Imaging the planets

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Last night I tried planetary imaging again with the Canon 550d DSLR using eyepiece projection (2x Barlow with a 9mm eyepiece) and the 1000mm 8 inch Newtonian on a EQ5 mount.

Seeing was variable, better than last time I was out there but I'm still hanging out for that perfect night. I need better than average conditions to get something half decent when shooting planets with a DSLR.

[xelasnave]

Both look good to me.
Alex

[Ukastronomer (Jeremy)]

Look good to me too

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Thanks Alex and Jeremy, without upgrading my equipment to a larger aperture scope and a dedicated planetary CCD camera, I'm probably not going to get much better than this. The larger sensor and larger pixels of a DSLR aren't really designed for this type of imaging so I'm at the mercy of the atmosphere to help me improve the results!

[Startrek (Martin)]

These images are excellent from your DSLR
Do you take video, stack then process ( what software programs ? )
Are you in metro Melbourne or regional areas
I tried Jupiter last night near the zenith (in Sydney)with my 6” newt and 600D it was just a ball of yucky brown haise due to bad seeing and a waxing moon, so I packed up
Cheers

[Atmos (Colin)]

For using EP projection and a DSLR, you’ve captured some great detail

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Thanks Martin and Colin, I'm probably expecting too much from the equipment I'm using but it's nice to fantasize! Martin, these were processed in Pipp, Autostakkert, Registax then Photoshop, from a video grab. Photoshop is used to resize the image and maybe adjust the colour and contrast a bit, most of the image processing is done in Registax as I find it does a pretty good job. They were taken from metro Melbourne.

[Sunfish (Ray)]

Looks good to me. I tried that last night also with a DSLR and a 4mm eyepiece but I don’t think it will look anything like that.

[foc (Ross)]

Admirable pics. Of course seeing is king but have you tried Tak orthos for your eyepiece projection? They give very sharp images and I have seen some good results posted with such orthos used in projection imaging with a Skywatcher 180 Mak and Canon camera.

[Mickoid (Michael)]

Thanks Ray and Ross, keep trying Ray, you'll strike it lucky one night and take some nice shots. Ross, if I could justify spending the money on Tak Orthos I'd then want a bigger telescope to bring the best out of them, my pockets aren't that deep.