As I've noted before, the advances in technology have allowed amateur astronomers to obtain increasingly better planetary images. The ability to pluck several hundred images from a video containing thousands, align them into a composite, and then apply post-image processing to draw out the details is game changing. While I almost always spend a few minutes at the eyepiece soaking in the tiny planetary orb that I have chosen to examine for the session I am now invariably spending the bulk of time acquiring video of that member of our solar system. And yeah, the old eyes are not quite as sharp as they were when it comes to discerning surface features.
The enabling technology comes in two forms - hardware and software. Both can be expensive, but of the two there are times that software can be quite a bargain or even no cost (violating a variety of adages about getting something for nothing). As noted in a previous blog this summer I decided to give FireCapture, software that is used to record the video stream onto the laptop, a try.
One of the challenges with new software can be the user interface. Sometimes it is clean and intuitive, sometimes you need crib notes just to perform the basics until you get the routine down. FireCapture seems to fall somewhere in-between - lots of knobs and levers to play with but after a couple of YouTube videos you can be in the field using it, leaving the more advanced features aside while you handle the fundamentals. The fact that there is a "Dummy Cam" mode to allow us newbies to play around some was a great decision by the developer.
Overall this video capture software seems better than what I was using previously. The relevant settings are easy to access and adjust, and there is the ability to save these for each particular planet, allowing you to retrieve your last configuration with the click of a button. The zoom feature that allows you to get an enlarged image on your screen is also helpful, especially when trying to acquire a good focus. But the feature that really prompted me to switch over was the ability to bring up a crop box that allows you to capture just the planet and a bit of surrounding space, serving to reduce the file size. But wait - it gets better! The cropping zone actually adjusts to follow your target to compensate for your pole alignment inadequacies. Awesome!
The enabling technology comes in two forms - hardware and software. Both can be expensive, but of the two there are times that software can be quite a bargain or even no cost (violating a variety of adages about getting something for nothing). As noted in a previous blog this summer I decided to give FireCapture, software that is used to record the video stream onto the laptop, a try.
One of the challenges with new software can be the user interface. Sometimes it is clean and intuitive, sometimes you need crib notes just to perform the basics until you get the routine down. FireCapture seems to fall somewhere in-between - lots of knobs and levers to play with but after a couple of YouTube videos you can be in the field using it, leaving the more advanced features aside while you handle the fundamentals. The fact that there is a "Dummy Cam" mode to allow us newbies to play around some was a great decision by the developer.
Overall this video capture software seems better than what I was using previously. The relevant settings are easy to access and adjust, and there is the ability to save these for each particular planet, allowing you to retrieve your last configuration with the click of a button. The zoom feature that allows you to get an enlarged image on your screen is also helpful, especially when trying to acquire a good focus. But the feature that really prompted me to switch over was the ability to bring up a crop box that allows you to capture just the planet and a bit of surrounding space, serving to reduce the file size. But wait - it gets better! The cropping zone actually adjusts to follow your target to compensate for your pole alignment inadequacies. Awesome!
The second piece of software that I began using was Planetary Imaging PreProcessor, or PIPP for short. This interface is far less intuitive - it has a bit of a geek feel to it where if you are not an insider you just don't get it. However, it is not so off-putting (like PixInsight) that you cannot be up and working with it in less than half an hour. The ability to save off and then load a configuration once you have adjusted the whistles and bells to your liking is a valuable feature.
PIPP comes into play after your session, and as the name implies is an intermediate step that allows you to tweak your video to stabilize the image, reject overexposed frames, perform a quality assessment of the frames, and a lot more. You can also generate a GIF animation from several still frames if you wish, allowing even me to create a "rotating Jupiter" sequence. I've certainly only scratched the surface here and have lots to learn, but again - awesome!
PIPP comes into play after your session, and as the name implies is an intermediate step that allows you to tweak your video to stabilize the image, reject overexposed frames, perform a quality assessment of the frames, and a lot more. You can also generate a GIF animation from several still frames if you wish, allowing even me to create a "rotating Jupiter" sequence. I've certainly only scratched the surface here and have lots to learn, but again - awesome!
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| Jupiter animation taken 7/26/2019 |
Finally in my summer of experimentation I downloaded AutoStakkert! - another free piece of software that stacks the best of the planetary images into your final image ready for enhancement. This interface is not overly complex, was up and working with it fairly quickly. You load the video file, ask it to do some quality analysis, then select your alignment points. You can then define up to six outputs that represent the percentage of the best frames stacked into a final image. But the best part to me is that it will also give you a quick and dirty preview - an image that has some post-processing enhancement already applied to it. That is genius as it allows me to do a quick assessment of my video in the field within a minute, and quick feedback is so good to have when trying to do things such as assess your focus and exposure.
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| Saturn 7/26/2019 |
I have lots to learn in order to get the most out of these tools, but I already feel that this trio has allowed me to up my game a bit this summer. Alright Mars apparition 2020 - bring it on!
