Hi guys. I'm thinking of getting my feet wet a bit with planetary AP. I would love to do deep sky one day but I have a 12" lightbridge and can't afford to buy another scope. My question is will my equipment be capable of the calibre of planetary images I see on this forum or is everyone using long exposure and three thousand dollar cameras. I am looking at a DMK21. Is anyone out there using this camera with a non tracking dob so I can get an idea of what to expect.
I'd say planetary is doable with a DOB as it only requires short high frame rate videos to capture the images for stacking and not single long exposures as per DSO. But be aware that with smaller chips on dedicated CD cameras as opposed to larger sensors on DSLR if you cannot track then the planet is going to move quite quickly across your FOV. So the bigger your target is in the FOV it is going to be harder to capture enough frames as it moves.
Can't commment on the camera as I don't use it.
Yes, it should work, but as Brent noted, keeping the planet positioned without tracking will be a pain (constant subtle nudging as you are imaging). Note that most planetary cameras are CMOS sensors rather than the more sensitive CCDs.
The typical chip size is the equivalent of a 4-7mm eyepiece, depending on the type, and you'll usually want to barlow it to get a larger image. Are you sure you're going to be able to hold that still in your Dob's FOV?
