Mercury Transit

Astrophotography: share your photos & discuss techniques
TimW
Posts: 775
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2017 1:15 pm

Mercury Transit

Unread post by TimW »

Transit.jpg
Transit.jpg (805.71 KiB) Viewed 3497 times
Tim W.

Laurie J. Wood
March 22, 1967 - August 23, 2019
Forever in my memory. Forever in my heart.

Scope: 8" Celestron SCT on an AVX equatorial mount
Solar Scope: Lunt Solar System 60 mm Double-Stacked H-Alpha
Solar Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI174mm monochrome
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cool
Autoguide: PHD2
Image Capturing: SharpCap
DebayerIng: PIPP
Planetary Stacking: Autostakkert
Planetary Post Processing: Registax
Deep Sky Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Post Processing: Photoshop
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AndyG
Network Admin
Posts: 1160
Joined: Wed Nov 30, 2011 10:18 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by AndyG »

That image is incredible! Congratulations!
Andy
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Apollo XX
MSSF Coordinator
Posts: 2785
Joined: Sun Jul 11, 2010 8:11 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by Apollo XX »

Excellent, Tim!
"The purpose of life is the investigation of the Sun, the Moon, and the heavens." - Anaxagoras
hricci
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri May 27, 2016 10:12 am

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by hricci »

Beautiful image.
Henry R.
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menardre
Vice President
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Joined: Tue Jan 17, 2012 6:09 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by menardre »

Wow..great shot.

Roger
Roger M.
Celestron CPC1100 EDGE, Stellarvue 130T refractor dual mounted on iOptron CEM120 on permanent pier mounted in Observatory. Imaging camera ZWO ASI2600 OSC, guide camera Lodestar or ZWO ASI290MM.
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Pete
Astro Day Coordinator
Posts: 3999
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 9:03 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by Pete »

Hi Tim,

Your resolution is many times better than I achieved in RI. Wondering how much of the difference is associated with good seeing in the warmth of Florida. And how much is associated with your superior scope and camera.

Pete
Pete P.
TimW
Posts: 775
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2017 1:15 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by TimW »

Pete,

That image is a result of numerous still images stacked and post processed. Id love to see any images you have.
Tim W.

Laurie J. Wood
March 22, 1967 - August 23, 2019
Forever in my memory. Forever in my heart.

Scope: 8" Celestron SCT on an AVX equatorial mount
Solar Scope: Lunt Solar System 60 mm Double-Stacked H-Alpha
Solar Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI174mm monochrome
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cool
Autoguide: PHD2
Image Capturing: SharpCap
DebayerIng: PIPP
Planetary Stacking: Autostakkert
Planetary Post Processing: Registax
Deep Sky Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Post Processing: Photoshop
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Pete
Astro Day Coordinator
Posts: 3999
Joined: Fri Jun 13, 2003 9:03 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by Pete »

Wow! Good thought Tim. Because I was looking for a sequential run, video was rejected in favor of single frames triggered automatically every 15 minutes. And I did clean them up in PS using the Equalize function to improve planet contrast.

I'd only briefly considered running a minute of video every 15 minutes and then running it thru Registax. Seemed like too much work. But you're right - there'd be much more processing but probably a much cleaner image.

Next time, eh?

Pete
Pete P.
TimW
Posts: 775
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2017 1:15 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by TimW »

I was taking 100 frame AVI's every 5 minutes until the clouds got in the way. I set my stacking software to only use the best 50 frames in the final image. I was hoping to make a composite image of Mercury's entire journey across the sun but alas, it was not meant to be. I will attempt in the coming days to make a composite image of the transit portion I was able to capture before clouds rolled in.
Tim W.

Laurie J. Wood
March 22, 1967 - August 23, 2019
Forever in my memory. Forever in my heart.

Scope: 8" Celestron SCT on an AVX equatorial mount
Solar Scope: Lunt Solar System 60 mm Double-Stacked H-Alpha
Solar Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI174mm monochrome
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cool
Autoguide: PHD2
Image Capturing: SharpCap
DebayerIng: PIPP
Planetary Stacking: Autostakkert
Planetary Post Processing: Registax
Deep Sky Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Post Processing: Photoshop
TimW
Posts: 775
Joined: Wed Oct 18, 2017 1:15 pm

Re: Mercury Transit

Unread post by TimW »

Here is a still image from my raw AVI file.
Transit unprocessed.jpg
Transit unprocessed.jpg (22.82 KiB) Viewed 3468 times
Tim W.

Laurie J. Wood
March 22, 1967 - August 23, 2019
Forever in my memory. Forever in my heart.

Scope: 8" Celestron SCT on an AVX equatorial mount
Solar Scope: Lunt Solar System 60 mm Double-Stacked H-Alpha
Solar Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI174mm monochrome
Imaging Camera: ZWO ASI1600MC-Cool
Autoguide: PHD2
Image Capturing: SharpCap
DebayerIng: PIPP
Planetary Stacking: Autostakkert
Planetary Post Processing: Registax
Deep Sky Stacking: Deep Sky Stacker
Deep Sky Post Processing: Photoshop
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