WicklowSkies76

Thanks everyone - I wasn't able to test this on a planet due to clouds but I did experiment with focus during the day and realised that until focus is correct the planet could be on the chip but I might not be able to see it. I also realised that counter intuitively, the focus needed for my 40mm plossl eyepiece and the Neximage 5 are quite close. So if I can get the planet centered (as much as is possible using a 40mm eyepiece) and in focus using this eyepiece, the focus on the Neximage will be close. Then it's a matter of swapping in the Neximage for the eyepiece, cranking up the resolution and the gain/exposure till I locate the target, then hand control while I capture. It's a lot more challenging than I thought it would be. It's just a huge magnification and such a small FOV. I am sure it will be worth it. Typically now that I have some spare time for the next 2 days, the clouds have rolled in. Ugh the frustration wink.gif ! Not using a Barlow as I'm attempting to image at f/10 and a 2800mm f/l - so barlow not needed with Neximage 5 and this size of SCT.

Thanks James - great tips. Will for sure be trying those out. Especially the focus tip.

Thanks for the tip. Does sound like a focus issue. I thought you would see at least something while out of focus but it could have been majorly out of focus. I will try to hone this focussing skill and difference during the daytime and maybe have another go tonight. Weather permitting.

Here's an output of one of the many camera settings I tried... [NexImage 5] Binning factor=1 Output Format=AVI files (*.avi) Colour Space=RGB32 Resolution=640x480 Pan=0 Tilt=0 Frame Rate Limit=30 fps Gain=21 Exposure=0.0006 Timestamp Frames=Off Color Enhancement=On Highlight reduction=Off Denoise=0 Brightness=-5 Contrast=0 Hue=0 Saturation=64 Sharpness=0 Gamma=100 White Bal (B)=64 White Bal (G)=65 White Bal (R)=98 Temperature=6000 Temperature Preset=Daylight Auto-Preset=Any WhiteBalance Mode=Grey World Auto=On Banding Threshold=35 Banding Suppression=0 Apply Flat=None Subtract Dark=None #Black Point Display Black Point=0 #MidTone Point Display MidTone Point=0.5 #White Point Display White Point=1 TimeStamp=2019-07-03T22:59:23.8781890Z SharpCapVersion=3.2.6054.0

Thanks for reading. First light last night with a C11 XLT and a Neximage 5, tested on Saturn last night in excellent seeing, but admittedly Saturn was low to the horizon. I have an AZEQ6 GT mount used in Alt Az mode. Despite being able to get Saturn centered using my finderscope and then an 8mm eyepiece into a diagonal, anytime I plug in the Neximage 5 and load up iCap or Sharpcap, no matter what exposure or gain settings I chose I could not see anything on screen in the Software on the laptop other than a black screen. The higher I went with Gain & Exposure I just got a noisy dark pic. I tried slewing every direction, I still couldn't see anything appearing. I am not using a diagonal with the Neximage 5. I just plug it straight into the OTA with the adapter - so I was basically swapping the diagonal with the eyepiece and the Neximage 5 but no joy. Attaching a couple of pics of what I was seeing. Any tips? Any thoughts on where I might be going wrong?

Thank you both - very reassuring and great info also. Huge thanks. I got the following links which will help me keep an eye on the altitudes for the moment. https://in-the-sky.org//article.php?term=Saturn&skin=1 https://in-the-sky.org//article.php?term=Jupiter&skin=1 Regarding ditching the Polar Alignment, I have tried the mount in AltAz mode but wasn't sure how to do Solar System alignment. I might try that later because I don't know if my Polar scope is calibrated correctly and I don't want to waste a good nights seeing unnecessarily grappling with Polar Alignment. Regarding the Solar System Align, is the general process there that you select a planet and then manually slew to that planet using your eye and then center, then confirm on the handset then do the same for another planet? Does the mount need to be in any particular position before you start? Wondering how the mount can get it's bearings in this mode without Polar Alignment...?

Hi there. I am based in Ireland so my Latitude is 53 degrees North. I recently purchased a used C11 XLT and it came with a Neximage 5 for planetary imaging. I am planning on trying to image Jupiter and Saturn over the coming nights but still wrestling with the setup and GoTo features of the mount (AZEQ6 GT). I have a bit of a niggling feeling before getting started that I am going to be disappointed with the quality of the image I can capture due to the low position of the planets relative to the horizon. I also read somewhere that the planets are going to be like this for the next decade or so... is this true? If so, I feel I may have made the wrong decision in opting for such a powerful scope to focus on Planetary imaging as it's possibly going to be overkill and the seeing will limit the image quality based on planetary positions. You see I had the option of going for an 8" Edge HD for a similar price but opted for the C11 instead. Is it true that planetary imagers in UK/Ireland are in for a bad stretch?