Uranus and 4 moons on 2008.10.15

Observation logs

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Object: Uranus

Planet

Origin:

ObservationManager - SolarSystem Catalog 1.0

Observer Michael A. Phillips Mr. Site Home Begin 2008-10-15 um 22:30:00-05:00 End 2008-10-15 um 23:15:00-05:00 Seeing 3 (fair) Optics C8i Eyepiece PowerMate (V=812.8) Filter Astronomik LRGB Color Camera DMK21AF04 Sitzung 2008-10-15 um 22:30:00-05:00

Visual impression Much easier to find as it's apparent size is larger. Visually it's more grayish-green than Neptune. After processing I found that Neptune and Uranus are very similar in color, photographically at least. RGB exposures are 1s and same Gain settings as Neptune 3min capture time per channel and resulted in about 174 frames per channel, best 100 used (estimate) Moons are at f/25 still, and were 4sec at full gain and 50% gamma

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References

Sessions: 2008-10-15 um 18:45:00-05:00

Begin:	2008-10-15 um 18:45:00-05:00
End:	2008-10-15 um 23:30:00-05:00

Weather:	Forecast called for S 4/5 and T 3/5 Actual S: 4-6 T: 2-3/5
Equipment:	I used: Ubuntu 8.04 Linux and custom coriander 8" Celestron C8i SCT DMK 21AF04 2.5x PowerMate Astronomik LRGB filters True Tek Color Filter Wheel with visu diag Since the 3 day stretch of good seeing in early Sept, I have used the T61 Also used WinXP and IC Capture with the TrueTek Hand Controller for > 1sec exposures
Comments:	To get Uranus and Neptune I had to move exposures beyond 1 second. Currently the custom coriander 1.0.0 does not support exposures beyond 1 second. Even at 1sec and 3.25fps I was unable to get usable data. As quickly as I could I switched to WinXP and IC Capture for camera control. A reboot and install of drivers burned some time, but a valuable lesson in prepareness. I did try to leverage previous whitebalance exercises on Jupiter for Uranus and Neptune. I found tracking and alignment horrible, but since finding 6-7mag planets isn't easy, I decided not to re-align. More and deeper exposures would have helped the moon shots.

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Observer: Michael A. Phillips Mr.

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Site: Home

Longitude:	35.682°
Latitude:	-78.743°
Timezone:	UT-300 min

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Optics: C8i

Type:	SCT
Vendor:	Celestron
Aperture:	203.0 mm
Focal length:	2032.0 mm

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Eyepiece: PowerMate

Vendor:	TeleVue
Focal length:	2.5 mm

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Filter: Astronomik LRGB

Typ:

Color

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CCD Camera: DMK21AF04

Vendor:	The Image Source
Pixel:	640x480