Tonight's mission : Jupiter, Mars & Saturn

[Gomtuu]

Depending on how my knee is feeling, I shall either be attempting these from the centre of Plymouth, or heading out to Dartmoor to see how I get on.

I'll be using 200PDS, EQ5, Baader Hyperion Zoom and Canon 600D on eyepiece projection.

I haven't imaged Mars and Saturn before, so if you have any hints, I'm all ears!

[oldpink]

Jupiter won't be easy because of the moon
let Mars get up as high as possible to avoid atmospheric boil same for Saturn
focus on a star before slewing to mars as its a pig to get a sharp focus
I plan on Mars & Saturn myself as Jupiter will be too far over by the time its dark enough to image it

are you going to use your camera in Movie mode ?? or just take snaps

[Gomtuu]

Jupiter won't be easy because of the moon

let Mars get up as high as possible to avoid atmospheric boil same for Saturn

focus on a star before slewing to mars as its a pig to get a sharp focus

I plan on Mars & Saturn myself as Jupiter will be too far over by the time its dark enough to image it

are you going to use your camera in Movie mode ?? or just take snaps

I'm going to use the video setting for HD @ 3x crop. I've found that the moon isn't too much of a problem for Jupiter unless it's really close to it.

I may have to take the Bahtinov with me for Mars then! I find the tricky bit is maintaining good alignment as the lens/extensions/camera tend to get slightly wobbly in the focusser. It's really easy to just bump it slightly and then you've lost alignmment! It's about on its limit I think, but I've had good Jupiter images out of it with that set up.

[mitchelln]

Hi.

I've imaged Saturn with my Baader Zoom using eyepiece projection. It works really well. Weight on the focuser can be an issue though.

You'll need a high ISO setting, but don't go above 1600. As Saturn is low, turbulence may be an issue.

I've found it's easy to overexpose Mars. You don't have much to go on, so take a number of vids at different ISOs.

Finally, if you have an Android phone with a big screen or a tablet, it is well worth hooking it up to your 600D and using that to control the camera and view the image using DSLR Controller. Saves a lot of hassle and stops the wobble of course.

When the final image of Saturn pops out after the processing it makes it all worthwhile

Good luck!

[oldpink]

very nice Saturn image
I tend to use BYEOS in Planetary mode and X5 with a 2x Barlow if I'm using the Canon
but tonight the ASI will be the camera of choice as it edges the 600D with the much higher frame rates

though I will do some Lunar earlier on with the canon
 

[Gomtuu]

very nice Saturn image

I tend to use BYEOS in Planetary mode and X5 with a 2x Barlow if I'm using the Canon

but tonight the ASI will be the camera of choice as it edges the 600D with the much higher frame rates

though I will do some Lunar earlier on with the canon

I need portability, so the laptop is a bit tricky really (can't keep power long enough).

Still, if I can get Saturn at all I'll be happy, as the weather is now down to cloud over around midnight. I might be better going for tomorrow night.

[oldpink]

just clearing up here
fingers crossed the forecast is correct and clear skies follow
I'll be traveling from Sat for 10 days so won't be able to get any viewing so hoping to have a good night tonight