by Boomer12k » Sun Apr 28, 2013 5:47 pm
We finally had some good, warm, evening weather, and I was able to get out the scope and take a few pictures. I did see Jupiter and Saturn, but the full moon was so bright, I could not discern a galaxy to save my LIFE!!! So, I settled for the Moon, and M13...which I could fairly make out in the eyepiece.
Both pictures are taken from about 20 still pictures made into an AVI video. This is then loaded into Registax. The frames are aligned, stacked, and the best parts of each frame are saved as a single image. Then that image is used in Photoshop, with auto level, contrast, and color...and these are the results...much better, and clearer than my other efforts. Sounds like a long, involved process, but really only takes maybe 5-6 minutes or so. Not counting all the telescope operation and taking the pictures of course, that took about an hour and a half, that session. Just the processing time.
If I did that process with Jupiter, it gets totally lightened up, and is not good, with Saturn it is totally washed out...Deep Sky Objects turn out the best, and the Moon...
I don't have one of the original M13 frames, but they can be "dingy" looking. Processing really clears them up, and makes them more enjoyable.
The Moon features are brought out with a Wavelet function in Registax. The original image is a tad blurred.
My ETERNAL THANKS to Tony Hallas, for the advice he gave me!
All images were taken with my 10" Meade LX 200 GPS, and a Deep Sky Imager 2 Color Camera, on my laptop....from my driveway, in a neighborhood of a city with lots of light pollution, there is a street light 50 feet away or so. And then there was the Full Moon!!! Not too shabby for a relatively cheap observatory.
More great weather coming next week!!!
:---[===] *
- Attachments
-
- Original M13 image after stacking, but before Photoshop enhancement.
-
- Moon
-
- M13
We finally had some good, warm, evening weather, and I was able to get out the scope and take a few pictures. I did see Jupiter and Saturn, but the full moon was so bright, I could not discern a galaxy to save my LIFE!!! So, I settled for the Moon, and M13...which I could fairly make out in the eyepiece.
Both pictures are taken from about 20 still pictures made into an AVI video. This is then loaded into Registax. The frames are aligned, stacked, and the best parts of each frame are saved as a single image. Then that image is used in Photoshop, with auto level, contrast, and color...and these are the results...much better, and clearer than my other efforts. Sounds like a long, involved process, but really only takes maybe 5-6 minutes or so. Not counting all the telescope operation and taking the pictures of course, that took about an hour and a half, that session. Just the processing time.
If I did that process with Jupiter, it gets totally lightened up, and is not good, with Saturn it is totally washed out...Deep Sky Objects turn out the best, and the Moon...
I don't have one of the original M13 frames, but they can be "dingy" looking. Processing really clears them up, and makes them more enjoyable.
The Moon features are brought out with a Wavelet function in Registax. The original image is a tad blurred.
My ETERNAL THANKS to Tony Hallas, for the advice he gave me!
All images were taken with my 10" Meade LX 200 GPS, and a Deep Sky Imager 2 Color Camera, on my laptop....from my driveway, in a neighborhood of a city with lots of light pollution, there is a street light 50 feet away or so. And then there was the Full Moon!!! Not too shabby for a relatively cheap observatory.
More great weather coming next week!!! :D
:---[===] *