Hello everyone. In May of this year I purchased a project C14 scope from my friend
@Dale Penkala. Over the past several months I have rebuilt the scope with the intended purpose of it being my ultimate planetary scope. These two images represent the successful completion of my project. The best two out of 64 x 90sec clips taken from my backyard in the Chicago suburbs under average transparency and average seeing.
My method involves cooling the scope for several hours before imaging, rough focus on the planet, adjust ADC on the planet, swing to a nearby star and precision focus with tri-bahtinov mask, remove mask and verify/adjust collimation on that same star using MetaGuide, swing back to the planet and image, repeat ADC adjustment and fine focus every 30-60 minutes. These images were processed in the typical manner using AutoStakkert, Registax, and WinJupos with the touch up adjustments done in Photoshop. I made the decision to not remove too much noise or use too much saturation as I find that there is a fine line where my images stop feeling "real" to me. However, I am still very happy with the way these came out and can't wait for one of those elusive nights of excellent seeing that we get uphere once or twice a year. Thanks for checking out my images and clear skies everyone!
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