Seeing for planetary imaging has not been the best lately here in NC. In an attempt to get better images under these conditions, I decided to swap the DS10C for the Skyraider SLP. The main difference is that I can get around 96 fps with the 10C, as opposed to around 47 fps with the SLP. The 10C also captures at an increased bit-depth. The 10C captures were made at 1360 x 720 resolution, as opposed to 1024 x 768 with the SLP. Pixel sizes were also different. The SLP has 2.5 um x 2.5 um pixels, whereas the 10C has 4.43 um x 4.63 um pixels, which significantly diminishes resolution. One thing that was immediately apparent was how small the planetary images looked in the 10C previews. I had to zoom Mars 200-300% to ensure I was properly focused. However, the results, in average/poor seeing, were an improvement over the SLP in those conditions.
Here is Jupiter on January 6. For a 5 inch aperture under poor/average
seeing, the detail captured is quite decent. Similarly, Mars also showed
enhanced detail (though with pixelation—the disk is now less than 14 arcseconds in
diameter), with Syrtis Major dominating the disk.
Tech card: 5 inch Mak; DS10C; 5X Barlow. Jupiter is a stack of 10K images from a capture of 20K; Mars is a stack of 16K images from a stack of 32K images.
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