My 8se

[Dayer]

Hi I need advice I’ve set up my 8se several times I’ve done the 3 star set up it’s been perfect and follows everything I want perfectly but even with a x2 Barlow I can barely see the planets i can see detail of Jupiter but it’s so small , also I bought a half decent camera to link to my laptop every time I get a half good picture even if it does look like I need a 20x Barlow when I use the camera it doesn’t show anything I’ve tried everything, I’m using a IR cut fillter and x2 Barlow and evening tried a light pollution filter but I can get any good pictures the sky tonight was absolutely brilliant for it and I packed up tonight feeling like I just as well have not wasted my time and just enjoyed the crowd from my Orion binoculars has anyone got s as my advice it would be absolutely needed otherwise il probably sell my 8se and buy something more expensive and still have this problem, I’ve seen pictures which others have got from an 8se why can’t I  

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL.  A few questions

1. When were you viewing Jupiter ? It currently isn't visible.
2. What eyepiece was you using with the barlow lens or was this through the camera ?
3. What type of camera are you using ? A "half decent" camera for conventional photography might not be so suitable for planetary imaging. DSLRs, for instance, have relatively large sensors in comparison to the sensor in a dedicated planetary imaging camera. The planetary disc will be the same size on both sensors, but will look larger on the dedicated astrocam relative to the size of the sensor.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Hi @Dayer and welcome to SGL. 

What camera is it? - Can you do multiple images with your camera and then stack them with stacking software?

Below is an image of Mars from April 2014 using a C6/SCT, 6mm Radian e/p + Neodymium filter and a 2.1 mega-pixel digital-compact camera, (handheld over the eyepiece), from a hotel garden near LHR.

At the time Mars was having a dust storm, but if you look carefully, (preferably in a darkened enviroment), you should see some detail of the Martian surface. It is one shot, no stacking, enhancement, etc. 

You could try a 5x Barlow --->https://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot/telescope-and-astronomy-stuff.html?highlight=AB9534#AB9534 and see if that improves things.

[Anne S]

When I owned a 8SE I used a 3x Barlow together with a ccd camera capable of recording a video file. Ccd chip was 1/3 inch. Most planets need a focal ration of between f20 to f30. Your scope is f10. If you use a larger chipped camera you wil" need a higher power Barlow.  At one point I used a Phillips Toucam. I now have a Inova colour ccd camera for planetary use.
 

[Dayer]

8 hours ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Hello and welcome to SGL.  A few questions

1. When were you viewing Jupiter ? It currently isn't visible.
2. What eyepiece was you using with the barlow lens or was this through the camera ?
3. What type of camera are you using ? A "half decent" camera for conventional photography might not be so suitable for planetary imaging. DSLRs, for instance, have relatively large sensors in comparison to the sensor in a dedicated planetary imaging camera. The planetary disc will be the same size on both sensors, but will look larger on the dedicated astrocam relative to the size of the sensor.

 

[Dayer]

Hi thanks for the reply, I caught Jupiter a long time ago , as for the eye piece I’ve been using a 25mm when I want to see it before I change it for the camera which is a Sv bony v205 I can’t remember how much I paid but was in the 80 mark I think , probably should of got a much pricey one but the reviews were quite good , 

[Dayer]

7 hours ago, Philip R said:

Hi @Dayer and welcome to SGL. 

What camera is it? - Can you do multiple images with your camera and then stack them with stacking software?

Below is an image of Mars from April 2014 using a C6/SCT, 6mm Radian e/p + Neodymium filter and a 2.1 mega-pixel digital-compact camera, (handheld over the eyepiece), from a hotel garden near LHR.

At the time Mars was having a dust storm, but if you look carefully, (preferably in a darkened enviroment), you should see some detail of the Martian surface. It is one shot, no stacking, enhancement, etc. 

You could try a 5x Barlow --->https://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot/telescope-and-astronomy-stuff.html?highlight=AB9534#AB9534 and see if that improves things.

Hi thank you ,yes that’s pretty much what I see , I’m using sharp cap to take the photos and it does have a live stack on there but not sure if I should use a decent software but I’m the most computerised of people, 

[Dayer]

5 hours ago, Anne S said:

When I owned a 8SE I used a 3x Barlow together with a ccd camera capable of recording a video file. Ccd chip was 1/3 inch. Most planets need a focal ration of between f20 to f30. Your scope is f10. If you use a larger chipped camera you wil" need a higher power Barlow.  At one point I used a Phillips Toucam. I now have a Inova colour ccd camera for planetary use.
 

Hi thanks Anne I’m not sure if my camera is a cc’d or not I’m just getting into the astrophotography I’m getting very confused but il look at the specs on my camera, it fits in the eye piece, But il see if I can find the specs  

[Dayer]

9 minutes ago, Dayer said:

Hi thank you ,yes that’s pretty much what I see , I’m using sharp cap to take the photos and it does have a live stack on there but not sure if I should use a decent software but I’m the most computerised of people, 

 

[Dayer]

7 hours ago, Philip R said:

Hi @Dayer and welcome to SGL. 

What camera is it? - Can you do multiple images with your camera and then stack them with stacking software?

Below is an image of Mars from April 2014 using a C6/SCT, 6mm Radian e/p + Neodymium filter and a 2.1 mega-pixel digital-compact camera, (handheld over the eyepiece), from a hotel garden near LHR.

At the time Mars was having a dust storm, but if you look carefully, (preferably in a darkened enviroment), you should see some detail of the Martian surface. It is one shot, no stacking, enhancement, etc. 

You could try a 5x Barlow --->https://www.astroboot.co.uk/AstroBoot/telescope-and-astronomy-stuff.html?highlight=AB9534#AB9534 and see if that improves things.

This is what I got from Saturn is this actually what I got from my iPhone through the eye piece but my new camera that goes in the eye piece shows nothing and I’ve tried adjusting the focus and taking it back out and making sure the planet is bang in the middle before I put it back in , I tried it last night obviously on no planets as there all below apart from Venus but tried Venus and just wasn’t to clear as apparently it’s best to wait until 4th onwards 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

I have a Celestron GP-C8 (same optics, but with Vixen Great Polaris EQ mount), and it has been my main scope for almost 25 years, so it must be doing something right. Your scope should be able to get great planetary shots with a suitable camera.

This is one of my first shots with a Philips Toucam-III, under pretty horrible conditions. I used a 3x Meade TeleXtender (similar to Barlow)

With practice, and a better camera (ASI120MC)

What camera do you have, and how are you attaching it to the scope?

Early shot of Saturn

More recent shot

Early shot of Mars

More recent

Note that the optimal focal ratio for planetary imaging depends heavily on the pixel size of the camera. F/25-F/30 was ideal for the Toucams and planetary cameras with 5.5-6 micron pixel size. F/16-F/20 is best for the ASI120MC and ASI224MC, which have 3.75 micron pixel size, whereas the ASI178 and ASI183 cameras work best between F/12 and F/16.

Note that all the above images are the result of stacking the best frames out of a long sequence of images. On the moon you can capture parts, stack each sequence, and then combining the individual images into a huge mosaic

(Click for full 100 Mpixel size)

[PEMS]

From what I can find you are in Somerset. Would say find a club but I expect that like eberywhere they are all closed down. So have a search and identify a club within reash and maybe make email contact.

Are you getting 1 image and expecting that to be "Saturn" in all its glory? It is not done like that.

Process is that you put camera on or in, focus the planet and take a video. Lets say just over a minute or 2000 frames. You then load the video into your stacking software - Registax or AS3 I understand are the common video items. Once in the best frame is identified, apparently by yourself. You then instruct the software to identify the best 10% or 200 frames that best match the good one. You could decide on less and say 100 frames. Only those frames are stacked, only the good ones. Then you process and sharpen the final result.

If you are focusing with an eyepiece then replacing the eyepiece with a camera you will be way out of focus. You will have to spend some time readjusting if the scope is an SCT with the usual focus adjustment. I would say enough time for either planet to drift out.

Unfortunately clubs are not possible at present, but I think it could be worth finding where ones are in your area.

[Dayer]

4 hours ago, PEMS said:

From what I can find you are in Somerset. Would say find a club but I expect that like eberywhere they are all closed down. So have a search and identify a club within reash and maybe make email contact.

Are you getting 1 image and expecting that to be "Saturn" in all its glory? It is not done like that.

Process is that you put camera on or in, focus the planet and take a video. Lets say just over a minute or 2000 frames. You then load the video into your stacking software - Registax or AS3 I understand are the common video items. Once in the best frame is identified, apparently by yourself. You then instruct the software to identify the best 10% or 200 frames that best match the good one. You could decide on less and say 100 frames. Only those frames are stacked, only the good ones. Then you process and sharpen the final result.

If you are focusing with an eyepiece then replacing the eyepiece with a camera you will be way out of focus. You will have to spend some time readjusting if the scope is an SCT with the usual focus adjustment. I would say enough time for either planet to drift out.

Unfortunately clubs are not possible at present, but I think it could be worth finding where ones are in your area.

Firstly wow great pictures , I do have registax installed So il give that another go it’s very complicated to use but I’m sure il learn , the camera sits in the main eye piece but I tried it with the angle eye piece and then without so it went straight into the telescope without the main section, I have it on gps and it stays within the middle of eye piece for a great deal of time , thanks for letting me know to video for a while and use all video and try stack the best pictures this will help , I’m using a x2 Barlow and was told to use a ir cut filter and tried all methods with and without and even spending 30 minutes trying to re focus after installing the camera but nothing I did get a picture of the Pleiades but just what you would expect to get from a good zoom on an iPhone lol thanks for your help , would it be good to get a automatic microfocuser 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

1 hour ago, Dayer said:

Firstly wow great pictures , I do have registax installed So il give that another go it’s very complicated to use but I’m sure il learn , the camera sits in the main eye piece but I tried it with the angle eye piece and then without so it went straight into the telescope without the main section, I have it on gps and it stays within the middle of eye piece for a great deal of time , thanks for letting me know to video for a while and use all video and try stack the best pictures this will help , I’m using a x2 Barlow and was told to use a ir cut filter and tried all methods with and without and even spending 30 minutes trying to re focus after installing the camera but nothing I did get a picture of the Pleiades but just what you would expect to get from a good zoom on an iPhone lol thanks for your help , would it be good to get a automatic microfocuser 

I use AutoStakkert!3 for stacking, and Registax 6 for wavelet sharpening. BTW, can you tell us what camera you are using? Getting the planet on the chip can be a real pain, and a flip-mirror is hugely useful, in that you can centre the planet in the EP and flip up the mirror, and it should at least be on-chip

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

To show my set-up, which shows the C8, focuser, flip-mirror, filter wheel and camera

[Dayer]

32 minutes ago, michael.h.f.wilkinson said:

To show my set-up, which shows the C8, focuser, flip-mirror, filter wheel and camera

Nice set up , I have a cc’d svbony 205 but it’s not great I have literally just been on to Astro shop and bought a bresser full hd ccd so should be better, and a omegon blocking fillter they recommended with it , as for the flip mirror that sounds good I might try this first before I spend too much , 

[Dayer]

1 minute ago, Dayer said:

Nice set up , I have a cc’d svbony 205 but it’s not great I have literally just been on to Astro shop and bought a bresser full hd ccd so should be better, and a omegon blocking fillter they recommended with it , as for the flip mirror that sounds good I might try this first before I spend too much , 

Would that one you have on your Celestron be the same for the 8se , so you have a auto focuser then the flip mirror joined on then in the flip mirror your ccd camera goes in , sorry to sound like a newbie but I’ve only just started out photography  had two other telescopes but now got the 8se a year ago so now have a chance 

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

The optical tubes are essentially the same. I do not have an autofocuser, it is just a manual rack-and-pinion type. It is not necessary (but handy). The focuser simply takes the place of the 1.25" visual back of the scope. You can also attach the Vixen flip-mirror to a 2" visual back, and I think Meade produces a 1.25" flip mirror that attaches directly to the scope. Your svbony 205 has tiny pixels, I see from the manual (just 1.4 micron), which means I would use it without Barlow, for optimal results. You will only need to capture a small region of interest of the entire 8 Mpixel area. That should increase the speed of capture and further processing. 

[Cosmic Geoff]

I have taken many pictures of Jupiter, so here is some blunt advice.

The C8 SE is a visual scope. You can use it for imaging Jupiter, but it will be a bit of a pain - mount not rigid enough, too much backlash, etc.  If you are serious about the planetry imaging thing, you should get a decent equatorial mount (the C8 can come bundled with an AVX) or get the CPC800 package. The latter is really rather heavy, but so much more pleasant to use for planetary imaging, and it is nice for visual too, and easy to set up with the built-in GPS.

You need a decent plantary video camera, not a DSLR. I now use an ASI224MC , made by ZWO. They cost around £250.  And preferably a laptop with USB3 port  as this will allow you to increase the frame rate

I don't use a Barlow lens. In theory I should, but the seeing here is generally too bad.

You also need to understand how to take and process the video stream from the camera. There are various online guides. 

For the major planets you don't need a flip mirror, but you will need a good finderscope as the planetary video FOV is pretty small. I used a 9x50 RACI fnder.

And you need a ADC to correct for atmospheic dispersion of light from low declination planets. I use the ZWO ADC which costs about £120 (and worth it.)

I hope this helps. Sorry if it's a bit frank but I a ill and typing this asa break from staring at the TV.

[Dayer]

2 hours ago, Cosmic Geoff said:

I have taken many pictures of Jupiter, so here is some blunt advice.

The C8 SE is a visual scope. You can use it for imaging Jupiter, but it will be a bit of a pain - mount not rigid enough, too much backlash, etc.  If you are serious about the planetry imaging thing, you should get a decent equatorial mount (the C8 can come bundled with an AVX) or get the CPC800 package. The latter is really rather heavy, but so much more pleasant to use for planetary imaging, and it is nice for visual too, and easy to set up with the built-in GPS.

You need a decent plantary video camera, not a DSLR. I now use an ASI224MC , made by ZWO. They cost around £250.  And preferably a laptop with USB3 port  as this will allow you to increase the frame rate

I don't use a Barlow lens. In theory I should, but the seeing here is generally too bad.

You also need to understand how to take and process the video stream from the camera. There are various online guides. 

For the major planets you don't need a flip mirror, but you will need a good finderscope as the planetary video FOV is pretty small. I used a 9x50 RACI fnder.

And you need a ADC to correct for atmospheic dispersion of light from low declination planets. I use the ZWO ADC which costs about £120 (and worth it.)

I hope this helps. Sorry if it's a bit frank but I a ill and typing this asa break from staring at the TV.

That’s brilliant thanks for your help , I’ve just ordered a decent ccd bresser camera it was 280 and should be much better as for the stand il look into it but my mount is a go to mount and works great and last night it was really calm and was great 

[noah4x4]

This is an image of Jupiter and three of its moons I captured a couple of years ago using a Celestron Nexstar Burst camera on a 8" Evolution. Was captured in I-Cap and stacked in Registax. I now use an Atik Horizon camera and chase DSO's but cheap cameras can produce quite decent planetary images via an 8" SCT.

 

[Chefgage]

On 26/03/2020 at 07:47, Dayer said:

Hi thanks for the reply, I caught Jupiter a long time ago , as for the eye piece I’ve been using a 25mm when I want to see it before I change it for the camera which is a Sv bony v205 I can’t remember how much I paid but was in the 80 mark I think , probably should of got a much pricey one but the reviews were quite good , 

Just going back to the begining. How are you focusing your camera. It sounds like you are focusing using the eypiece and then just replacing the eyepiece with the camera. The camera needs focusing after being fitted.