Mercury Transit from Las Vegas, NV

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AstroBee United States of America
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Mercury Transit from Las Vegas, NV

#1

Post by AstroBee »


The gear used for this timelapse was as follows.
Lunt 80mm Ha scope (single-stack)
iOptron ZEQ25 mount
ZWO ASI1600mm camera
SharpCap Pro software for capture
Hutech Hinode Solar Guider
ASUS laptop

https://youtu.be/YOM2sxPFqm0

Using a script running in SharpCap Pro I captured a single 150 frame .ser video file every 30 seconds.
Then, using AutoStakkert 3! software I stacked each of those individual video clips to create a single .tif file. Fortunately, there's an automated process so you just have to do the first one and then let the script run on all the clips.
So now I end up with a folder full of .tif files that I run through ImPPG to really bring out the detail in each image and auto align the frames. Again, there's an automated process so you only have to do the first image. Even though the mount was guiding with the solar guider there is always a very tiny amount of drift caused by imperfect polar alignment and just a slight breeze occasionally moving the mount. Not sure if the traffic driving by caused any drift as well. So the auto-align frames feature in ImPPG was a life-saver. They are then exported as monochrome .tif files to a different folder.
Now on to PhotoShop to add a bit of colorization and final tweaking of the sharpness and now I've got a folder with a bunch of "final" images. Again, automated using Photoshop Actions.
Then, again using Photoshop and the "stack files as layers" and "animate frames" feature I created the video clips. I say clips because I had to break them up into six different clips because my computer could not handle a single file with 235 layers. That's how many frames I ended up with. I managed to create 6 roughly equal video clips dividing up the 235 frames.
Once I had the final 6 clips of the transit I went into PremierePro to piece them together and add the other timelapse of the setup which was all done automatically using a Removu K1 gimbal camera. A little bit of text graphics and music and voila!
Greg M.~ "Ad Astra per Aspera"
Scopes: Celestron EdgeHD14", Explore Scientific ED152CF & ED127 APO's, StellarVue SV70T, Classic Orange-Tube C-8, Lunt 80mm Ha double-stack solar scope.
Mounts: Astro-Physics Mach One, iOptron CEM70EC Mount, iOptron ZEQ25 Mount.
Cameras: ZWO ASI2600mm Pro, ZWO 2600MC Pro, ZWO ASI1600mm
Filters: 36mm Chroma LRGB & 3nm Ha, OIII, SII, L-Pro, L-eXtreme
Eyepieces: 27mm TeleVue Panoptic, 4mm TeleVue Radian, Explore Scientific 82° 30mm, 6.7mm , Baader 13mm Hyperion, Explore Scientific 70° 10mm, 15mm, 20mm, Meade 8.8mm UWA
Software: N.I.N.A., SharpCapPro, PixInsight, PhotoShop CC, Phd2, Stellarium
https://www.nevadadesertskies.com
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JayTee United States of America
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Re: Mercury Transit from Las Vegas, NV

#2

Post by JayTee »


Awesome video, thank you for sharing.

Cheers,
JT
∞ Primary Scopes: #1: Celestron CPC1100 #2: 8" f/7.5 Dob #3: CR150HD f/8 6" frac
∞ AP Scopes: #1: TPO 6" f/9 RC #2: ES 102 f/7 APO #3: ES 80mm f/6 APO
∞ G&G Scopes: #1: Meade 102mm f/7.8 #2: Bresser 102mm f/4.5
∞ Guide Scopes: 70 & 80mm fracs -- The El Cheapo Bros.
∞ Mounts: iOptron CEM70AG, SW EQ6, Celestron AVX, SLT & GT (Alt-Az), Meade DS2000
∞ Cameras: #1: ZWO ASI294MC Pro #2: 662MC #3: 120MC, Canon T3i, Orion SSAG, WYZE Cam3
∞ Binos: 10X50,11X70,15X70, 25X100
∞ EPs: ES 2": 21mm 100° & 30mm 82° Pentax XW: 7, 10, 14, & 20mm 70°

Searching the skies since 1966. "I never met a scope I didn't want to keep."

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helicon United States of America
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Re: Mercury Transit from Las Vegas, NV

#3

Post by helicon »


What a great video! And, welcome to TSS.
-Michael
Refractors: ES AR152 f/6.5 Achromat on Twilight II, Celestron 102mm XLT f/9.8 on Celestron Heavy Duty Alt Az mount, KOWA 90mm spotting scope
Binoculars: Celestron SkyMaster 15x70, Bushnell 10x50
Eyepieces: Various, GSO Superview, 9mm Plossl, Celestron 25mm Plossl
Camera: ZWO ASI 120
Naked Eye: Two Eyeballs
Latitude: 48.7229° N
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Juno16 United States of America
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Re: Mercury Transit from Las Vegas, NV

#4

Post by Juno16 »


Great work AstroBee!

Thanks,
Jim
Jim

Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), Orion 50mm Guide Scope, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, Orion SSAG, IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
Dog and best bud: Jack
Sky: Bortle 6-7
My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
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bigfish
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Re: Mercury Transit from Las Vegas, NV

#5

Post by bigfish »


That is awesome! Thanks for sharing.
Redcat 51, Orion 8"x1000mm Reflector, ASI183MC Pro, ASI533MC Pro, ASI462MC, ASI120 Mini, SVBONY SV106 Guide Scope, ZWO Mini Guide Scope, Skywatcher EQ6 Pro, Sky view Pro.
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