Best ways to image planets

[Jonny_H]

Hi all,

I hope you can give me some pointers regarding imaging planets.

A bit of background - I have been imaging nebula and galaxies for about 1 year now (I'm still not very good at it 😆) and thought I would try to capture Jupiter and Saturn last night.

My current equipment and what i tried to use last night are as follows:

StellaLyra  8" f/12 Classic Cassegrain, ZWO224MC & ASIAir Pro, all on a SW AZ EQ6 Pro mount.

I quickly realised that imaging planets are a different skill entirely to galaxies and the likes..... Firstly I couldn't PA using the Airpro (to be honest I was expecting this given the scopes FL along with the 224). So I tried to locate the planets manually but just couldn't keep them in the FOV whilst faffing around to get focus etc...

As a last resort I tried to use video mode on the AirPro but just got a black empty screen. I was naively expecting to see a 'live view' but this didn't seem to be the case.  After about 1.5 hours I have up and just enjoyed a visual session.

Soooo.....what do I do? I have access to a laptop so I can setup using a different software if that would help. But are you supposed to PA to track the planets or do you manually locate and skew, shoot and hope for the best? ☺️

Regards,

Jonny

[Shimrod]

42 minutes ago, Jonny_H said:

I quickly realised that imaging planets are a different skill entirely to galaxies and the likes..... Firstly I couldn't PA using the Airpro (to be honest I was expecting this given the scopes FL along with the 224). So I tried to locate the planets manually but just couldn't keep them in the FOV whilst faffing around to get focus etc...

As a last resort I tried to use video mode on the AirPro but just got a black empty screen. I was naively expecting to see a 'live view' but this didn't seem to be the case.  After about 1.5 hours I have up and just enjoyed a visual session.

Soooo.....what do I do? I have access to a laptop so I can setup using a different software if that would help. But are you supposed to PA to track the planets or do you manually locate and skew, shoot and hope for the best? ☺️

Regards,

Jonny

My suggestion would be to use the ASI224 and guidescope mounted to your OTA to perform the polar alignment, and then transfer the camera to the main tube afterwards. Given most planetary imaging seems to be done via video, you can probably get away with a less than accurate PA as long as you can keep the planet in frame for a reasonable period of time. Alignment can be fixed when you stack.

I'm sure someone will be along with a much better suggestion shortly!

[michael8554]

I would use SharpCap to capture the video.

Focus on a star.

For the short duration of the video I don't think you need more than a rough PA.

Pointing the scope to get the planet onto a tiny sensor at high FL is the hardest part.

Michael

[Jonny_H]

11 hours ago, Shimrod said:

My suggestion would be to use the ASI224 and guidescope mounted to your OTA to perform the polar alignment, and then transfer the camera to the main tube afterwards. Given most planetary imaging seems to be done via video, you can probably get away with a less than accurate PA as long as you can keep the planet in frame for a reasonable period of time. Alignment can be fixed when you stack.

I'm sure someone will be along with a much better suggestion shortly!

Thanks Shimrod,

Possibly a stupid question, but once PA'd - would you then platesolve to said planet and then switch the 224 to the OTA? I assume it would then be a case of manually tracking the planet?

Or do folk usually guide?

7 hours ago, michael8554 said:

I would use SharpCap to capture the video.

Focus on a star.

For the short duration of the video I don't think you need more than a rough PA.

Pointing the scope to get the planet onto a tiny sensor at high FL is the hardest part.

Michael

Yes that is what I really struggled with - I just couldn't get either Jupiter or Saturn into the FOV. I even tried switching to an EP, locating and quickly changing to the 224 but just kept missing them 😆

[michael8554]

21 minutes ago, Jonny_H said:

I just couldn't get either Jupiter or Saturn into the FOV

No surprise.

A Flip Mirror is often used in these circumstances.

For example:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/255067071462?mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338353466&toolid=20006&4236=%26customid%3Ds%3AGS%3Bgc%3ACj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dOUahQa6nwbhmox8fooZLnuvXSRl8BkQYgdZ83eCZVTYavZ0VBPgCoaAiKWEALw_wcB%3Bpt%3A1%3Bchoc%3A2&customid=s%3AGS%3Bgc%3ACj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dOUahQa6nwbhmox8fooZLnuvXSRl8BkQYgdZ83eCZVTYavZ0VBPgCoaAiKWEALw_wcB%3Bpt%3A1%3Bchoc%3A1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dOUahQa6nwbhmox8fooZLnuvXSRl8BkQYgdZ83eCZVTYavZ0VBPgCoaAiKWEALw_wcB

This allows the target to be framed with an eyepiece, then flipping the 45 degree mirror out of the light path reveals the imaging sensor.

Michael

Edited September 6, 2021 by michael8554

[CraigT82]

23 minutes ago, Jonny_H said:

Thanks Shimrod,

Possibly a stupid question, but once PA'd - would you then platesolve to said planet and then switch the 224 to the OTA? I assume it would then be a case of manually tracking the planet?

Or do folk usually guide?

Yes that is what I really struggled with - I just couldn't get either Jupiter or Saturn into the FOV. I even tried switching to an EP, locating and quickly changing to the 224 but just kept missing them 😆

Can you do a spiral search with the ASIair?

You can do it with eqmod and it's a godsend for finding planets at high focal lengths.

[ONIKKINEN]

I use a finderscope to find planets. First you will need to align it as perfectly as reasonably possible, preferably on a still target like a streetlamp or another ground object far away, then just manually move slew to scope to the target. This way polar alignment with a compass is probably enough.

[Shimrod]

On 06/09/2021 at 19:56, Jonny_H said:

Thanks Shimrod,

Possibly a stupid question, but once PA'd - would you then platesolve to said planet and then switch the 224 to the OTA? I assume it would then be a case of manually tracking the planet?

Or do folk usually guide?

Yes that is what I really struggled with - I just couldn't get either Jupiter or Saturn into the FOV. I even tried switching to an EP, locating and quickly changing to the 224 but just kept missing them 😆

I am slightly confused with the comment on manual tracking given your mount - you wouldn't need guiding for the small exposures you would typically take of a planet.  ONIKKEN has given one way of aligning to the plant after goto - the other could be to use a reticle eyepiece to get the planet in the centre before swapping out the eyepiece for the camera.