Well, after wondering about getting a webcam for imaging through my Dob, I had a realisation a few days ago that I could simply buy a T-ring and eyepiece projection mount for the Dob. So 16" Dob meets 60D, and though I have no tracking, and placing the planets in the view is a fiddle, here are two shots from tonight after some practice last night. Both stacks of about 300 images (of 1500), 2x barlow, 12mm EP, pre-processed in PIPP to convert the movie file and centre/crop the planets, stacked & wavelets in Registax 6, some tweaking with Photoshop for de-noising/levels afterwards. I used the large movie mode, as with the 'crop' 640x480 that some have recommended, it was too hard to find & get the planets drifting through the field.
I'm pretty happy! But keeping the planets in view is a challenge, and it didn't 'feel' like the seeing was too great the past two days, but I'm not sure how much was my set-up. I tried hard to get really well collimated and focused, but it wasn't always straightforward. Fun though, and I have a feeling these won't be my last...
I think there are some clouds in the region of Elysium Mons, and a few other features including a bright spot on the limb round to the right of the north polar cap. Great to catch that from the backyard! There's a pale mark on Saturn on the right-hand part of the equatorial zone. I'd be 99% sure it's just an imaging artefact, but I'll be watching the really good imagers' work over the next few days *just* in case
