Jupiter, 7 October 2010 (SPC900NC)

Just for grins, I shot this with the old SPC900NC webcam. It's OK, but you can tell the difference between the cheap camera and the other one.

Tenth Mars of the Year

Getting much smaller and distinctly gibbous two months after opposition. Shot with the SPC900NC at f/25 under pretty steady seeing, 3/5.

Eighth, Ninth Mars of the Year

First light through the DMK21AF04.US using the Orion LRGB filters. All I can say is, it ain't the same as the SPC900NC! Getting the color balance is trick-ee. I'm driving the camera and processing with Astro IIDC.

We're on the back side of a cold front right now--temperature's dropped 15 degrees since sunset so you can imagine what the seeing is like.


This second stack is a little better. It's noiser--I kept the shutter fast to try to "freeze" the poor seeing, and so had to boost the gain. It's a trade-off, I know, and I'm not sure which is the better way to go.

Third Mars of the Year

Shot this at 1:20 a.m. when Mars was directly overhead. The forecast was for poor seeing, but I think it was probably between 3/5 and 4/5--not perfect, but much better than I had hoped it would be. 1500 frames with the SPC900NC in the LX200.

First Mars of the Year

Not the best ever, but you can tell what it is. Seeing between 2/5 & 3/5. I was hoping it would get better as it got later, but it didn't. I still like the SPC900NC, and the new version of EquinoX worked better than I thought it would.

Jupiter, Io & Ganymede

These shouldn't have even been possible--I was working late and went outside to see what the weather was doing. Jupiter was shining brightly through a pretty good-sized sucker hole, so I brought the 6" dob out onto the driveway for a look. When I saw both the GRS and the shadow transit, I hustled out back and opened the roof on the observatory. The sky actually cleared up enough for me to get several streams shot, and these are the best two:


The black dot is Io's shadow on the planet. If you look to the right of it, close to the limb, you can see the moon about to pull away from the planet. I've never actually been able to see the moon in front of the planet like this, so that's pretty cool.


And here we are about half an hour later. Io has cleared the limb while its shadow is still on the planet. That's Ganymede at the bottom, about to pass behind the planet.

Seeing was pretty awful for these, so I'm surprised they processed up as nicely as they did. I do like the SPC900NC vs. the NexImage for sure.

Best Saturn of the Year

I think this is my best one this year. CSC said 4/5 seeing; that seemed about right.
10" LX200 w/ TeleVue 2.5x Powermate, Philips SPC900NC webcam with UV/IR filter, 975/1200 frames stacked in Registax.

My Best Moon Shot Yet

This is a composite of 10 shots with the SPC900NC in the LX200 through the 3.3 focal reducer. Each of the 10 shots was 250 frames, and anywhere from 6 to 12 alignment points in Registax. All of that to say this is probably my best moon shot yet.



Be sure to click for the full-size version (328 kb).

A Not Very Good Saturn

It's a cruel irony that the best time to image planets is when they're as close to overhead as possible, so that mean imaging in the winter. But winter is the time when seeing is typically lousy. Those twinkling stars that look so nice in the winter sky? That's my nemesis lately.

Anyway, here's last night's effort with the SPC900NC:

Another Look at the Moon

First up is an area near the center of the Moon (well, not the center, but the middle of the part we can see) called Sinus Medii, Central Bay. The three "rivers" caught my eye, Rimas Triesnecker, Hyginus and Ariadaeus. The Full Moon Atlas has more info.


Next is what I call Tranquility Base National Park. I spent a couple of nights at the eyepiece looking for Craters Armstrong, Collins and Aldrin before I spotted them; you can see here how small they are. This area is just to the southeast of the shot above. Again, the Full Moon Atlas has more.


Both shot with my new Philips SPC900NC webcam. Sinus Medii processed in Registax, Tranquility Base processed in Keith's Image Stacker. 10" LX200, 2.5x PowerMate.

Saturn's Back

Armed with a new Philips SPC900NC webcam, I'm going to get a great shot this year if I can stay up late enough. We had a rare clear night last night with pretty decent seeing.

STS-166 and the ISS

Holy cow, I wish I had shot this! Imaged by Paul Rix in Zanesville, Ohio. The shuttle and space station passed approximately 212 miles directly overhead. This image was shot an hour before the shuttle undocked from the station. Shot with the same telescope I own, a Meade 10" LX200 Classic, and a Philips SPC900NC web cam, this image is the best of nearly 3500 frames.

Be sure to click for the full-size image.