sharper

I can't wait for Jupiter to get higher next year :)

Jupiter-28/07/09

2009-07-28T02:29:00.002+01:00

Not a great image but I think the collimation has helped. Poor seeing has ment that this image has been sharpened with in an inch of its life. The impact mark can be seen at the top right of Jupiter.

Recollimated C9.25

2009-07-27T23:02:00.003+01:00

In the hope of obtaining a decent image of Jupiter this season I have recollimated my scope. It seems to loose collimation every time I remove it from the mount (usually to do some solar imaging). I think in future I'm going to check the collimation everytime I do some imaging. I was given one of those headlamps which makes using a screwdriver in the dark 20x easier. I use the DMK imaging camera with a 5x powermate and look at a stars diffraction rings on the laptop. It also means I can use my other hand to use the controller so that the star can be easily recentred.

Here is an image of the diffraction pattern. Stacked using registax.

Now all I need is some good seeing :)

Ha shots-27/07/09

2009-07-27T21:20:00.004+01:00

AR and proms imaged using a Lunt 60mm scope, 3x barlow and DMK camera

AR imaged using an 80mm skywatcher equinox, pst etalon, 4x imagemate and DMK camera

AR 11024 in CaK

2009-07-27T21:16:00.003+01:00

Images were obtained using a Lunt CaK module, 90mm megrez refractor and DMK camera.

2.5x powermate

3x barlow