Jim and Jim, N. Carolina has been boiling for the last 5 months. This Summer is proving to be a hot one "Oppressive" everyday except for 5 days in June where it dropped into the 80's thanks to a cold front. I try this and that but, the colors just frustrate the tar out of me. I tried using dss for several weeks , I just couldn't get some of the data too stack and got PO after a month of working with it and watching videos on processing with dss. I just haven't found my groove , AIP4win does a good job except for my pitiful frames that are off center, it's a learning process. I've made progress and I like the fact that it'll save in 32 bit , I've had plenty of headaches with the 3 targets I've collected . Astronomy tools is a set of tools I use quite often on DSO post processing and then drop it in Image Ready before saving to the web. My headache is getting my background to a darker contrast with bright stars they're still blue, I use white balance and it lightens the background and also my target. URRRRGGGG ! I'll find my groove one of these months. Thanks fellas I'm trying ! Jim I love those stars and the ring , it's small but , at least your stars aren't blue green or red all of them.

I've been working on getting my data from Winter , Spring and now Summer . I'm having a heck of a time trying to get everything into it's own folder and attempt to process all the data since it's boiling. M82 lum doesn't want to line up with my RGB stack and I've got the same problem with my m81 data , that's telling me that my marks on my focuser are off and my camera has not been put back in the exact position as the previous nights after collimating. OOPS ! This is my rendition of " The All Seeing Eye" M57 several nights of Track n Stack data if I can only get my colors to go where I want them to. This processing is a real "PITA" All of it. I wanted to get the colors right but , I've run into that wall 2 times so far and I'm walking away again for another month.

The All Seeing Eye

I just can't get over the detail you pulled through that storm it's got going on Jim , I'm glad that somebody is getting some imaging in , the East we're in the muggy buggy season with heat storms. I'm praying to the weather gods for a cool front so I can at least get something on Mars or Saturn this year. I was blessed with only a night that I gathered any data on Jupiter and I new it was going to be worth a HOOT !

Brian that's totally awesome and that 10 gathered a ton of photons , you get that SGP " framing and mosaic" going on that and it'll really be completely stunning. I've yet to get out and actually get anything done in this sweltering , muggy buggy heat and humidity.

Jim that Atik460 does a mighty fine job , I just love the stars {nice and tight} that's a really sharp m13 . It's not been any good for anything except dipping in the pool , the heat and humidity is off the charts and the storms keep on coming . Tell me who purchased the new astronomy gear? These storms just keep coming .

It's a stunner, I've not had the opportunity this year yet Jim. Showing those processing skills.

I get my coordinates from astrobin for plate solve and I see m57, every color of the rainbow Sonny . Hubbles color images are blueish and I'll try to get some more blue channel and I use Meade filters which aren't the best but, they're not that bad. Then again a new set of filters is on my wish list. Better luck next trip to see your Daughter. I ha great guiding on a star around Vega but , that was with my 2x- 3x barlow from planetary setup and not my coma corrector , gotta get that balance right with the coma corrector now!

Brian , that's awesome ! your processing skills are shining and Saturn is really good , just because the stars are twinkling isn't all bad . That's just our crappy atmosphere getting in the way because the planets are riding lower in the sky , I've got to cut though the soup and take many 1000's of frames to get a couple decent frames to stack .

I'm trying to learn how to capture and post process my data , the heat and humidity makes it hard to image in this
"Boil", the pool helps cool me down but, does nothing to speed the camera cooler along in this heat. These have been called my "lifesavers, cereal and donuts". Trying to improve them skills but, I feel overwhelmed at times and the sky hasn't been in my favor. I don't understand why my star count has dropped off in rgb. Help , if you can? I've spent 2 weeks on M81 , 82, and this , still not 100% satisfied but, it's a start.

freshmint lifesaver


strawberry


spearmint


peppermint

It wasn't ideal , the humidity had dropped from the cold front . It was still enough to have me dripping , by 8 pm swim trunks and everything needed another dip in the pool. The dips only help the heat and humidity momentarily and it's back to dripping . 8 in Newtonian astrograph / modified lxd55/ asi 174MM cooled 2x barlow and a pool. All was needed for the capturing of the data , processing was done w/ reg 6 and it sure felt nice inside after having the brand new AC unit installed after a week in the boil.

Jupiter rotated 10028 frames 80% stacked in as2

I decided to go with Jupiter 1st , I adjusted a lil' bit from the time before . The humidity and temp wasn't as bad as the 11th when I 1st ran on this target, I tried different settings as I ran away running avi's. I then went for m57 and plate solved with the planetary setup aftr solving on vega I clicked for guiding on a star around vega and was totally blown away when I was guiding a lot better than all previous attempts, my luck SGP kept telling me it couldn't solve {too low to the horizon}. Vega was straight up at zenith and how can m57 be too low to the horizon? I didn't get to run RGB Sharpcap lost my efw controls and I couldn't figure that one out?

Jupiter GRS


Guiding didn't drop or rise on either axis

My modified Meade lxd55 mount is pretty good for doing Lunar/planetary imaging but, dso's is another story. It's all good though , I take my licks and keep going because astronomy is awesome. Thanks fellas ! Summer is mainly solar system imaging , the fast frame rate can catch a good frame more often unless a cold front settles in the it's game on from tree city. Our state has so many huge old Oak trees that when we get a lot of rain trees uproot and knock out the power which really s---- in the summer.

It was hot , it was humid , I was dripping and I had the opportunity to get some imaging time on m57 and Jupiter in 2 nights after 2 months of astro withdrawals and better data . My output paths are now in the in the correct manner and I had a good night collecting several thousands of frames in 4 hrs. I was capturing @ a rate of up to 237fps "what a night".

asi174MM cooled 2x barlow Jupiter w/ satelite

I've had the past 2 nights to gather data on m57 and everything but, guiding has been awesome . 2 months of boiling heat and humidity has thrown a wrench in my enjoyment, boiling heat is back tomorrow and back to trying to process a lot of sleezy data from Winter. I've got to get with you on that PHD again and try to get that darn guiding going one more time . I just had a central air unit go out , 8 days in the boil with nothing but fans "Sucks being me" . A new mount is on hold for a while .

Stay the course bwa , you've pulled more than I could on Jupiter and haven't had a chance for a try at Saturn this summer. I gave up on Planets there's just too much humidity and the heat is out of control. Nice job.