Newbie to Planetary Imaging

[sandconp]

I just bought my telescope this winter have ben enjoying the skies but I would now like to move onto some planetary imaging.  I bought a ZWO178MC camera and I have been told that I need capture software along with some stacking software.

Names that I have heard are:

Sharpcap

Firecap

Maxim DL

Registax

Autostak (Spelling) ?

 

I would appreciate any recommendations.

Thanks

 

 

 

[Owmuchonomy]

Can you advise us your model of telescope, particularly the focal ratio and focal length?  The 178 camera has small pixels so it helps to know the parameters so we can recommend a set up.  Regarding software can you advise us if you have PC or MAC?  Choice of software is also a bit of a personal preference so I can offer my set up as an option but others may have their own.  I use Firecapture for all my capture on an ancient PC and I use Autostakkert for stacking on my MAC.  Personally, I find Autostakkert far superior to Registax.  Processing I use Photoshop, again on the MAC.  I have also used OAcapture on my MAC; a nice piece of software put together by @JamesF on this forum.

[sandconp]

I have a Celestron Evolution 8 SE with a focal length of 2032 F/10 and I have a Window 10 PC.  I am trying to find a 1.5X Barlow which would be perfect for this camera.

[Owmuchonomy]

I would suggest F/15 is a bit too long for that camera.  If it were me I would stick at F/10 with such small pixels.  It's quite hard to source a 1.5 x Barlow too.  I believe the new version of Autostakkert (Version 3) will run on Windows 10.  

[sandconp]

So were these pictures taken at F/10?

[michael8554]

Your biggest problem may well be actually getting your planet into the field of view of your tiny chip at F10, even harder when barlowed.

It's a bit like threading a needle.....

You might succeeed by centering first with a reticle eyepiece that's parfocal with your camera, but best bet is a Flip Mirror.

2 hours ago, Owmuchonomy said:

If it were me I would stick at F/10 with such small pixels

If Chris is suggesting you'd  be oversampling, true for imaging long exposure galaxies etc, but my understanding is not necessarily so for planetary video sequences.

Michael 

[Owmuchonomy]

10 hours ago, sandconp said:

So were these pictures taken at F/10?

Not necessarily. I have various set ups and use an ASI 174 camera with its larger pixels. The rule of thumb in planetary imaging is to aim for a F/ of 4 to 5x your pixel size. Therefore I use a 2.5x powermate on my solar scope and a 2x powermate on my SCT 9.25.  Just try your set up and see how you get on.