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planetary imaging with a 4" refractor?

Started by scottfromcolorado, 10/01/2009 06:18PM
Posted 10/01/2009 06:18PM Opening Post
I've had reasonable success doing deep-sky imaging with a StellarVue SV102EDT refractor and a DSLR, and would like to try my hand at lunar and planetary imaging using high-frame-rate video with postprocessing as shown in this forum.

It seems debatable whetehr this is feasible using a small-aperture (102 mm) refractor because there may not be enough light gathering to support a 4x PowerMate and a webcam.

What are your thoughts on this? Are there specific camera choices that should be sought or avoided to make this work?

Thanks for any help!
Scott

Scott Denning
Fort Collins, CO
[email protected]

Posted 10/01/2009 11:46PM #1
I think its quite feasible. The light per pixel
will only depend on the F-ratio. If you stay
around F/20 to F/30 like everyone else, you'll
be fine. You just won't resolve as much detail
as a 10" or 14". The usual webcams / DMK /
Lumenera cameras should be OK.