Planetary Beginnings

[taikiat]

New to this, appreciate any tips from the folks here! Since generally, my photos don't look that sharp.
Celestron 6SE
ASI 462 MC
PIPP + Autostakkert + Registax


17 Sep 2022 1239 am for the GRS
8 ms 70% of 14996 frames captured over 120s


Processed to bring out slightly more details.


16 Sep 2239
15 ms 70% of 4003 frames captured over 60s

By the way, I am pondering venturing into DSO photography as well. What's a recommended route to take without hurting the bank too much? Any way I can reuse my 6SE or ASI462MC?

Cheers!

[hhzhang]

WOW. These are literarily the best pics of the two planets I have ever seen from a 6in scope!

[taikiat]

Ah thanks! I was thinking if I have "milked" my scope to its limit. Could I sharpen more through focus? Play around with exposure and gain? More frames to stack or less? Or just wait for better seeing conditions?

[joachim.ong]

Great job, it's really quite fantastic for a 6 inch scope. I think you've nailed most of the process, so it'll mainly be down to seeing. Observing location has a huge impact on seeing too.

[taikiat]

Great job, it's really quite fantastic for a 6 inch scope. I think you've nailed most of the process, so it'll mainly be down to seeing. Observing location has a huge impact on seeing too.

oh yessss, any dark sites to recommend? i got one but there were wild dogs around haha... abit worried

[joachim.ong]

I feel it's not much use to find "dark" sites in sg because you can't really escape the light pollution. Anyway for planets, light makes absolutely no difference to the view because they are so bright. A good location for planetary will be somewhere open, away from tall buildings and other heat sources. Anecdotal experience but I think the seeing is much steadier away from HDB estates, like east coast park, changi.

[taikiat]

ah i was considering embarking on dsos with a 80mm refractor. but im going easy on the budget first so just asking around. if LP in SG really prohibits DSO photography then ill back off for now hehe

[joachim.ong]

Oh for deep sky astrophotography light pollution is a problem, but not as bad as for visual because it can be mitigated if you have long integration times or large aperture. And then of course there are filters which is a rabbit hole of itself. I think it really depends on your expectations. If you just want some simple pictures of brighter objects like planetary nebulae, there could be much joy in working with your current equipment, maybe add a reducer. The low read noise of the 462 means you can afford to take shorter exposures too.