HowManyPicturesHaveWeTaken Loc: CO

I know about image stacking, but what kind of camera (without getting ridiculous) should you use ?

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

Planetary imaging, particularly if you're trying to get any sort of surface features, is a combination of camera and long focal length. I've always considered a focal length less than about 4000mm to be sorta useless for planetary; however, if all you're simply looking for is Jupiter and a few of its moons, a regular DLSR/mirrorless camera and a 500mm+/- lens is more than adequate.

If you're really going after planets in a serious fashion, you're going to be shooting video with a dedicated astro-camera. The idea being 'lucky imaging' where you'll get a few good frames out of several thousand frames of video, i.e.: catching the planet when the atmosphere is relatively stable.

As for cameras, I use a QHY 462C, QHY 163M, SVBONY 205C, Pt. Grey Chameleon (M) and a Sony A7R V (shooting 8K video). I think most serious planetary imagers prefer a mono camera and filterwheel, i.e.: the way my QHY 163M is configured; however, that introduces a whole new level of cost and processing.

I've attached a few field-of-view images for various cameras... My preference for quick 'n dirty planetary, solar and lunar imaging is the QHY 462C if I want to go to the trouble of using a laptop at my scope; otherwise, I just use the Sony A7R V.

Enjoy!

bwa

Jupiter-Bresser MC-100, 3x Barlow, QHY163M (4200mm)


Jupiter-Bresser MC-100, 3x Barlow, QHY462C (4200mm)


Jupiter-Bresser MC-100, 5x Barlow, Pt.Grey Chameleon (7000mm)


Jupiter-Sony A7 III (Crop Mode), FE200-600 lens @ 600mm, 1.4x Teleconverter (840mm)