From: Phil Houston <pkh111@knology.net>

Date: December 21, 2007 10:33:51 PM MST

To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com

Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Mars Dec. 2nd & 7th

Hi Milton,

Glad you're back.  I saw your October Mars image and it's good.  It just amazes me how you northern guys can get out and image in the cold and I wonder why you do it.  The  coldest imaging I have ever done was at 28º F and frost was forming on everything.

Since I posted those Mars images I did try multiple alignment points using the four quadrants of Mars but did not see any appreciable difference.  Might be my processing technique, I don't know.  Using the 128 x 128 alignment area just surrounds the planet so there is both vertical and  horizontal edges.  I do tend to stack quite a few images with the idea that I can sharpen them a lot trying to squeeze out details.  You have seen my over processed collection of images.  I know they might not look "natural" but I'm no artist.

I just came in from imaging Mars tonight and finally captured a more interesting side of Mars and should have something to show the group tomorrow.  The sky was clear and seeing about 6/10 with some wind. Temperature 61ºF! 

Quite a few nice images produced by group members here using AstroIIDC. Glad to see it.

Phil

On Dec 21, 2007, at 11:21 AM, Milton Aupperle wrote:

Hi Phil;

Nice Shots of Mars. So far the only recognizable features I got was in
October. I was out on the 16th (-18°C here) and got basically nothing
again, even though I was shooting at 25 millisecond exposures / 30 fps
and at 5,000 mm focal length.

One thing to keep in mind when stacking that using more frames is not
necessarily the best thing. The main reason to stack many frames it to
reduce noise. If you use high gains then the noise is going to show up
in the final image unless you stack lots of frames. Some of my large
lunar composites were done with 30 to 50 stacked frames out of 2000+ shot.

Also when selecting an area for alignment especially for larger round
objects, try and pick a diagonal area (i.e North East, North West,
South East or South West)corner. You want to try and get an area that
has some vertical and horizontal oriented edges on it, so it can lock
onto them.

Hope That Helps..

Milton Aupperle

--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Phil Houston <pkh111@...> wrote:
>
> Hi All,
>
> II too have been trying to capture a good Mars image this year but
> the skies have not been the best so far here either. The few clear
> nights have been turbulent and Mars looks like an egg rolling around
> in my scope. I have tried stacking many videos but none showed any
> promise until I manually selected an alignment area slightly larger
> than the planet and stacked fewer than the usual percentage of
> frames. I have not tried multiple alignments on Mars yet and don't
> know if selecting a large area is the best way to go but it seemed to
> help. It sure slows things down though. The images are over
> processed but I really wanted to bring out some details. I wish now
> that I had not trashed the videos of the more interesting sides of Mars.
>
> Below are temporary links to images taken on the 2nd and 7th. Both
> were taken through a 6" Mak, Astronomiks RGB filters, and a DMK
> 31AF03 camera. I'm not sure why the color between the two images are
> so different. It was not intentional. Hopefully, we will have a
> least one night of good seeing this month.
>
> http://www.knology.net/~pkh111/q6mars120207.jpg
>
> http://www.knology.net/~pkh111/q6mars120707.jpg
>
> Good seeing and Happy Holidays,
>
> Phil
>