My first go at webcamming Jupiter

Hi Dave,

Yes the focus is just a tad better in the first one. In fact the first image is actually the last avi I took if you get my drift.

The moon in the images is Europa.

Yes I could take out the IR filter and I will do just as soon as I have had the opportunity to pick up a screw in one

I just did a bit of an enlargement of the GRS area in the second image and heres what I came up with



There is definitely colour variation there, the question I would ask, Is it real or just processing artifacts?? Opinions??

Hi Dave,
They are some great images, especially the first one.
The seeing was good here also last night.
Those are the first images I've seen with the qucikcam. looks like it does a great job.
Its very easy to over enhance the sharpening, like in the second image.

As for the colour artifact, if you look at the second image (unmagnified) there seems to be a thicker rim around the top of the GRS, maybe lack of exact focus compared to the first image.

What make/model is the mak-cas?

Whats the story with this IR filter in the quickcam?
Is it poor quality?
With the toucam, you almost need to get an IR filter for it.

Those are the first images I've seen with the qucikcam. looks like it does a great job.

Thanks for the feedback Dave. The QC Pro 4000 has a real CCD just like the TC Pro. It IR filter looks ok but its hards to say by looking at it if its any good. I will dump it and get a baader screw in type.

What make/model is the mak-cas?

Its a Skywatcher 127mm. I love this scope really high quality optics. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Dave,
I was comparing the surface features to an image I took last June (on sac site) and there has been a significant amount of surface changes over the past 9 months, more then I would have imagined.
Lets hope its clear again tonight so we can get another look.

Too many Dave's here :lol:

Dave G - I would expect that the IR filters in webcams are not designed with astrophotography in mind - but I've no real idea if they are any good. Certainly, posts on other boards recommend chucking them away and buying a screw-in Baader or similar - just like you propose.

The Skywatcher certainly seems to perform on the planets - that's a nice setup with that and the webcam. I know its early days for you but perhaps you could shoot a series of images of Jupiter and show the rotation. That'd be cool.

As for colour variation in the GRS, I really wouldn't be qualified to say. It could be processing, or it could be real. At a guess, I'd say you don't shoot darks or flats. Your data is more robust if you do this and you could say with more certainty that it was an actual variation. Without the darks/flats/bias frames then its more lilkely to be processing but not definite. Shoot some more and it might become more evident.

Dave L - any chance you could post up a side-by-side comparison of your image and Dave G's? That would be neat.

Cheers

Dave McD

heres the shot I got in June 2004

homepage.eircom.net/~sac/graphics/jupiter/jupiter24.jpg

You can see a white feature to the lower left of the GRS is gone now, and some details in the belt is different.

The elongated dark areas in the upper belt are moon shadows, their non circular appearance is due to the amount of time spanned by the set of frames used.

This is an average shot, abit too coloured, its so easy to get carried away, I hope to get better ones this season.