Damian Peach

From the Astrofarsography Youtube video at Practical Astronomy Show 2019 in Kettering.

1. Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector is very useful in UK.
2. Baader 2x Barlow lens is good.
3. ASI 120, 174, 290 models are all good cameras.
4. High resolution is a function of aperture - bigger is higher!
5. Collimation is key when using reflectors - recollimate frequently - collimate by eye on a star at least 45° above the horizon.
6. Make sure telescope is cool. 8" reflector needs 2-3 hours if kept indoors.
7. Don’t focus with Bahtinov masks - use an electronic focuser.
8. Recommended software:
   • Capture - Firecapture
   • Stacking - Autostakkert
   • Denoise and sharpening - Registax
   • Derotating - Winjupos
9. Using Firecapture:
   • With ASI cameras leave gamma at default value.
   • Don’t set gain at low levels.
   • Mars/Jupiter - use fastest frame rate with gain at 60-70%.
   • Saturn - use 90% gain and at least 35-45 minutes of data.
   • Expose mono video in RGB loops and derotate the result.
   • Auto-align function useful when focusing.
   • Jupiter - 10-15 mins before rotation becomes an issue.
   • Saturn - 40 mins before rotation becomes an issue.
   • Mars - 60 mins before rotation becomes an issue.
10. Using Autostakkert:
    • Avoid alignment points on edge of disc.
    • Make sure alignment points are large and overlapping.
    • Place alignment points manualy or using multiscale option.
    • Use at least 1000 frames.
    • Use 50% of frames captured to reduce noise.
11. Using Registax:
    • Gaussian wavelets.
    • Denoise function.
12. High pressure brings steadiest seeing.
13. Instructional videos avaiable at https://patreon.com/peachastro

Christopher Go

From the OPT Youtube video.

1. Use fastest frame rate possible.
2. For planetary imaging bit depth higher than 8-bit is pointless.
3. Jupiter Histogram levels:
   • Colour 80-90%
   • Mono
     • R: 80-90%
     • G: 80-90%
     • B: 80-90%
4. Mars/Saturn Histogram levels:
   • Colour 80-90%
   • Mono
     • R: 70%
     • G: 50%
     • B: 25-30%
5. Exposure times (8"):
   • Jupiter: max 60s per channel.
   • Saturn: max 80s perchannel
   • Mars: max 2m30
6. Keep the exposure time the same for each channel (number of frames per second can vary between channels however).
7. Jupiter and Mars need at least 3 RGB cycles.
8. Saturn needs at least 10 RGB cycles.
9. When transparency poor but seeing good, lower frame rate but use more cycles.
10. When seeing is poor increase frame rate but use lower percentage of frames captured. (Derotation will increase the SNR and reduce the graininess.)
11. Don’t be afraid to use 100% gain.
12. Turn off gamma.
13. Use ROI to reduce file sizes and allow quicker processing.
14. Stack in Autostakkert.
15. If seeing good stack 80%, if worse drop to lower percentage of frames.
16. Use 1.5X drizzle with HQ Refine checked to resample image and make image bigger.
17. Sharpen in Registax.
18. Registax Wavelet settings - trial and error but CG uses:
    • Automatic - checked
    • Hold wavelet setting - checked
    • Wavelet filter - default
    • Wavelet scheme - linear
    • Initial layer - 2
    • 1:2 - 14.0
    • 2:2 - 13.3
    • 3:2 - 13.3
    • 4:2 - 1.0
    • 5:2 - 1.0
    • 6:2 - 1.0
19. After Autostakkert and Registax operations, convert images to grey scale and combine channels in Photoshop (PixInsight).
20. Channel combination - use green as reference.
21. Derotate in Winjupos.
    • Set time against green channel
22. Finish in Photoshop.
    • Unsharp mask.
    • Topaz Denoise.