SharpCap Forums

I am using EQMOD, stellarium and sharpcap, and have an EQ6-R-Pro mount. I also will be using ASTAP for plate solving (through sharpcap). Is it possible to use ASTAP plate solving while doing planetary imaging, or is plate solving strictly for deep sky objects? I was thinking that if it can be used for planetary imaging, it could come in useful when trying to find Neptune, Uranus and Pluto which are hard to otherwise find (for me anyway!).

Also, general question about using EQMOD while doing planetary imaging. I see there is an option in EQMOD to choose sidereal, lunar or solar tracking. Which should I be using for planetary imaging - lunar? Or, does it matter which I choose?

Hi,

you can definitely use plate solving for the purpose of finding the planets - use Stellarium to tell the mount to GOTO Neptune (for instance), adjust camera settings to show a good number of stars, do a 'plate solve and resync' and the adjustment should put Neptune in the center of the field of view. You can now adjust the camera settings to ones for planetary imaging. The only potential problem here is that for planetary you tend to use a long focal length telescope, which has a narrow field of view, which naturally makes plate solving harder.

For tracking, use the solar rate when imaging the sun, the lunar rate for the moon and sidereal for planets (they move too slowly to need their own rates)

cheers,

Robin

Thanks Robin - I am anxious to try this out.