Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

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Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by Sumpy »

Being new to this, I'm still experimenting and trying different things when imaging just to see what works and what doesn't. Today I decided to learn how the SharpCap "Seeing Monitor" worked, and to determine if that would improve my final result if I used it to only capture those perfect moments when seeing was the best. I also decided that since the prominences were not as lively today as they had been over this past week, I would attempt a single shot image without needing to combine a separate disk and prominence image using different exposure values.

While I have some work to do in getting the single shot prominences to look the way I'd like, I will say that it appears the SharpCap "Seeing Monitor" did indeed improve my final result as far as detail in the disk. I ran several tests today, some with and some without using the tool, and in all cases it seemed I had just a bit more clarity in the frames that SharpCap curated with its monitor. Of course it is entirely possible I just have better seeing conditions overall today, so I'll continue to try this over the next few weeks to determine just how effective it is.

I'm still not able to match some of the incredible images I see here as far as disk detail. How important is aperture in this regard?

Image


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by Sumpy »

What is left of the big NE prominence is just barely visible in the upper left of the following image. It was so faint I didn't even try to bring it out in the disk image above.

Image


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by DeepSolar64 »

And you got the wispy remnant of the big NE prom! All that was left of it. :-)


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by Carbon60 »

Nice full disk there. These are great images. The FD looks ever so slightly off-band towards the upper right, which could just be be a slight tuning issue, but that's just my observation.

My only advice (if you're looking for advice) is to keep practicing and tweaking. Tuning the etalon(s) is critical. Try to tune so that the brightest region is in the centre of the disk so that the disk is 'evenly illuminated' and adjust gamma to try to bring disk features and proms on screen together without washing out any parts of the disk. This is easier with double stacked etalons in my experience. Lack of contrast can be compensated for during post processing. Focus as pin sharp as you can (I use the magnification function to make the image large on screen so that I can focus on detailed features) then I switch back to viewing the whole image on screen. Try to minimise gain so as to reduce image noise and if the image is too dark, then use the exposure setting to make it brighter. I use a maximum of 25 ms for full disk images with my Lunt 60, but single stacked etalons will be brighter than my triple stacked Lunt and the exposures will be faster than this 'upper limit'. I usually capture between 500 and 1000 frames depending on the seeing conditions and then stack 5-10% in AS!3. I use ImPPG to deconvolute and sharpen. The trick here is to do this sympathetically without overdoing things, otherwise you'll just introduce artefacts.

As for aperture, there's always a balance to be had between cost, aperture size, prevailing seeing conditions at your site, focal length, camera pixel size and sensor area. Taking all of this into account, in general terms, great FD images can be obtained with scopes in the range of 50-90 mm diameter.

Ask five imagers and you'll get seven answers on how to capture and process full disk solar images, so there's no one 'best' way, but I've tried to explain my approach. In reality I nowadays create FDs by making a mosaic created from 9 panes so as to achieve 'critical sampling', matching my scope and camera characteristics to obtain the best resolution I can with the equipment I'm using, but that's another story.....

I hope this helps.

Stu.


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by rigel123 »

Pretty cool that there was still a faint remnant of that big prom hanging above the sun, nice catch! My capture and processing techniques are pretty much in line with Stu's description. With full disks I don’t worry too much about the resolution as I do them more for reference of where features are for any closeups so my full disks are way under sampled. Folks on here that produce full disks with excellent resolution are doing what Stu does and do mosaics. As Stu mentions, there are lots of ways to approach your solar imaging and in the end, whatever you come up with that produces an image you are happy with is the right way! 😉


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by Sumpy »

Thank you so much for the excellent rundown, Stu! I absolutely welcome any and all advice to help me along this journey.
  • I'll tweak more on etalon tuning. I've honestly not messed with it much once I felt it was close, so I'm probably not entirely on-band.
  • On the gamma settings, it doesn't appear to be an option in SharpCap for my ASI-178MM?
  • I've been focusing by eye, but have been full-disk when doing so. I'll try to zoom in next time to get better focus.
  • I've been wondering how many frames. I had settled on 200, but I'll try upping that based on your recommendations.
  • I've also been stacking 30% of the frames in AutoStakkert, so I'll drop this down to 5% or 10% as well.
  • I'm assuming my sensor/pixel size isn't going to be a match for me to barlow the 178MM / Lunt 60 and do a mosaic, so maybe I need another camera for close-up work?
I greatly appreciate the advice and everyone's kind words of encouragement!

Here are my SharpCap controls ... not sure why I don't have a gamma slider for my ASI-178MM? I specifically remember using gamma in SharpCap with my previous QHY5P-IIM, so this must be camera specific?

Image


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by MAURITS »

Nice to see the FD's.


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Re: Different Approach Today - Full Disk August 5th 2022

Post by Montana »

These are super full discs and I love the floating prom :bow :hamster: I think everyone has pretty well summed up what I would say :)

Alexandra


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