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.

2 minutes ago, JamesF said:

Focusing on something as far away as you can manage with the camera might help you find the rough position for the focuser.  The Moon is a good target, as suggested, because it's hard to miss.  Failing that a distant hill or something like that might work in the daytime.  I found a reticle eyepiece very helpful for centering the image.  Even though the target might appear centered in a normal eyepiece, it doesn't have to be far off to miss a camera sensor altogether.

I also found that sometimes you can turn the gain or contrast up high and you might see a slight difference in brightness across the sensor which can help you see where the target is if it doesn't end up on the sensor.

When I'm doing lots of planetary imaging I leave the focuser where it needs to be for the camera to be in focus and do the alignment using a (reticle) eyepiece on the unfocused image.  For alignment it doesn't matter that it's out of focus.

James

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

20 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

There is a knack to getting an image on screen, as I discovered when I started planetary imaging.  It's best to practice on the Moon, which is bright and hard to miss. 😦

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?

59 minutes ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

To answer your last question, there has been some discussion about this on the forum, and in particular I remember a graph which shows the altitudes at transit for the next few years - Mars & Jupiter improve rapidly, Saturn more slowly.

An ADC (atmospheric dispersion corrector) will counteract some of the malign effects of the low altitude.  A C11 will probably do fine, and you've got it now ... some suggest that a C9.25 is the sweet spot for lousy UK conditions, but some members here post fine pics taken with C14's. 

Seeing is key, and if you are in a rural location with vegetation under the light path you may have better luck than those in urban locations.

As for your mount, it is perfectly possible to planet image with an Alt-az GoTo, (avoiding the hassle of polar alignment) and since you have the option, I suggest that you accurately level your tripod, set the mount in alt-az mode, and solar system align it on the planet you want to image.  That process ought to be quick and painless.   The only downside of using guided alt-az for this is that the image may be tilted (which may not bother you at all)  You may get less drift with a two-star align.  I presume that an AZEQ6 GT can do a two-star align in AZ mode - I don't have one so I wouldn't know.

34 minutes ago, geoflewis said:

Hi @WicklowSkies76 the planets are definitely not well placed this year, but it is still possible to get reasonable images in good seeing and your C11 is an excellent scope for that. Next year Mars will be pretty well placed at about 40 degrees altitude and almost as big (c 24") as it was last year, so that will definitely be a very worthwhile target. Jupiter and Saturn will also be starting to gain altitude albeit still at around 15 deg, with Saturn the slightly higher up of the two, but by 2021 Jupiter will be at 25 degrees and climbing rapidly the following few years.

As Geoff @Cosmic Geoff says, it is worth investing in an ADC and planetary imaging is perfectly OK using an altaz mount as you will be taking video of only 1-2 minutes duration, so not much sky rotation during that timeframe.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing you post some images. Practice now and you'll be ready for Mars next year.

Geof

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?