A simple trick for getting better detail on Jupiter's moons

I was getting blurry shots of Jupiter's Galilean moons with my 8-inch Dobsonian, even on clear nights. A guy at the local astronomy club in Boise said to try stacking 500 frames instead of my usual 100, and to use the free program AutoStakkert! for the stacking. The difference was huge, and I finally got a clear shot of Europa's shadow transit last week. Has anyone else had luck with a specific stacking number for planetary stuff?

3 comments

3 Comments

cole_davis473mo ago

Totally get the blurry moon struggle. Stacking more frames made a huge difference for me too. That shadow transit shot sounds awesome.

martinez.anna3mo ago

Actually, more frames isn't always the answer. The seeing conditions matter way more than hitting a magic number. On a bad night, 500 blurry frames just gives you a really sharp stack of blur. Gotta be picky and only stack the best 10-20% of those frames, even if it means starting with a ton. AutoStakkert's quality filter is your best friend for that.

sage_morgan751mo ago

martinez.anna nailed it with the quality filter tip, that's the real game changer. I used to just dump all my frames into stacking and wonder why my results looked like a wet paper towel. Now I shoot 1000+ frames, let AutoStakkert pick the best 15%, and the difference is night and day. Even on mediocre nights, that selective stacking cleans up the noise way better than just tossing in more frames hoping for the best. The shadow transit shot came from a night where I only kept about 80 frames out of 600, but those 80 were like looking through glass.

-1