Author Topic: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images  (Read 178083 times)

Nasos Kosmas

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #555 on: October 16, 2020, 19:12:37 »
Here is my first try to stack with AutoStakkert, out of 58 images it stacked 23
I thing its OK for the first stack 8)
The quality of the image  is the first consideration, second by far is the number to stack so  next time I make 4K video and I use the most of the frames
Here is Saturn, set up same as previous

Nasos Kosmas

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #556 on: October 16, 2020, 23:00:33 »
Mars stack
32 out of 106!
I also stack Jupiter but the results wasn't better than one capture >:(
I think the limitation is the telephoto lens and the stack process cant do miracles  so next stop must be a telescope 8)
thank you

Nasos Kosmas

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #557 on: October 19, 2020, 23:40:20 »
Final image of Jupiter same setup
one+ minute of 4k 30p video gave 2223 photos
1200 of them stacked  and the final output got some sharpening
Since I see Jupiter stripes I am happy with results :)
thanks

Øivind Tøien

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #558 on: October 20, 2020, 13:37:00 »
Good catch with the stripes on Jupiter, Nasos!

Finally I got the stack to work on Mars. - that is in a double sense, as I found that stacking a 1.4x TC and 2x TC gave the best results with my 300mm lenses on the AW1. This is a game of getting enough pixels on the target. AW1 was released in bursts of 29 frames filling the buffer at 15 frames per second with my pneumatic remote release. I had the rig set up on my tracker to help following the planet, but only pointed the tracker in a very approximate direction of true north as Polaris was hidden by trees at my locations. With best practice it would take 10-15 min to fill a 16GB card with 1580 images. Images were centered and cropped in PIPP, then stacked in AutoStakkert with 3x drizzle, typically using 15-30% of the frames, sharped with wavelets Registax, edited for contrast and brightness, and then had final edits and resize applied in CNX2. For animated GIFs, they had another trip through PIPP after straightening to keep them centered.

First out is at closet distance of Mars October 5-6. Since I did not have a 2x TC for my 300PF, my AF300mm f.4 ED had to do, one stop down with TC-301 and TC-14E stacked. For this to happen I had to remove the baffle of TC-301. These were takes at about 1/2 hour intervals.
#1-3


Both the south pole and north pole polar caps are visible, possibly with some CO2 clouds over the north pole.


Then a few days later, October 9, a bargain grade TC-20E III arrived from KEH (I figured that if it had been used long enough to get scuff marks, it could not be a dud). TC-20EII was mounted closest to the 300mm f/4 PF and stopped down 1/3 to 2/3 stop. The protruding front of the TC-14E fits nicely into the rear opening of the TC-20E III. These are the first successful stacks I made, and I had a blast when I found that I could resolve these details on the planet:
#4


#5


#6


#7
The combination with 300PF gave a lot less bothersome longitudinal chromatic aberrations than the first combination.

I also had a go October 14 near the time Mars opposition to the sun when clouds lifted late at night:



Mars rotates with a period of 24.6 hours, so an issue in these takes is movement from rotation. The most common method of planet imaging is to use high speed video and capture about 12K frames in about 5 minutes for one single take. But with the low resolution om my setup 10-15 minute did not appear to be a problem, although two of the frames in the GIF below is taken at 10 min interval and movement is detectable:

October 5-6 animated GIF:


October 9 animated GIF:


October 17 animated GIF, results were poorer, possibly due to light cloud cover and worse seeing, but the general surface features appear:


In all this, TC stacking mania took overhand, so I had to try TC14E, TC-20E III and TC-301 all stacked together. Well, everything has a limit, and the effective aperture gets so small that I have not even dared to calculate it - here is the result:



And the crazy stacked rig:

Øivind Tøien

Erik Lund

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #559 on: October 21, 2020, 09:02:31 »
Thank you all! for the explanations and details as well as the impressive plant images!
Quite impressive images with the TC-E stacking 20 + 14 - I have experimented some years ago and I remember that it was quite OK results. I also recall the TC301 as being only so so on most lenses.
Erik Lund

Akira

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #560 on: October 21, 2020, 09:48:18 »
Amazing experiment and results, Øivind!

Maybe you should start a new thread like "Show us your planet images".
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Øivind Tøien

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #561 on: October 21, 2020, 13:16:54 »
Thanks for the kind comments Erik and Akira. I actually consider whether to add "(and solar system)" to the thread title after "moon" so that it reads:
 " [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images".  Let me know if there are any objections.

Erik, I think the AF300mm is just as much to blame as TC-301. Although it is a nice lens, the longitudinal fringing messes up astrophoto applications; atmospheric disturbance enlarges that effect.

Next back to the moon,  I used the same treatment with PIPP, Autostakkert and Registax as for Mars images.  I managed to make Autostakkert to do the job now without much artifacts. The key here was to set the area for the "alignment points" to maximum (400 pixels).

Again I got the best results with stacked TC-20EIII+TC-14E with the 300mm f/4 PF, mostly 2/3 stop down,  on AW1 (open in new tab for 1920x1920 resolution):
#1


Full resolution of the above image is about 2850x2850. Here is a 100% crop of the Copernicus crater:
#2



At this resolution TC-20E III alone does pretty well as the resulting centered image is about 2000x2000 pixels, but more sharpening is needed causing more artifacts (open in new tab for 1920x1920 resolution):
#3


However if it is uprezed to the full resolution of the stacked TCs,  the non-stacked TC-20EIII will come out somewhat short. Here is a link to a nearly full resolution image of the stacked TCs:
https://otoien.zenfolio.com/img/s/v-10/p4022778864.jpg

Of course the triple stacked TCs had to be tried here too  ;D , but no further resolving power is gained, rather the opposite. This is slightly less than the height of the frame (keep in mind that this is the AF300mm f/4 not the 300PF):
#4








Øivind Tøien

ColinM

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon images
« Reply #562 on: October 21, 2020, 20:30:25 »
Thank you for the last two posts Øivind

There is a lovely feel to the tones you've captured in your moon images.
I love the walkthrough of your technique for the Mars captures and your GIFs are wonderful

I'm guessing several hours were spent on both the initial planning & experimentation, then the final "Production" versions.

Øivind Tøien

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #563 on: October 22, 2020, 08:37:54 »
Thanks Colin, yes I was also pleased how the tones came out, not too high saturation, but still showing the nuances in the geology of the moon. It was helped by relatively good seeing and the more interesting side lighting of the half quarter moon. The wavelet sharpening was/is a bit hard to grasp, but I think some of the art is not overdoing it. In some other stacks I got some weird really green highlights near the right edge of the moon that had to be regionally desaturated. There is also the challenge of avoiding over-sharpening- and chromatic artifacts at the rims. This is especially a problem with the small pixel coverage of the planets. After a while I discovered a "de-ringing" tool in Registax. To begin with I used blurring in CNX2 to smooth out pixelation in the Mars stacks and an additional sharpening step, but soon discovered that the noise reduction parameter of the wavelets is the best way to do it. It takes some trial and error to master like many of these tools, but that is part of the fun.

BTW, the thread topic has now been edited to include other objects than the moon in our solar system.  :)


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Nasos Kosmas

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #564 on: October 22, 2020, 10:16:41 »
Oivid excellent mars and moon photos!!!
I try to replicate your lens stack with 1.4x plus tc 200 on 200-500 but couse of the manual tc 200 on the lens stack the 200-500 e can work only in f22 so practically is unusable
I will work with 300 AF-S and the 1.4x+2x when the cloudy whether gets better
I have to try Registax maybe I can get better results
Hope for better results :)

Øivind Tøien

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #565 on: October 22, 2020, 10:55:53 »
Thanks, Nasos. Even the 1.4x on the 500mm end takes you pretty far if the combination works well. The wavelet sharpening (and contrast adjustment) in Registax is absolutely essential. Before that  one can barely see any patterns, see attached file showing the output from Autostakkert from one of the better October 9 takes.
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Akira

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #566 on: October 22, 2020, 19:15:33 »
I try to replicate your lens stack with 1.4x plus tc 200 on 200-500 but couse of the manual tc 200 on the lens stack the 200-500 e can work only in f22 so practically is unusable

Nasos, would the aperture of 200-500 revert to f22 if you mount the lens on a compatible body, set its aperture to whatever value you like and remove it?
"The eye is blind if the mind is absent." - Confucius

"Limitation is inspiration." - Akira

Øivind Tøien

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #567 on: October 23, 2020, 00:14:48 »
To keep the aperture, the E-lens has to be dismounted while the camera (in this case the D500) is still on in live view or with the preview activated. That works with my 300PF. However otherwise the 300PF stays wide open when not receiving a an aperture signal and does not stop down to f/22. (Is the 200-500 different?) So without manipulation it is still quite usable for instance on my D40x that does not support E lenses; beyond testing I have not used this trick much.
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Jakov Minić

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #568 on: October 23, 2020, 11:37:55 »
Øivind, Øivind, Øivind!
Nasos, Nasos, Nasos!
i am amazed at the knowledge and beauty of your images.  :o
are you running a competition between the two of you  8)
Free your mind and your ass will follow. - George Clinton
Before I jump like monkey give me banana. - Fela Kuti
Confidence is what you have before you understand the problem. - Woody Allen

Øivind Tøien

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Re: [Theme] Show us your best moon (and solar system) images
« Reply #569 on: October 23, 2020, 12:59:13 »

Thanks Jakov for the kind comment.
No competition intended  here :) , just interest in the same target and how to get there.
Mars was/is a rare opportunity, as it is going to be very long until it gets this close to earth again.  When furthest away, it appears dramatically smaller and less bright.
Øivind Tøien