Tips on using a Celestron Neximage CCD

[starman1969]

I have recently got into using this camera which I got with my 6se scope, and I have managed to grab a few videos of Jupiter and Saturn using it with a 2x Barlow.

I have also managed to stack some decent images this way,but if I want to get more detail, can I use a more powerful Barlow?

Another problem I have is locating the planets on the computer screen in the first place, although I may have the planet dead centre in the eyepiece, when I switch to the webcam it is nowhere to be found.

Sometimes I have to frantically focus to make it appear, or turn the brightness on the capture program up to full.

Is there an easier way?

[malc-c]

Increasing the focal length reduces the field of view, so unless you've centred the target using a high power eyepice the target could be just outside the field of view when the camera is used. I tend to centre the planet in an 8mm eyepiece, then use the web cam to centre it on the screen using Sharpcap software with the gain fully up and a medium shutter speed of 20fps. I then focus and remove the camera and place it with a 2x barlow. The target should still be on the screen but out of focus... re-focus and then if stacking barlows repeat the above to give as sharp a focus as conditions allow. Then drop the frame rate down to 5 or 10 fps

The other thing to watch is light gathering... the longer the focal length the dimmer the image will appear with a given scope, so sometimes using high power barlows don't always give better results. Also the gain of the camera and the number of stacked frames will often result in better final results. But the main criteria for decent planetary images is ideal seeing conditions, where the air is still at both ground level and jet-stream altitude, which seldom happens in the UK