TheSkySearchers

I"m still new to planetary imaging. I have an QHY5III485c with a 2x Barlow and a C11. Gain was 55, exp. 0.5ms. Stacked and sharpened with AstroSurface.

WOW! That's amazing Don!

Here is another, the same night, showing Io as well. Gain 50, 3.1ms exp. QHY5III485c with 2x Barlow in a C11.

love number 2 , thx .

Superb image!

Can you tell us about AstroSurface?

Nice work Don!

JayTee wrote: ↑Tue Dec 19, 2023 11:02 pm Superb image!

Can you tell us about AstroSurface?

AstroSurface is an all-in-one solution to processing images. I've been using it to Stack the video images, assess the quality to determine which to include in the stack; adjust the brightness and saturation levels; and to do sharpening, including the use of wavelets.

It is free, and runs on windows. I have a Mac, and use CrossOver to run windows software. AS runs well with this configuration.
It replaces Autostakkert, PIPP and Registax, and probably other apps as well. It can process DSOs, but I haven't used it for that yet.

I use the Sharpen feature (as opposed to wavelets). It includes VonCittert, Richardson-Lucy and Wiener functions as well. I haven't used them, and don't know what they are for. As I said, I'm still learning.

About AstroSurface:
http://astrosurface.com/pageuk.html

There are several YouTube tutorials:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_ ... e+tutorial

A few more details, for those unsure of the overall process: FireCapture (http://www.firecapture.de) was used to create the video.

A single frame from that video:


After the video has been loaded into AS, and analyzed:


After the video has been analyzed, and the quality threshold has been selected, Alignment points are chosen:


The final stacked, but unprocessed, image:

Great images Don, thanks for the share
I was intrigued about AstroSurface, thanks for the info. You got it to run on a Mac, and I got it to run on Linux with PlayOnLinux. Works great!

Thanks again, and keep 'em coming!

All the best,

Thank you for that info, Don. I've always used PIPP, AS2 then 3, Registax wavelets, finishing with tweaks in PS. So if AstroSurface does almost all of that lengthy process I will certainly give it a try. Here is what my long process was able to accomplish with my C11.

JayTee wrote: ↑Fri Dec 22, 2023 12:18 am Thank you for that info, Don. I've always used PIPP, AS2 then 3, Registax wavelets, finishing with tweaks in PS. So if AstroSurface does almost all of that lengthy process I will certainly give it a try. Here is what my long process was able to accomplish with my C11.

Jupiter Tweaked.jpg

JayTee, thanks for that image! I aspire to that level of resolution. I've found, so far, that the best tool is good seeing!

BamaDon wrote: ↑Tue Dec 19, 2023 5:15 pm Here is another, the same night, showing Io as well. Gain 50, 3.1ms exp. QHY5III485c with 2x Barlow in a C11.


JUPITER_2023_11_30_02_53_56_Gain=50_Exposure=3.1ms_2X_200r_32T_1075reg.jpg

Spectacular images! How good do you think the seeing was that night? It seems that at F/20 you were at the theoretical limit for perfect seeing with your 2.9 micron pixel camera. I had just started checking into the 5x rule, which I had no idea about until a friend brought it up recently. My friend started taking Christopher Go type Jupiter images with the ASI585 and has been checking into all this stuff related to theoretical equipment specs. Can't argue with the results. And your images are awesome if you are just starting with Planetary imaging. So I was curious