[Fox]

Hi Peter,
Whilst capturing, the picture is indeed very grainy, and in mono, all depending on your scope, focal length and seeing of course. So yeah, it sounds like it’s running exactly how it should be. You basically just play around with only two controls, the exposure and the gain, to balance the optimal signal vs. noise. It’s after stacking that I am amazed how much better it looks, then playing around with wavelets etc. is like magic.

I managed to capture Mars last night, only my second try at Planetary AP, and it was a ball. Admittedly I only have a 5-inch refractor, and I pushed it right up to maximum F/25 with my TV Powermate 5x. I can tell now, how my 5-inch refractor is rate limiting in this type of AP - my Mars image is tad distorted because of the rather average seeing coupled with pushing the scope that high. Regardless, I still feel great when I can show others: “look what I took with my equipment and know how”, it’s such a fun, ‘wow’ and educational moment for me!

When the planets move on, I think some high res lunar mosaics is on the cards, perhaps try the camera with some DSO’s, and I can see a guider, widefield camera and these modern wiz-band filters (Optolong etc.) are real possibilities and a whole new aspect to learn. It’s DSO’s where the Televues are on home turf.

Fox