Getting started in basic planetary imaging

[John]

After many years as a visual astronomer I'd like to have a dabble at imaging the moon and brighter planets. I've got myself a Toucam Pro (the older egg-shaped version) and I'll be sorting out the adaptor and driven mount shortly.

The scope I'd like to use is my Vixen ED102SS which is an F6.5 refractor (663mm FL). I'm aware that to get any decent size images of the planets I'm going to need to barlow but I could do with some advice on how much to barlow when starting out. I've got a Celestron Ultima 2x barlow but I suspect I might need more power - would a 4x help me in getting started in this ?.

I'd also like to have a crack at some double stars as well - can anyone advise me on how I might do that ?.

Thanks,

John

[jcm]

With my 130mm F6 APO , a 5X barlow (F30) gives a good image scale with Saturn/Jupiter. With Mars it is not really enough , needs to be in the F40 to 50 range. With the Moon a 2X barlow can produce some detailed images.

John

[John]

With my 130mm F6 APO , a 5X barlow (F30) gives a good image scale with Saturn/Jupiter. With Mars it is not really enough , needs needs to be in the F40 to 50 range. With the Moon a 2X barlow can produce some detailed images.

John

Thanks John,

If I get a 5x barlow, could I stack it with my 2x for more power ?.

John

[legion48]

x2 and x5 barlows stacked? I don't think that would work well. My advice would be to try and get a planet onto your chip with your current x2 barlow, then decide on what power barlow you can handle.

[jcm]

Theoretically yes , but the image would be dim and difficult to find and focus. If anyone has tried this perhaps they could tell us how they got on. Going back to the previous post , many of the decent Mars images have been produced with F10 SCT's.

John

[John]

x2 and x5 barlows stacked? I don't think that would work well. My advice would be to try and get a planet onto your chip with your current x2 barlow, then decide on what power barlow you can handle.

Thanks for the advice - I'm certainly going to keep it as simple as possible to start with. I'm very impressed with the images on your web site BTW - they give me some idea of what's possible with the equipment that I will have but I reckon it's going to take a lot of practice and experimentation - but that's part of the fun

The SLT that you have uses a computerised Alt-Az mount I think (sorry if I've got that wrong) - would that ultimately create issues with field rotation for longer exposures ?. I'm not sure whether to go for a driven EQ mount or something like the SLT uses.

John

John

[legion48]

x2 and x5 barlows stacked? I don't think that would work well. My advice would be to try and get a planet onto your chip with your current x2 barlow, then decide on what power barlow you can handle.

The SLT that you have uses a computerised Alt-Az mount I think (sorry if I've got that wrong) - would that ultimately create issues with field rotation for longer exposures ?. I'm not sure whether to go for a driven EQ mount or something like the SLT uses.

John

John

Yes, field rotation is an issue with my setup. I'm hoping to get round the problem with shorter exposures (15 seconds max) and lots of them. Although this will limit the objects I can attempt, it will have to do until I find out whether LX photography is for me.

You mentioned that your scope is f6.5? Mine is an f5 so you should get a slightly better image scale. In all honesty, I'm toying with the idea of geting a SW Mak just for the planets. The Skywatcher 127 is supposed to be very good and at 11.81 it would be give a larger image unbarlowed than my 130 does with a x2. I really don't enjoy getting the image on the chip when barlowed above x3.

Whatever you decide, I look forward to seeing the results.