giorgosgr
Member
The stars at night are big and bright!
Posts: 37
time zone gmt +/-: +2
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Post by giorgosgr on Jul 11, 2016 9:21:49 GMT
Hi all! These images were shot with the LN300 cctv camera through my old (1983 model) Vixen 80mm refractor, equipped with fringe killer filter and 0.5x reducer. The good old astrovideo program from coaa was used for on the fly stacking of frames (LENS ELECTRIC 1024X). 50 frames stack for each (M57 is 10 frames stack). Processing with Fitswork and Irfan view. I got a message from sharpcap "there aren't many stars..." and it failed to stack frames. I don't know why... There were MANY stars in every frame... Mars was shot with a Meade 3x shorty barlow the 80% best of 1500 frames were aligned and stacked with registax. Thanx for looking, comments welcomed! PS Mars photo is automatically resized by the site software. It's like 500% zoomed here.
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Post by Dragon Man on Jul 11, 2016 10:15:33 GMT
Your results look quite good Giorgos.
Yes, Sharpcap only likes bright stars. They need to make the program more sensitive to fainter stars.
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Post by ChrisV on Jul 11, 2016 10:31:03 GMT
I think there's a beta version that has gain control for the star detection to do the alignment. It was added for cases like this.
And your shots look damn pretty good anyway!!
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Jul 11, 2016 19:01:14 GMT
2.9 beta has a digital star enhancement for alignment purposes. One interesting thing, I tried it once with the stars digitally enhanced. It worked on a problem object but then I came back to another object and it wouldn't work. When I turned it off, it started stacking.
I have an Celestron 70mm Travel scope (f/5.7) that I'm interested in trying with EAA. I got it for free with United Airline miles that were expiring. I bought an Orion extension tube so I could run the camera without the 45° diagonal. Without the extension, it's just out of focus range (it focuses with the diagonal in).
Is it a Yellow #11 filter that's recommended for achromats?
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giorgosgr
Member
The stars at night are big and bright!
Posts: 37
time zone gmt +/-: +2
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Post by giorgosgr on Jul 11, 2016 19:30:01 GMT
Thank you for your kind comments guys! Videoastronomy has become a serious addiction to me :-) robrj I don't use a yellow filter I use a fringe killer one instead. I had bought it many years before I got involved in astronomical video. The yellow one is much more economical I guess. You may try your refractor with the diagonal in for video astronomy. Most of the time I use a Skywatcher 102/500 short refractor for video astronomy with excellent results. PS I made a mosaic with last night images
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Jul 11, 2016 22:01:09 GMT
I'm not really cheap (ask my wife), but the scope is worth about the same as the fringe killer
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Post by Dragon Man on Jul 12, 2016 8:06:31 GMT
2.9 beta has a digital star enhancement for alignment purposes. One interesting thing, I tried it once with the stars digitally enhanced. It worked on a problem object but then I came back to another object and it wouldn't work. When I turned it off, it started stacking. I have an Celestron 70mm Travel scope (f/5.7) that I'm interested in trying with EAA. I got it for free with United Airline miles that were expiring. I bought an Orion extension tube so I could run the camera without the 45° diagonal. Without the extension, it's just out of focus range (it focuses with the diagonal in). Is it a Yellow #11 filter that's recommended for achromats? Just a quick correction Rob, so no-one reads it and goes out and buys the wrong filter: The Yellow filters for Achromats are Wratten numbers #8 and #12 Number #11 doesn't work well for cleaning up CA or Violet Fringing. Here's one of my threads about it: astrovideoforum.proboards.com/thread/1079/using-achromats-video
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giorgosgr
Member
The stars at night are big and bright!
Posts: 37
time zone gmt +/-: +2
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Post by giorgosgr on Jul 12, 2016 17:07:43 GMT
Ken I read your thread about achromats and I also like the Baader contrast booster results. I bought the Fringe killer years ago to use it with my long Vixen achromat (I didn't own the 102/500 back then). I didn't like it visually (the planets got a straw colored hue) and I preferred the unfiltered view. Fortunately I didn't sell it and now its useful for videoastronomy. The yellow filter is very cheap and also useful for visual observation of planets. I think I 'll get one!
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robrj
Member
Posts: 248
home town/country: Escondido, CA
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Post by robrj on Jul 12, 2016 17:22:26 GMT
Just a quick correction Rob, so no-one reads it and goes out and buys the wrong filter: The Yellow filters for Achromats are Wratten numbers #8 and #12 Number #11 doesn't work well for cleaning up CA or Violet Fringing. Here's one of my threads about it: astrovideoforum.proboards.com/thread/1079/using-achromats-videoThanks! I knew I had read about it somewhere and that there were different ones for different reasons.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Jul 18, 2016 15:53:35 GMT
Wow, those are great examples of what the LN300 can do, Giorgos!
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