SUN Mosaic?

[Nik]

What is the best way to capture sun mosaics?

I am manual moving the frame but it's tedious and I lose track of the positions and overlaps after a while. Is there a firecapture plugin to automate the process?

[Montana]

Nik,

I'm not sure that I have ever heard of anyone using software to automate the capture of a mosaic I think you have to manually do this I am afraid.

I asked on this topic what Sergio does, this may be helpful to you viewtopic.php?t=37520

I also have a little write up about how I go about creating a mosaic here https://solarnutcase.livejournal.com/18572.html it is towards the bottom.

The key is to have your telescope correctly orientated and your camera also, so when you go right, left up or down you are perfectly straight. Work in a weave motion and do a good over lap. This way you shouldn't get lost.

Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Alexandra

[Nik]

I was missing the very important step of aligning the camera sensor with mount movements, it's so much easier now thank you!

[Peterm]

A now no longer supported Microsoft product Image Composite Editor makes Mosaics very,very simple with no sign of any stitching. A link can still be found here https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answe ... or-20.html
Here is an example using Image Composite Editor that I made from 4 panels using my 80Tha and ZWO 432MM & 3X TeleXtender.

[Radon86]

I was missing the very important step of aligning the camera sensor with mount movements, it's so much easier now thank you!

I was pondering the solar mosaic problem as well. I had a look at Moon panorama maker (do a search on this, was discussed in Cloudy Nghts). I think it would be of course possible to program it to take solar mosaics. You just have to find the code or commands to your mount. If you know your sensor size, and the size of the sun, then you can move your mount in a pre-programmed automated way....

Magnus

[Radon86]

I was missing the very important step of aligning the camera sensor with mount movements, it's so much easier now thank you!

I found out from a solar imager on stargazerslounge.co.uk that :
1) autostitch64 can be very effective
2) alternatively - Microsoft ICE
3) Photoshop has a photomerge function which is also quite effective.

The key is to get an adequate overlap. If automated stitching fails, you can try a manual merge ! I am surprised that you can get a mosaic with 4 panes, probably better to increase it slightly. I once got 18 panes stitched, but I have not tried this again !

Magnus