Planetary Imaging for Beginners: Easy & Affordable Techniques
E N D
Presentation Transcript
Planetaryimaging Martin Rodriguez mrodri2@hotmail.com
Planetary vs. deep sky for the beginner • Easier • Cheaper • Dark skies less important • No need for precise tracking and polar alignment, not even equatorial mounts • Less picture processing
Basic equipment • Telescope • Refractors • Newtonians, Dobs • SC
Basic equipment • Planetary camera • Cheap webcams • Planetary cameras • DSLR • Live view • Avoid high resolution video format, try to have 1:1 pixel resolution • Not possible with all DSLR cameras • Eyepiece projector
Basic software • Software • Capturing • Firecapture: http://www.firecapture.de/ • Backyard EOS: https://www.otelescope.com/store/category/2-backyardeos/ • Sharpcap: https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/ • Stacking (lucky imaging) • Autostakkert: https://www.autostakkert.com/ • Registax: https://www.astronomie.be/registax/ • Processing • Photoshop, PixInsight, etc
Optional equipment • Focuser • Tracking • Barlow • The optimal magnification will depend on the quality of seeing and camera pixel size • Eyepiece projection • Other software • PHD2, WinJupos, etc
Atmospheric conditions • Seeing and atmospheric stability • Close to the shore and humid • High pressure systems, right before a cold front • Nights with relatively stable temperatures • High in the sky if possible • Away from heated roof tops or asphalt • Close to dawn and twilight
General concepts • Acclimation • Collimation is key • Focusing • Stars, moons • Software • Adjust as needed, repeatedly
Capture of images in Firecapture • Set the size of the frame • Region of interest (ROI) • 640 x 480 pixels vs higher depending on size of the planet • If higher more memory and size of the frame, but resolution is similar • Turn gamma neutral (500 or unclick), may need to go up on gain • Adjust as needed, histogram about 1/3 – 2/3 of the way • Rate usually 30-50 fps, try to use fast rate if possible • Set duration • Consider rotation of the planet • Start capturing video
Rotation speed • Jupiter 1-2 min • Saturn 2-5 min • Mars 3-5 min
Stacking of images • Autostakkert for stacking • Registax for processing
Additional things to consider • Pixel size of the camera and magnification • Filters • Monochrome vs color
Magnification and pixel size • Magnify the image so that it is large enough to be sufficiently sampled by the pixel size in your camera to record fine details • How much to magnify will also depend on how good seeing is
Magnification and pixel size • Image scale of 0.25 arcsecs/pixel for very good seeing • Under excellent conditions up to 0.1-0.2 arcsecs/pixel • As a general rule f/ratio should be 3-7x pixel size • ZWO ASI 290 MC: 2.9 microns • Canon 70D 4.1 microns www.starizona.com http://celestialwonders.com/tool/imagescalecalc.html