Finally i can focus!

[Gutross]

After messing around with the primary moving it as far up the tube as i felt safe i decided to check if i could gain focus with the webcam. 

tried to zoom about looking to see if i could spot any stars but i could not.

so i pointed it on the moon ( i know i should have started on that anyways! ) and i got a bright white fuzzy image,

began playing with the focus and i got a sharp clean image of the moon on my laptop!

really really magnified.

more so than i thought it would be.

even though i had the scope aligned and the tracking was running the moon was moving out of the fov far faster then i antisipated.

i was still happy i got it to work! 

my next target was saturn since it was high in the sky,

turned out with it having such a high magnification it was impossible to get it centered with out the use of an eyepiece. 

once i got it centered on the screen it was moving FAST.

I dont think i have the tracking set correctly in Carte Du Ciel if it is possible to adjust the tracking speed.

now come the questions

Using Carte Du Ciel  are there ways i can change the tracking speed of my mount?

other than buying a reducer is there a way i can change the fov?

are their any good guides for Carte Du Ciel to assist me with the myriad of options in the program?

is there a general rule of settings with sharpcap that can be followed, or is it just play till its right?

thank you all for any help offered!

clear skies!

[MarsG76]

Without a reducer there is no way of increasing the FOV but you can use a flip mirror and a illuminated eyepiece to help you center the planets you want to image with your web cam. FOV in imaging would be determined by the focal length and the physical size of the CCD. When using a flip mirror, once you center your object in the eyepiece you can flip the mirror and BOOM it's visible on your laptop screen.

A flip mirror has saved me heaps of time in locating planets even at very high magnifications.

[Gutross]

Without a reducer there is no way of increasing the FOV but you can use a flip mirror and a illuminated eyepiece to help you center the planets you want to image with your web cam. FOV in imaging would be determined by the focal length and the physical size of the CCD. When using a flip mirror, once you center your object in the eyepiece you can flip the mirror and BOOM it's visible on your laptop screen.

A flip mirror has saved me heaps of time in locating planets even at very high magnifications.

thank you, will have a gander at the cost of these

[Gutross]

this is the best image i got the other night, just a 5 seccond clip run through registax

[MarsG76]

If you get more data than 5 seconds worth, you will be able to squeeze a lot more detail. I'm talking about 2 minutes worth of data.

Also it looks like that's at your scopes native focal length, 500mm or f4.3... If you get a 3X Barlow, you'll triple the size of your planets and capture even more detail... If seeing permits... 8-/

Your scope should be more than capable to capturing Saturn at f13, ie 1500mm fl

[Gutross]

with this scope being a birdjones reflector and i have left the doubler lens in the focus tube, it is a 1000mm scope efectivly i have a 2X barlow so i should be able to double the image size. the reason i did not attempt the barlow is saturn was already leaving FOV in 8-10 secconds as is

I went through everysetting i could find in carte du ciel while the scope was not connected and could not find anything to select the tracking options i had seen elsewherre on SGL. the GT mount only has three tracking modes, Sidereel, lunar and solar. unfortuantly nothing for planatary. i will have to hook up the scope to see if a new menu opens up concerning tracking. I would love to be able to get a 2 minute exposure of saturn for sure, but unless i change the slew rate to match the movement of saturn and direct it manually/perfectly then i will not be able to get more than 5 secconds.

how would i be able to use say 20-40 5 seccond captures to be able to use the information in working out a better more detailed image?