Planetary Imaging#
Planetary imaging is the process of using a telescope to produce an image of a planet, the moon, or other high magnification targets. The process is distinct from typical astrophotography in that, instead of taking several long exposures, many short exposures are taken and the best among them are summarily stacked to produce an image greater than the sum of its parts. A stacked planetary image results in a sharper result. This is typically referred to as “lucky imaging”.
Capture Techniques#
There are several methods to produce a planetary image, ranging from cheap and easy to expensive and time consuming. Typically, the choice is made for the astrophotographer: The untracked drift method, or any kind of equatorial tracking.
Drift#
The drift method relies on planetary imaging software such as PIPP to find the planet in any given frame, crop the image, and stack it with the rest of the frames.
Because the software automatically centers and crops the image, no tracking is required. This is an excellent choice for users of newtonians and most equatorial platforms.
Equatorial Tracking#
This method relies on a telescope mounted to either an equatorial platform or an equatorial mount. With accurate equatorial tracking, this can circumvent programs like PIPP since the planet does not change its position relative to the camera’s frame.
This ability to move straight from stacking to processing saves time, and is typically beneficial to the resultant image. It also allows higher relative image scale since the position in the frame does not move.
Processing#
An astrophotographer writes stuff about pipp and registaxx and AS!3
Gear#
Talk about how only your mount is good and the rest are bad