Hey, Kyle, when I was a kid in the 60s, I got SKY AND TELESCOPE magazine. The best photos by even the big scopes didn't have the detail you have here. If you saw a film of Jupiter, it was grainy. I was very impressed. TY for posting.
Just came across your channel. This is such an amazing video. The detail you captured was incredible. I've been thinking about getting one of the Nexstar scopes. Instant subscribe.
Pretty great. My favorite part was the plane caused atmospheric turbulence. Really demonstrated how fragile our views are. Going to view your process video now.
Damn, nice! Just ordered this scope on Prime day last night. Gets here tomorrow for some visual observing mainly. Will definitely binge some of your content tonight!
This is one of my big things too. Making GIFs with my Jupiter images with my 5" Maksutov. This next few years Saturn will be doing the same due to the ring plane being edge on. Got my gear all ready. All i need now is for you lot to send some of that hot weather over to us in England. Everybody please turn your air-con to the East. :)
Nice! It should be prime time for Eclipses and transits on Saturn during near edge-on too! And be careful what you wish for 😅. We're all burning up. The hurricane and cold front brought things down a little bit though.
Your results look fantastic. So, you used TWO separate Barlows in series? Did you need to add any extension tubes for proper focusing? I take it that Jupiter's view was rotated by the Alt-Az mount not tracking as an EQ mount would. How long was your "filming session"? My system is in the works and from what you have done/shown, I can't wait to get started. Thanks again....
Thanks! And yes it was two 2x barlows in serial, no extention tubes required. Jupiter was in-between 40 & 60 degrees above the horizon. I would note though that I don't think I can shoot above 75 without a collision of the camera and mount in my current configuration. And yes, the additional rotation was due to it being an AltAz. As for the session durations, they were typically 3 - 4 hours. Best of luck!
What eyepiece are you using? Your pictures are showing more detail and are clearer than I am getting with my 8" Orion Dobsonian. Great shots. Thank you!
I'm not actually using eyepiece projection. This is direct focus (but not prime focus since I'm using two 2x barlows). And thanks! I'm fortunate enough to catch some seeing. You can certainly see what excellent vs OK seeing is between the 2nd io & ganymede.
One more question Kyle. How did Autostakkert handle the motion of Jupiter and the moon? Did it "confuse" the stacking operation? My 8SE and ASI224 will be here Monday and I know experience is the best teacher but I really do appreciate your comments on how you tie all this S together so I can get up to speed a bit quicker.... With the results as you have obtained, you have to be as happy as a clam ;-) P.S. Can you share your capture speed - FPS and other pertinent info when you recorded your raw data? MUCH thanks again.... Hank
How did Autostakkert handle the motion of Jupiter and the moon? Did it "confuse" the stacking operation? > It handled it well. As long as it has its own alignment points on it then it's good. Maye have to tune the size & brightness of the alignment point selection to make sure it works though. Good to hear you're joining the hobby, and best of luck! I am indeed very happy with the continuing good results: First Jupiter & Saturn, and more recently the ISS and Mars (Will have a video on the ISS shortly, but it's a bit of a risky route lol). I am personally actually bumping up against the optical limit of my scope (With 2 2x Barlows which dillute the light but increase resolution) for some of the planetary. I was finding that for Jupiter with a healthy histogram, I was actually constrained by my exposure time, not my the data rate on my camera/USB. That was roughly 30 fps on a 600x600 resolution (though that size varied depending on if I was doing moons). For Mars however, I got red saturation at a much shorter exposure and also could crop much tighter. For Mars, my acquisition rate was more like 60 - 70 fps. I don't recall the direct exposure numbers but they are really histogram driven so they aren't something you really dial in. *If you are able to get higher framerates though, you could cut back on the AutoStakkert Frame %* If you are able to get FireCapture working with Autoguiding working, that can be incredibly convenient as you don't have to make periodic corrections. I, unfortunately, haven't been able to nail that down yet and thus have been keeping to SharpCap, which I find a bit simpler to use. Keep looking up and keep your eyes out for good forecasts for seeing conditions!
I own a ursa major dobsonian 6, I am thinking of getting the celestron 6se as I can barley make any details out on jupiter, will the details be a sharp as you get here when the image changes with the naked eye or is that more what your camera has done?
Its probably two things: the Camera/data processing and the Seeing. The camera lets me take only the sharpest frames from a video recording and combine them into a final image with clearer signal. The seeing is super critical in that bad seeing absolutely destroys the views by making everything fuzzy. I have made it a point to aim for those days with good seeing. But on a different note, your naked eye view should be comparable to my live-view. Before each timelapse, I do a lead-in with that live-view. So that ought to be the point of comparison given the same Seeing Conditions. While the tracking of the 6se might help you capitalize in better seeing by making following the target easier, I wouldn't think that the individual views themselves would actually be better. So l would hold off any telescope purchases and instead try to do tests with good seeing or maybe invest in a planetary camera instead.
The biggest difference was actually the seeing. I had tuned some minor parameters like my video duration per frame and my post processing, but the real kicker was simply that the atmosphere was still. Since it was still I both had a sharper target and a better opportunity to get a crisp focus.
It looks like the shimmery clips before everything is sharpenned up, like at the 40 seconds, 48 seconds or 1:27 for example. The day to day views will depend on the atmospheric seeing though, so do also bear in mind that I am typically using the scope in above average conditions.
Would you recommend the extra money for the 8SE? I also have been seeing some comments regarding the instability of the mount, so I am kind of undecided. Awesome shots by the way!
I think if you can stomach the slight decrease to portability, then I'd think it's probably worth it. But admittedly, I haven't dug into any instability stuff with the 8.
Hey I have another question. With my modded 130slt with a 2x barlow it can’t get to focus, did this happen to you? I know you used two 2x barlows ,by doing that can I get focus?
After you perform the mod on the 130slt, the focus point with a dslr will be near the most inward point if the range. For eyepieces, the focus point will be at the outer end of the range. On certain barlow-eyepiece configurations, you may have to put the eyepiece in, but only seat it about 90% of the way. Fortunately, we have quite a bit of flexibility going further out while still remaining safe & stable.
Visual Astronomy is a little bit different. What your eye sees will be better than the live-view from a camera, but the processed data from the camera will be better than the live view with the eye. The blurrier images shown before the sharpening and timelapse kick in are the live views as captured by the camera. So I hope that's fairly informative for what the 6se is capable of for visual? Yeah the 8se is going to perform better, but I'm not sure what your bar for quality is specifically but maybe that helps?
Its a tough call, but ultimately should be about what your using it for. The short version: the Dob is going to be a much better, albeit more manual visual astronomy option owed to its larger aperture. Meanwhile, the 6SE is more friendly for light astrophotography (mostly just planetary unless you get s focal reducer). The long version: the 8" aperture is objectively way better for light gathering, but the dobsonian mount is not for everybody. While you get a more classical experience with the dobsonian, it does take more attention i.e. you have to track and find stuff without assistance. Because of this, longer form video, like the planetary animations that I sometimes do, are muuuuch more difficult on a dob. Your individual frames though would look marginally better. Theres also the always true statement of "The best telescope is the one you use the most" so you should bear in mind transportation and setup of the scope (if you aren't just on your porch/balcony). So while the 8" would be optically superior, you may have a different use preference that may fit the 6se better. Up to you though obviously. And on that note, I love the used market for telescopes. There are tons that people have bought and never used again and thus are in mint condition. You can get a steal if you live in a big area and are patient about it. Just do all your research and I'm sure you'll make a good descision!
@@kylemccaslin Thanks for the long response, that’s what I plan on doing is buying from the used market. I’m so conflicted since the 6se can automatically track to planets, messiers, etc. but the dob can absorb more light. One more question, could you use a dob for astrophotography? Clearly the 6se can and is pretty well at it.
You can see something similar to the Live-View using an eyepiece, i.e. that part in the video where Jupiter is shimmery before sharpening up and starting to rotate. That's given similar conditions though, so do bear in mind that I typically wait for above average seeing conditions before going out to image. Depending on your location (mostly latitude) those may be rather frequent or quite rare.
Man you got some awesome shots. I wish I could also. I'm 49 now and have wanted to get into astrophotography for years . Evidently I'm a dumbass. I have a celestron 8se nexstar and a nikon dslr 7000. Either my camera is a dud or I'm just stupid. Now I do have an insidious autoimmune that attacks the entire body but my brain, my spinal cord and peripheral nerves , oh and my eye's have been majorly affected. I went blind suddenly without warning while driving home from work one night. Thank God with the big G for helping me get pulled off the road and into a gas station where a guy and girl I know helped me inside and called wife. I've had this disease for decades I was told for it to be so severe, anyhow, if you or whoever reads this can say a prayer for me I'd appreciate it more than you can imagine....now to my issues with my set up so I can get some planetary pictures . Any helpful hints or pointers would help. But communicate them as if you're talking to an idiot because sometimes my brain is like mush with a great void where my intellect and my personality once was. I'm not like this all the time but I am at times and it makes me feel like I'm in a black hole that sucks me deeper in and it takes more time to claw my way back out. Could you possibly give me a detailed description on how to set my camera up and what type of lens I'd need. Thanks for hearing me out. Oh I almost forgot. I have a Samsung s20 ultra I bought new 2 years ago. Do they make reliable mounting hardware ware for my phone and could it be actually better than the nikon 7000 I have. I have wanted to take photos of the night sky since my preteen years alas I'm 49 now. Any advice is highly appreciated!!! Thanks Mark from western North Carolina
Hey Mark, Thanks for the compliments, and I'm sure you can get some good shots as well. Do hang in there. It sounds like you've been through alot and I wish you the best with your autoimmune troubles. It sounds like you have a loving wife, supportive community, and by your profile picture - an awesome dog. That's sometimes all we can ask for. For the Planetary Astrophotography, I've got a generic video about what I do: ua-cam.com/video/TbRpI5Y1jPA/v-deo.html but also want to offer some pointers more specific to your case. A.) If you want to attach your camera to your Telescope, you will need a T-Ring and possibly a T-Adapter. The T-Ring screws into your camera the same as a camera lens and allows you to use adapters to hook it up like you would an eyepiece. In fact, if you use a camera, you often do not need an eye piece, this is the case in my setup. Instead of using a camera "lens", the entire telescope acts as the lens. For getting images, we actually use Videos, then extract the best frames using software. We then stack those best frames into images like those shown in my video. So with your Nikon, you could shoot using the Video Mode, or use software to capture the live preview from the Camera's LCD. Both of these should be perfectly alright options for getting decent pictures of the planets. I am personally using a dedicated "Astronomy Camera" which is more like a webcam, but don't think it's necessary for those starting out, especially if you already have a camera. B.) However, if you would instead like to use your smartphone, you instead may want to use "Eyepiece Projection" which is just a fancy way of saying "use an eyepiece just like if you were doing visual astronomy, but instead of your eye, use your phone". This is also an alright option, but the smartphone mounts can get a bit finicky to set up consistently and optimally. I would probably recommend the Nikon, though admittedly have not done any phone mounted astronomy in a very long time. It could be good? I don't really know. Some other videos may have more insight on that. C.) Whichever way you select for your camera, one key part of everyone's planetary setup is the use of "Barlow Lenses". These "Barlow Lenses" increase your magnification by some multiple, normally 2x. For my images, I am using two 2x Barlows. You can use too many as there is a optical limit to the telescope, but normally going 4x is near that limit. These Barlows are normally quite cheap, and you don't need the expensive models, just so long as it is "Multi-coated" you should be good. D.) I mentioned Videos and extracting the best frames before. This is because trying to get a good picture is a struggle against the environmental conditions. The atmosphere has alot of moving air, and air at different temperatures between you and the planet. All of those differences may make the view/image of the planet fuzzy, even if you have a crisp focus. However, there will be small snippets of "good" views. So taking videos lets us only grab those good views and discard the bad distorted ones. But still, there is only so much this can do. For the best images, you should keep an eye on the forecast. I like to use ClearSkyChart. The "Seeing" and "Cloud Cover" are the most important E.) For the Software, I typically use AutoStakkert for converting videos to images, and then Registax for detail extraction. Part of the video that I linked earlier covers how to use these. Alternatively, there is also another tool called AstroSurface which combines these software, though I haven't used it. F.) I also have another video about What Goes into a Good Planetary Image", that may have some more explanations or tips, though admittedly, that was before I started really getting my good images. ua-cam.com/video/O9KbZVcKL2E/v-deo.html Others will also have plenty of tips and are generally happy to answer questions as we are all pretty supportive of people getting into it. I hope that makes sense and that you find it helpful. If you have any additionaly questions, feel free to ask! Though I can't promise that I'll get back to you as quickly as I did here. Within a week for sure though.
@@kylemccaslin ....thanks for the reply my man this should help Mr out a lot . I do appreciate you taking your time to reply. I'll let you know how it goes.
I did not. I was shooting at or near opposition though so it was pretty high in the sky. Personally, I don't think atmospheric dispersion is really a significant concern unless you are shooting something under 30°
Superb! Amazing quality with your rig!
Hey, Kyle, when I was a kid in the 60s, I got SKY AND TELESCOPE magazine. The best photos by even the big scopes didn't have the detail you have here. If you saw a film of Jupiter, it was grainy. I was very impressed. TY for posting.
Just came across your channel. This is such an amazing video. The detail you captured was incredible. I've been thinking about getting one of the Nexstar scopes. Instant subscribe.
I really enjoyed the show--great job!
Your videos are giving me a lot of hope that when i get my celestron 8SE i will be able one day to achieve these amazing results too!!
Pretty great. My favorite part was the plane caused atmospheric turbulence. Really demonstrated how fragile our views are. Going to view your process video now.
Jeez, your videos deserve more views. So impressive! 👍
Thanks! Just gotta keep creating and hope I get discovered
Damn, nice! Just ordered this scope on Prime day last night. Gets here tomorrow for some visual observing mainly. Will definitely binge some of your content tonight!
Nice and good luck! And if you do want to dip into astrophotography, there are some fairly cheap cameras too!
How was it?
Awesome work as always Kyle. Man I really need to upgrade my rig. I'm still using the 130slt myself.
Nice video Kyle. Thanks for posting it. 😊
Thanks!
Very well done! 👏
Thank you!
Wonderful work! I wish I could get a view of jupiter but its cloudy here where I live and my 130 SLT cant slew up and down very well
This is one of my big things too. Making GIFs with my Jupiter images with my 5" Maksutov. This next few years Saturn will be doing the same due to the ring plane being edge on.
Got my gear all ready. All i need now is for you lot to send some of that hot weather over to us in England. Everybody please turn your air-con to the East. :)
Nice! It should be prime time for Eclipses and transits on Saturn during near edge-on too!
And be careful what you wish for 😅. We're all burning up. The hurricane and cold front brought things down a little bit though.
Your results look fantastic. So, you used TWO separate Barlows in series? Did you need to add any extension tubes for proper focusing? I take it that Jupiter's view was rotated by the Alt-Az mount not tracking as an EQ mount would. How long was your "filming session"? My system is in the works and from what you have done/shown, I can't wait to get started. Thanks again....
Thanks! And yes it was two 2x barlows in serial, no extention tubes required. Jupiter was in-between 40 & 60 degrees above the horizon. I would note though that I don't think I can shoot above 75 without a collision of the camera and mount in my current configuration.
And yes, the additional rotation was due to it being an AltAz.
As for the session durations, they were typically 3 - 4 hours.
Best of luck!
What eyepiece are you using? Your pictures are showing more detail and are clearer than I am getting with my 8" Orion Dobsonian. Great shots. Thank you!
I'm not actually using eyepiece projection. This is direct focus (but not prime focus since I'm using two 2x barlows).
And thanks! I'm fortunate enough to catch some seeing. You can certainly see what excellent vs OK seeing is between the 2nd io & ganymede.
@@kylemccaslin Thank you Kyle for that info.
One more question Kyle. How did Autostakkert handle the motion of Jupiter and the moon? Did it "confuse" the stacking operation? My 8SE and ASI224 will be here Monday and I know experience is the best teacher but I really do appreciate your comments on how you tie all this S together so I can get up to speed a bit quicker.... With the results as you have obtained, you have to be as happy as a clam ;-) P.S. Can you share your capture speed - FPS and other pertinent info when you recorded your raw data? MUCH thanks again.... Hank
How did Autostakkert handle the motion of Jupiter and the moon? Did it "confuse" the stacking operation?
> It handled it well. As long as it has its own alignment points on it then it's good. Maye have to tune the size & brightness of the alignment point selection to make sure it works though.
Good to hear you're joining the hobby, and best of luck! I am indeed very happy with the continuing good results: First Jupiter & Saturn, and more recently the ISS and Mars (Will have a video on the ISS shortly, but it's a bit of a risky route lol).
I am personally actually bumping up against the optical limit of my scope (With 2 2x Barlows which dillute the light but increase resolution) for some of the planetary. I was finding that for Jupiter with a healthy histogram, I was actually constrained by my exposure time, not my the data rate on my camera/USB. That was roughly 30 fps on a 600x600 resolution (though that size varied depending on if I was doing moons). For Mars however, I got red saturation at a much shorter exposure and also could crop much tighter. For Mars, my acquisition rate was more like 60 - 70 fps. I don't recall the direct exposure numbers but they are really histogram driven so they aren't something you really dial in.
*If you are able to get higher framerates though, you could cut back on the AutoStakkert Frame %*
If you are able to get FireCapture working with Autoguiding working, that can be incredibly convenient as you don't have to make periodic corrections. I, unfortunately, haven't been able to nail that down yet and thus have been keeping to SharpCap, which I find a bit simpler to use.
Keep looking up and keep your eyes out for good forecasts for seeing conditions!
I own a ursa major dobsonian 6, I am thinking of getting the celestron 6se as I can barley make any details out on jupiter, will the details be a sharp as you get here when the image changes with the naked eye or is that more what your camera has done?
Its probably two things: the Camera/data processing and the Seeing.
The camera lets me take only the sharpest frames from a video recording and combine them into a final image with clearer signal.
The seeing is super critical in that bad seeing absolutely destroys the views by making everything fuzzy. I have made it a point to aim for those days with good seeing.
But on a different note, your naked eye view should be comparable to my live-view. Before each timelapse, I do a lead-in with that live-view. So that ought to be the point of comparison given the same Seeing Conditions.
While the tracking of the 6se might help you capitalize in better seeing by making following the target easier, I wouldn't think that the individual views themselves would actually be better. So l would hold off any telescope purchases and instead try to do tests with good seeing or maybe invest in a planetary camera instead.
@@kylemccaslin thank you for your reply
Im curious as to what you did differently between the first two shots and the third shot of jupiter.
The biggest difference was actually the seeing. I had tuned some minor parameters like my video duration per frame and my post processing, but the real kicker was simply that the atmosphere was still. Since it was still I both had a sharper target and a better opportunity to get a crisp focus.
@@kylemccaslin Had no idea seeing made such a large difference. Thanks.
What does Jupiter look like directly in the 6SE compared to these computer enhanced videos?
It looks like the shimmery clips before everything is sharpenned up, like at the 40 seconds, 48 seconds or 1:27 for example. The day to day views will depend on the atmospheric seeing though, so do also bear in mind that I am typically using the scope in above average conditions.
Would you recommend the extra money for the 8SE? I also have been seeing some comments regarding the instability of the mount, so I am kind of undecided. Awesome shots by the way!
I think if you can stomach the slight decrease to portability, then I'd think it's probably worth it. But admittedly, I haven't dug into any instability stuff with the 8.
Hey, the link to the IR cut filter in the description leads to a telescope. Could you please fix that?
Woops! Thanks for pointing that out. I'll fix it when I get home.
Hey I have another question. With my modded 130slt with a 2x barlow it can’t get to focus, did this happen to you? I know you used two 2x barlows ,by doing that can I get focus?
He used a software to get a clear image
After you perform the mod on the 130slt, the focus point with a dslr will be near the most inward point if the range. For eyepieces, the focus point will be at the outer end of the range.
On certain barlow-eyepiece configurations, you may have to put the eyepiece in, but only seat it about 90% of the way. Fortunately, we have quite a bit of flexibility going further out while still remaining safe & stable.
So if the 6se can do this, should I upgrade to a 8se ? Will the 6se fill my needs for regular eye observing ?
Visual Astronomy is a little bit different. What your eye sees will be better than the live-view from a camera, but the processed data from the camera will be better than the live view with the eye.
The blurrier images shown before the sharpening and timelapse kick in are the live views as captured by the camera.
So I hope that's fairly informative for what the 6se is capable of for visual? Yeah the 8se is going to perform better, but I'm not sure what your bar for quality is specifically but maybe that helps?
I’m conflicted on getting a 8 inch dob or a 6se. Which one should I get?
Its a tough call, but ultimately should be about what your using it for.
The short version: the Dob is going to be a much better, albeit more manual visual astronomy option owed to its larger aperture. Meanwhile, the 6SE is more friendly for light astrophotography (mostly just planetary unless you get s focal reducer).
The long version: the 8" aperture is objectively way better for light gathering, but the dobsonian mount is not for everybody. While you get a more classical experience with the dobsonian, it does take more attention i.e. you have to track and find stuff without assistance. Because of this, longer form video, like the planetary animations that I sometimes do, are muuuuch more difficult on a dob. Your individual frames though would look marginally better. Theres also the always true statement of "The best telescope is the one you use the most" so you should bear in mind transportation and setup of the scope (if you aren't just on your porch/balcony). So while the 8" would be optically superior, you may have a different use preference that may fit the 6se better. Up to you though obviously.
And on that note, I love the used market for telescopes. There are tons that people have bought and never used again and thus are in mint condition. You can get a steal if you live in a big area and are patient about it.
Just do all your research and I'm sure you'll make a good descision!
@@kylemccaslin Thanks for the long response, that’s what I plan on doing is buying from the used market. I’m so conflicted since the 6se can automatically track to planets, messiers, etc. but the dob can absorb more light. One more question, could you use a dob for astrophotography? Clearly the 6se can and is pretty well at it.
For planetary Imaging should I get a Celestron nexstar 6 SE or 8 SE?
The 8se is the better due to the bigger aperture. So if the slight price increase isn't a big deal, I'd go 8se
Thanks for the quick response
Hi may I ask can I see this using 6slt with my eye?
You can see something similar to the Live-View using an eyepiece, i.e. that part in the video where Jupiter is shimmery before sharpening up and starting to rotate. That's given similar conditions though, so do bear in mind that I typically wait for above average seeing conditions before going out to image. Depending on your location (mostly latitude) those may be rather frequent or quite rare.
@@kylemccaslin thank you
Man you got some awesome shots. I wish I could also. I'm 49 now and have wanted to get into astrophotography for years . Evidently I'm a dumbass. I have a celestron 8se nexstar and a nikon dslr 7000. Either my camera is a dud or I'm just stupid. Now I do have an insidious autoimmune that attacks the entire body but my brain, my spinal cord and peripheral nerves , oh and my eye's have been majorly affected. I went blind suddenly without warning while driving home from work one night. Thank God with the big G for helping me get pulled off the road and into a gas station where a guy and girl I know helped me inside and called wife. I've had this disease for decades I was told for it to be so severe, anyhow, if you or whoever reads this can say a prayer for me I'd appreciate it more than you can imagine....now to my issues with my set up so I can get some planetary pictures . Any helpful hints or pointers would help. But communicate them as if you're talking to an idiot because sometimes my brain is like mush with a great void where my intellect and my personality once was. I'm not like this all the time but I am at times and it makes me feel like I'm in a black hole that sucks me deeper in and it takes more time to claw my way back out. Could you possibly give me a detailed description on how to set my camera up and what type of lens I'd need. Thanks for hearing me out. Oh I almost forgot. I have a Samsung s20 ultra I bought new 2 years ago. Do they make reliable mounting hardware ware for my phone and could it be actually better than the nikon 7000 I have. I have wanted to take photos of the night sky since my preteen years alas I'm 49 now. Any advice is highly appreciated!!! Thanks Mark from western North Carolina
Hey Mark,
Thanks for the compliments, and I'm sure you can get some good shots as well.
Do hang in there. It sounds like you've been through alot and I wish you the best with your autoimmune troubles. It sounds like you have a loving wife, supportive community, and by your profile picture - an awesome dog. That's sometimes all we can ask for.
For the Planetary Astrophotography, I've got a generic video about what I do:
ua-cam.com/video/TbRpI5Y1jPA/v-deo.html
but also want to offer some pointers more specific to your case.
A.) If you want to attach your camera to your Telescope, you will need a T-Ring and possibly a T-Adapter. The T-Ring screws into your camera the same as a camera lens and allows you to use adapters to hook it up like you would an eyepiece. In fact, if you use a camera, you often do not need an eye piece, this is the case in my setup. Instead of using a camera "lens", the entire telescope acts as the lens. For getting images, we actually use Videos, then extract the best frames using software. We then stack those best frames into images like those shown in my video. So with your Nikon, you could shoot using the Video Mode, or use software to capture the live preview from the Camera's LCD. Both of these should be perfectly alright options for getting decent pictures of the planets. I am personally using a dedicated "Astronomy Camera" which is more like a webcam, but don't think it's necessary for those starting out, especially if you already have a camera.
B.) However, if you would instead like to use your smartphone, you instead may want to use "Eyepiece Projection" which is just a fancy way of saying "use an eyepiece just like if you were doing visual astronomy, but instead of your eye, use your phone". This is also an alright option, but the smartphone mounts can get a bit finicky to set up consistently and optimally. I would probably recommend the Nikon, though admittedly have not done any phone mounted astronomy in a very long time. It could be good? I don't really know. Some other videos may have more insight on that.
C.) Whichever way you select for your camera, one key part of everyone's planetary setup is the use of "Barlow Lenses". These "Barlow Lenses" increase your magnification by some multiple, normally 2x. For my images, I am using two 2x Barlows. You can use too many as there is a optical limit to the telescope, but normally going 4x is near that limit. These Barlows are normally quite cheap, and you don't need the expensive models, just so long as it is "Multi-coated" you should be good.
D.) I mentioned Videos and extracting the best frames before. This is because trying to get a good picture is a struggle against the environmental conditions. The atmosphere has alot of moving air, and air at different temperatures between you and the planet. All of those differences may make the view/image of the planet fuzzy, even if you have a crisp focus. However, there will be small snippets of "good" views. So taking videos lets us only grab those good views and discard the bad distorted ones. But still, there is only so much this can do. For the best images, you should keep an eye on the forecast. I like to use ClearSkyChart. The "Seeing" and "Cloud Cover" are the most important
E.) For the Software, I typically use AutoStakkert for converting videos to images, and then Registax for detail extraction. Part of the video that I linked earlier covers how to use these. Alternatively, there is also another tool called AstroSurface which combines these software, though I haven't used it.
F.) I also have another video about What Goes into a Good Planetary Image", that may have some more explanations or tips, though admittedly, that was before I started really getting my good images.
ua-cam.com/video/O9KbZVcKL2E/v-deo.html
Others will also have plenty of tips and are generally happy to answer questions as we are all pretty supportive of people getting into it.
I hope that makes sense and that you find it helpful. If you have any additionaly questions, feel free to ask! Though I can't promise that I'll get back to you as quickly as I did here. Within a week for sure though.
@@kylemccaslin ....thanks for the reply my man this should help Mr out a lot . I do appreciate you taking your time to reply. I'll let you know how it goes.
My Orion 8 skyquest Newtonian will blow any scat away any time
A lack of etiquette don't you think? Bad-mouthing other people's gear. Especially since your channel is as empty as space itself.
@@bazpearce9993 dony you worry about what i say
What eyepiece did you use?
No eyepieces, just barlows and direct focus with the camera
something passed in front at minute 2:24-2:25
Did you use any adc
I did not. I was shooting at or near opposition though so it was pretty high in the sky. Personally, I don't think atmospheric dispersion is really a significant concern unless you are shooting something under 30°
@@kylemccaslin that’s great to know
Kein Planet