Posts Made By: Ron Bee

I can see now that seeing is the medicine that cures all. Seeing is the "super computer" that cut processing time down to almost nothing. Usually, I'd see Mars looking like an inflating/deflating baloon in the capture, but not hardly this morning!

Well, here's the result. I'm also 99.99% certain that I've reached the limit of the 4-inch aperture this morning (and I believe larger aperture would have done very well with the seeing this morning).

I tried one capture at insane f/86 , which is 8800mm focal length for a 4-inch aperture! As you can see, the image is kind of unsharp. Well, I'm still a newbie Sith imager, so I don't know any better :-). The image was so huge that it took a large portion of the capture 640x480 screen. Since my mount does not track well, I had to manually keep Mars from exiting the screen since it was drifting pretty fast at that image scale. The 4-inch aperture was also limiting in that I had to crank up the gamma to even see the image clearly! Also, focusing was excruciating painful, so much so I almost threw in the towel.

I wondering how you guys with large aperture and huge image size could keep the image from drifting out of the capture screen? Did you use extremely accurate mount like for long exposure DSOs? Precisely polar aligned?

Thanks,
Ron B[ee]
PS - I was so full of sorrow I didn't prepare to image with my 5-incher that morning instead :-(.

I can see now that seeing condition is the medicine that cures all. Seeing is the "super computer" that cut processing time down to almost nothing. Usually, I'd see Mars looking like an inflating/deflating baloon in the capture, but not hardly this morning!

Well, here's the result. I'm also 99.99% certain that I've reached the limit of the 4-inch aperture this morning (and I believe larger aperture would have done very well with the seeing this morning).

I tried one capture at insane f/86 , which is 8800mm focal length for a 4-inch aperture! As you can see, the image is kind of unsharp. Well, I'm still a newbie Sith imager, so I don't know any better :-). The image was so huge that it took a large portion of the capture 640x480 screen. Since my mount does not track well, I had to manually keep Mars from exiting the screen since it was drifting pretty fast at that image scale. The 4-inch aperture was also limiting in that I had to crank up the gamma to even see the image clearly! Also, focusing was excruciating painful, so much so I almost threw in the towel.

Visually, I'd to add that the view was razor sharp at 220x (4mm Radian) and very crisp at 293x (3mm Radian). My 2-4mm NZ dewed up since I left it unattended on the tray . I also compared the Tele Vue Mars Type B filter with the #21 filter and I now feel in my opinion that the Type B filter is better than the #21 for small scope. If you recall, I had my reservation when Mars was at 11" that the planet may be too bright for the Type B filter near opposition. I'm happy to report that my fear was unfounded; the Type B works just fine this morning. Most of the features could be seen (those that are still visible after rotation) except for the blue NPH which was much much lighter blue without filter visually with the glare and all.

Near excellent seeing completes the imaging and visual experience ;-).

Enjoy,
Ron the 4-inch Tall Evangelist B[ee]

PS - I was so full of sorrow I didn't prepare to image with my 5-incher that morning instead :-(.

MARK PAJOR said:

I am hoping to understand more about refractors.Or if someone can shed some light, on this for me.Whats the differance in a triplet and a doublet?I know a triplet has three lens,and a doublet two. But is one better than the other, for overall viewing. So, if one had a 102 ancro and a 102 apo set up side by side.Besides the false color in the ancro., what are the pros and cons for a apo, and for a doublet and a trplet. Sorry for asking but some how i got confused. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to explain this to me.

There's a good online article about refractor designs, Mark. I hope you find it useful.
http://alice.as.arizona.edu/~rogerc/

Ron B[ee]

Well, I've been wondering what's the "best" filter for viewing the bluish NPH (north polar hood) on Mars shown in my images and various other finer images here and on the web. Well tonight after an average seeing (Antoniadi IV-III), capturing bouncy Mars images with my 5-inch NP127 Light Cup, I spent some time laying out most of my filters and going through them ;-).

Here's what I found out. Remember I don't have every filter on the planet to try with (anyone want to send me a complete Wratten set ;-)?). The result may not work well for light buckets ;-). I used my 2-4mm Nagler zoom @3mm (200x). CM was around 229.

* No filter - too bright, too much glare, can't make out where the NPH ends or what color (seems white), NPH "region" is brighter than the martian plain.

* ND 96 - cut down nicely on the glare but dims everything else too, NPH grayish.

* #80A blue - whitish NPH

* #38 dark blue - very dark blue everywhere, NPH takes on very dark blue :-(

* Baader Moon & Skyglow - very nice pale bluish NPH, show largest area of the NPH and clear delinearation than my other filters and its boundary seem to closely match what I saw on the capture screen. Best filter for NPH :waytogo:.

* Baader Moon & Skyglow + #8 yellow (simulate Contrast Booster ;-)) - turned NPH mildly yellowish white.

* #12 yellow - everything looks yellow, NPH brighter and lighter yellow than martian plain

* Tele Vue Mars Type B - some part of NPH can be made out, but much smaller in size than Baader filter, lighter orange than the martian plain.

* #21 orange - NPH not seen at all

Please share your experience viewing the NPH. Maybe there're other filters that work even better on the NPH (and I don't mean those that are "out-of-print" ;-) but those that we can buy today ;-)). Thanks in advance.

The NPH looks much larger to me than it was in 2003. It may be because the NPR is tilted more toward us this apparition. If you want to see it, now is a good time.

Ron B[ee]

With near excellent seeing, I was able to reach the limit of my 5-inch NP127 Light Cup. Was to glad to capture Olympus Mons again (easier
this time around :-) and the clouds in the Tharsis region.

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

With near excellent seeing, I was able to reach the limit of my 5-inch NP127 Light Cup. Was to glad to capture Olympus Mons again (easier this time around) and the clouds in the Tharsis region.

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

After the rain storm, the seeing was poor and the transparency was the worst I could remember with soaking wet humidity. Here's the image from my 5-inch NP127 Light Cup. I think the red channel output from K3CCD tells the whole story. There was also a report of snow fall; so I marked the approx. location ;-).

I also did some visual viewing afterward and the #23 filter works best with my NP127 right now but the Tele Vue Type B filter works also but not as good (too bright). Even without filter, much details could be seen at 165x - 220x (2-4mm Nagler zoom) because the heavy haze acted as natural filter ;-).

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

Here's the proof. Any disagreements are warmly welcome ;-).

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

Here's the proof. Any disagreements are warmly welcome ;-).

Enjoy,
Ron B[ee]

In 2001 during my first apparition of Mars, I was so amazed at how observers posted their observation, spitting out ;-) Mars feature names like alphabet soup ;-). After much learning and studying and scruntizing various maps, I was able to identify some features during the 2003 apparition. One thing I did notice from those past two
apparitions is that the view in the eyepiece through small telescope (such as my Light Cup ;-) does not necessary look like the view from Hubble's image or the many fine images taken from large aperture telescopes!

Well, here's the small telescope's Mars Mini-Map courtesy of my 5-inch and 4-inch Light Cups ;-). I hope you'll find it very useful in helping you to identify the features on Mars through your small telescope!
http://www.cloudynights.com/images/LightCupMarsMap.jpg

Ron the 4-inch/5-inch Tall Evangelist B[ee]