Equipment to improve planetary imaging?

[Doberamus]

Trying to image Jupiter and slowly moving in the right direction. Have a Celestron Evoluton 8", and an Altair 290c through a 2x barlow. Took a minutes video, and stacked the best 600/800 images. Very nervously have been trying to post-process using Lynkeos and SiriL on a Mac.

Getting a lot of haze in the way initially though. Is there anything external you'd recommend to sharpen up the images as I get them?

Specifically, would either a filter,  a Crayford focuser, or an atmospheric disperser be with investing in? Which delivers the most improvement?

 

Thanks again!

[PeterCPC]

If your camera does not have a UV/IR block filter then I suggest that you get one. I can recommend the Baader Neodymium.

Peter

[RodAstro]

Hi

Firstly a very good start for your first image.

I'm not sure if you have used the camera for planets before but 800 frames seems rather slow for one minute, so are you using ROI this will speed your camera up no end and collect more good frames to stack. You may not need the barlow especially to begin with.

Next thing is not your fault, you have started imaging Jupiter at the worst time you could, it is at its lowest it ever gets for northern observers and and will be for a few years. As you can see the atmosphere is working as a prism and splitting the colours into a rainbow. Registax can do a reasonable job of correcting this but for now the best tool and one you have mentioned is the atmospheric disperser this will bring the colours back together and give you that sharp image.

A good way to see how the atmospheric disperser works is to get a 68/70 degree eyepiece or a good Huygens eyepiece ( something with field curvature), put jupiter in the middle of the field and you can see how it is split into colours due to the atmosphere. Now maneuver Jupiter away from centre of field in the direction the colours are split, one way you will see the colours split more the opposite direction you will see the colours come together and you will get a nice sharp image, the sweet spot. Flat field eyepieces are no good for northern planetary observers at the moment.

The atmospheric disperser is quite an expensive item but if you are into planetary imaging you will be using it for a good few years.

An IR filter will only make a small difference with a SCT, until you sort out the colour dispersion. Also colour filters are mainly useful for visual work and refractors. 

The last thing is collimation, collimation, collimation, every time, the better you are at it the better your images will be.

I hope this is useful, after forty years planetary observing is still my favorite interest.

Clear horizons and keep looking up.

Cheers Rod