Starlog July 13th, 2020, 11:50 p.m. local time
My night of the comet also happened to be Jupiter’s 2020 opposition day. Fortunately, the skies were clear from Dusk to past midnight, so I was able to take in both Neowise by binoculars and then later some planetary imaging at the telescope.
This was the first time since last year that I attempted to photograph Jupiter, and the first time since around March that I attempted a closeup of any planet (that was for Venus). Fortunately, as I have done for years now, I had all of my notes available from last year on how to best use my camera’s settings.
Given that I had not performed this setup for almost a year, I am pleased with the result. The above image was actually my first focus attempt of the night, and it came out pretty well, I think.
Starlog July 14th, 2020, 12:20 a.m. local time
Oh, and there happened to be another planet in the vicinity of Jupiter, so I decided to take some pictures of it as well:
A comet and two planets, not too bad for one night. I was very fortunate having a crystal-clear sky. Unfortunately, as I sit here finishing this post, I look out my window towards the unstable clouds, and at the forecast, showing clouds and rain for the next week. At least the plants need the water. Still, I will stay on alert, particularly for opportunity to see the comet again.
Summary of my equipment, settings, and software used:
- Telescope: Dobsonian reflector 254mm / 10″ (homemade)
- Camera: Canon EOS Rebel SL3
- Barlow: TeleVue Powermate x5 1.25″
- Filter: Baader Neodymium 1.25″
- Canon T ring and adapter
- Relevant camera settings:
- ISO 1600
- Exposure: 60 (Jupiter), 30 (Saturn)
- HD video at 60fps
- Created from three videos of about 25s each, best 25-35% of frames
- Software for post-processing:
- PIPP
- Autostakkert
- Registax 6
- PaintShop Pro for minor touch-ups
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