From: "David Illig" <yag@davidillig.com>

Date: November 10, 2005 9:43:26 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: Camera for guiding

Duane:

A good image still boils down to good seeing. I have my one Mars shot that I am very 

proud of:

http://homepage.mac.com/deal/subpages/astrophotos/planets/mars_10_21_05.html

...

Try as I might, I have not been able to duplicate this effort and the only two things I can 

come up with is 1) I don't know what I'm doing and I lucked out   OR 2) This is heavily 

dependent on seeing conditions.

Number 2 is what I am hoping is true :)

Hello, Duane. Number 1 could be true, but it seems unlikely, while number 2 is definitely 

true. I don't have any webcam images of the quality that you show with your Mars and 

Saturn images, and I'm convinced that atmospheric turbulence is the reason. My photo at 

<http://www.davidillig.com/ast-jupiter040416.shtml>, for example, is not too bad -- at 

least it's good enough to tell me "I can do this, and I can get better at it." But, garbage in, 

garbage out.  If I capture 2-3 thousand frames that are highly distorted by turbulence, 

Astro IIDC, good as it is, will not make a silk purse from that sow's ear. That has been my 

experience with Mars. I'll continue trying as weather permits until Mars is too small.

David