Jupiter & Saturn

[Mandy D]

I dragged the Skywatcher 200P out onto the street last night and set up under the trees away from the uber-bright LED street lamps as Saturn was just coming into view above the roof line on the opposite side of the road. I'd forgotten to bring the finderscope with me, so it took ages to find Saturn in the main scope, then when I had it in the viewfinder of the D800 it was so tiny I couldn't see to focus, but at least I got a recognisable Saturn in my photo. I thought I might try a bit more magnification on it, so I dug my barlow out of the bag and stuck it on the 1.25" Nikon nosepiece before finding out that I'd not brought the reducer for it to fit the 2" focusser!

After messing around for ages, I noticed that Jupiter had popped up over the roofline, so I turned the scope in that direction and found it quicker than I expected without a finder! I couldn't see any detail or any of the moons, so took a few photos with longer exposure and higher ISO until the moons showed up.

Nothing great on either planet, but here are my best photos of the evening.

[RT65CB-SWL]

Well done! Nice start to astro-imaging. 

[Mandy D]

7 minutes ago, Philip R said:

Well done! Nice start to astro-imaging. 

Thanks. I was on my own and had to carry everything about 50 metres from home and forgot some of it and didn't want to leave the telescope on it's own to go fetch the barlow and D3200. When I am able to drive again (eye injury) I will throw it all in the Land Rover and set up properly and have another go.

[Pete Presland]

Congratulations on your images, an excellent start

[MarsG76]

That is a great start. If I can try and give you some tips, firstly imaging planets that are just above a house roof is going to limit and decrease the amount of detail you will be able to capture due to the heat coming off houses and causing shimmer.

The other thing is that planets do need a very high magnification, 2000mm and higher is good.. of course seeing permitting.
The other thing is the camera... the D800, or any DSLR, are not the best for planetary imaging... a dedicated planetary camera which can capture pure raw data and at a very high frame rate will help you immensely, when you have a higher chance of catching the clearest frames and allowing Registax/Autostakkert to stack more of the clearest frames for the maximum possible details to be captured in your images.

 

[knobby]

And now you're hooked 🤣

 

[Mandy D]

2 hours ago, knobby said:

And now you're hooked 🤣

 

Yes. I am! Is there a cure?

[knobby]

38 minutes ago, Mandy D said:

Yes. I am! Is there a cure?

Yes, but it costs money 🤣