14
15
Note: The Frames setting is not meant to replace stacking of resultant images.
It simply puts more data into each image by overlaying subsequent frames on
top of each other. These images are then stacked as described later.
6. In the box beneath the
Mode
box, choose
Autosave
. Now set the number
of images you would like the camera to take under
Autosave
, select the file
folder in which you would like to save the images with Folder, and enter in
a
Base filename
for the captured images. Typically the name of the object
being imaged, such as “Mars1”, will be entered here. If “Mars1” is the
Base
filename
, and you choose to
Autosave
five images, then the images will
appear in the selected file folder as “Mars1_0001.fit”, “Mars1_0002.fit”,
“Mars1_0003.fit”, “Mars1_0004.fit”, and “Mars1_0005.fit”.
7. Click
Expose
, and the camera will commence taking the images.
Now that we have multiple images of the planet, we will combine the images
to form one high-quality resultant image. To do this:
8. Select
Open
from the
File
menu. Find the folder you indicated with
Folder
,
open it, and select all images for stacking using the mouse left-click and
the
Shift
key. All of the individual images selected will open in MaxIm DL
Essentials.
9. Select Combine from the
Process
menu. In the pop-up window, you will
see all of the images currently open in MaxIm DL Essentials. Choose the
individual images you want to stack and press the
>>
button, or simply
click
Add All
. Click the
OK
button when done.
10. The
Combine Images
window will appear (Figure 10). For
Align Mode
,
choose
Planetary
. In the
Output
box, select
Average
.
11. Use the
Next
and
Previous Image
buttons to see how each individual
image looks. If you see an image that looks poor, you can reject it from the
stack by clicking the
Reject Image
button.
Note: At least one image must be used as the reference image for the stacked
images to be overlaid upon. The default uses the first image for the reference
image. If you reject the first image or otherwise want to use another image as
the reference, click the
Set As Reference
button when the desired reference
image is actively displayed. If the image currently chosen as the reference is
rejected from the stack, and another reference image is not selected, you will
not be able to
Overlay All Images
.
12. Click the
Overlay All Images
button. All of the selected images will stack
on top of each other to form one resultant image. Click
OK
. You have now
composed your first planetary image. Use
Save
under the
File
menu to
save your image at this time. To make it look its best, you will want to adjust
the
Screen Stretch Window
to
Planet
. You may also want to do some
image processing, see the section entitled “Image Processing” for more
information.
Imaging Planets: recording Video
In the prior section, individual images of a planet were auto-saved for subse-
quent stacking later. Another way to obtain images for stacking is to take sev-
eral seconds of video of the planet, then break the video into individual frames
for stacking. Since the SSSSI-III has a maximum frame rate of 15 frames per
second at maximum resolution, you can literally obtain hundreds of images for
stacking in seconds! You save time by taking one video instead of dozens of
individual pictures!
To record a video of the planet:
1. Acquire the planet into the field of view of your eyepiece that has the parfo-
cal ring attached to it, and center it in the eyepiece’s field of view. Focus
the eyepiece with the telescope’s focuser. If you are using an equatorial
mount with a motor drive, make sure the motor drive is on and engaged.
2. Remove the eyepiece and replace it with the SSSSI-III. If the parfocal
ring was set properly on the eyepiece, the camera should be close to
focused.
3. Focus the camera using the telescope’s focus knob. If you are having trou-
ble determining best focus, try focusing on a bright star near the planet.
4. In the
Camera Control Window
, set the
Mode
to
Video
. Set
Seconds
to
correspond with the video length. Remember, the camera takes 30 frames
per second. So if you want 150 individual frames for stacking, set Seconds
to 5.0.
5. Click the
Setup
button in the
Camera Control Window
. Choose
Output
File
from the pop-up menu and select the file location where you want the
.avi video saved to. Type in a name for the file in File name. Click
Save
.
6. Click
Expose
, and the SSSSI-III will commence taking the video. The image
as it appears in the
Live Video
window is exactly what will be recorded. If
you wish to play back the video, click on the .avi file from its recorded file
location. Now that we have a video of the planet, we will break the video
up into its component images for stacking. To do this:
Figure 10.
The
Combine
Images
window allows
“stacking” of individual images
into one high-quality resultant
image.
