Planet Images

These are the latest images I’ve taken with my 127 and C90, back to back on the same night with the same kit (HEQ5 Pro, 2x barlow, ZWO ADC and ASI-120MC). Each time I’ve taken the best 25% of 10000 frames using AutoStakkert, and then performed wavelet sharpening in Registax.

C90 (top) and 127 (bottom).

Previously I made the following comparison between 127 and 102.

Images of Mars using 127 and 102mm Maks

Mars in October 2020. 2500 frames (25%) using Skymax 127, ADC and TV x2

Skywatcher Skymax 127 vs Celestron C90

Skymax 127 vs C() Jupiter

Jupiter in August 2019 with a Skymax 127 and a Celestron C90.

Venus, the waning Moon and Jupiter low in the south-eastern sky at 6am on 31st January 2019. About four degrees separates each planet from the moon. Handheld shot using a 700D and a 50mm lens.

Mars and Neptune 2018 Jenhams Astro

The closest line of sight meeting of the red and blue planet for 200 years. 75% cloud and showers at 17:30UT.

Mars with a Celestron C90. Syrtis Major coming into view on the right, with bright Hellas below.

Jupiter on 28th June 18, getting lower in the southern sky after sunset. Good seeing for once allowed use of a 3x barlow. Happy with the result!

Jupiter and the GRS, May 19th 2017. Kenko 3″ refractor.

The planet Mercury taken 45 minutes after sunset on 1st April 17 with a Circle-K 3″ refractor I bought on ebay. Happy with the scope. Classic ‘frac.

Venus after sunset on 15th March 2017. Taken with a Celestron C90 and a x2 Barlow.

Uranus forming a triangle with 88 and Zeta Piscium. WO GT81s with 8s exposure.

Zoomed-in view of Neptune showing the vivid blue colour. Beautiful!

Mars and Neptune

Mars (upper left) and Neptune (lower right, blue dot) on 2nd January 2017, using a Canon DSLR and a WO GT81. 10s exposure.

Zoom on Mars and Neptune from the same frame to count pixels!
[caption id="attachment_1274" align="aligncenter" width="408"] Mars on 18th June 2016 at 23:30pm, taken through a SkyMax 150 using a 2x Barlow. The seeing was poor and the planet was low down in the southern sky. 200 frames was all I could get between the clouds.

SkyMax mars june 2016_20160618_2234_47 mars fade — Zoom on Mars and Neptune from the same frame to count pixels!
[caption id="attachment_1274" align="aligncenter" width="408"] Mars on 18th June 2016 at 23:30pm, taken through a SkyMax 150 using a 2x Barlow. The seeing was poor and the planet was low down in the southern sky. 200 frames was all I could get between the clouds.

SkyMax Jupiter May 2016_20160523_2130_29_wave2 — Another image of the Callisto transit. I find myself revisiting the wavelets page on Registax, endlessly moving the sliders… am I the only one?

SkyMax Jupiter May 2016_20160523_2137_21_wave_crop — Transit of the moon Callisto across the northern polar region of Jupiter, taken on May23rd 2016 using an SPC900NC webcam, a Skywatcher Skymax 150 Pro telescope and a 3x barlow. To focus I used a Bahtinov mask on Arcturus and locked the focuser.

SkyMax Jupiter May 2016_20160523_2102_55_wave3 — Jupiter on 23rd May 2016. There was a brief period of what looked like excellent seeing, where more details became visible on the disc for a few seconds at a time. This image was produced from Registax based on 300 frames of data captured at 10fps. The moons to the left and right are Ganymede and Io.

First light through my new Skywatcher Skymax 150 pro maksutov. Jupiter on 12th May 2016 — Jupiter on 12th May 2016. First light through my new Skywatcher Skymax 150 Pro maksutov. I didn’t use a barlow so this is a shot taken at F12. 40s at 30fps then PIPP and Registax. Now where is that barlow…

4 Planets and Moon Bristol Jan 28 2016 anotate small — For those of you who couldn’t work out which faint dot was which….

4 Planets and Moon Bristol Jan 28 2016 — From left to right: Venus (low down above house), Saturn, Mars, Moon and Jupiter

Jupiter and Venus in the western sky, at 10:15pm local time. The exposure was 1/100th of a second. — Jupiter and Venus in the western sky, taken at 10:15pm local time on June 30th, as the duo skulked off towards the horizon. The exposure was 1/100th of a second. I had hoped for a perfect, miniature Jupiter image but the brightness of the two planets was so different that it proved tricky to achieve. ‘Happy with the crescent of Venus though, which is now clearly different from earlier in the year.

Jupiter and Venus converge in June 2015 — Jupiter and Venus converge in June 2015, this image taken just after dusk on 29th June @ 1/500s.

Saturn in June 15 — Saturn in June 15 taken with 1000 frames at 1/25s using the C90. The ringed planet was low above the southern horizon: 15 degrees at most. The thing I always forget is that Saturn is much fainter than Jupiter and it shows in the final image.

Venus in May 15 taken with a C90 — Venus in May 15. I think we’ve reached the heady heights of 5 out of 10! These 500 frames were captured just as the sun set. The sky was still bright and blue and perhaps this reduced the contrast enough to capture a cleaner shot. An exposure of 1/250s was used, with the only real tweak being to the RGB align in Registax, to remove the blue fringing. The original video is Video of Venus with C90.

Venus in May 15 taken with a C90 — Venus taken in the minutes after sunset, with a 750 frame capture. The exposure was set to 1/100s. There is some obvious colour fringing going on – perhaps this is an artifact of the Mak’s corrector plate? As a planetary picture I would have to give it 2 out of 10, but at least it added to the list of objects my family have been forced to look at!

Jupiter — This time I took 2000 frames, and let RegiStax select the best 60%. The seeing was better than with my first attempt, and more detail is evident.

Jupiter and Io and Europa — If you look closely you can see the moons of Io and Europa to the left of the planet. For this shot RegiStax took the best 700 frames from a 1000 frame file, with the exposure set at 1/25s.

Jupiter with a C90 Mak — This is the result of my first attempt using a Celestron C90 Mak and a 3x Barlow. I captured 1000 frames at 1/25s, and Registax took the best 800 or so. The C90 should give me the greater image scale I need, but it certainly doesn’t focus as well as a refractor. The seeing was only average so I will try again, this time grabbing 2000 frames.

Jupiter in 2014 using the Equinox 120ED — Jupiter in 2014 using the Equinox 120ED. ‘My best attempt (of at least 20!)

Mars in 2014. — Mars in 2014. By the time my 3x Barlow was online the red planet had shrunk. The image scale is too small, as my set-up is running at about F18, whereas the forums all tell you to try for F30. Short of buying a longer focal length scope, the only option would be to use a camera with smaller pixels.

Saturn in 2014. — Saturn in 2014. It looked great live on my laptop’s screen, with the Cassini division evident. Something is lost in the final image. I would have to class Saturn as a work in progress!

Saturn Jupiter and Mars mosaic 3 Planets from 2014