How To Do High Resolution Planetary Astrophotograhy by Damian Peach

Taking high resolution photos of planets can be difficult, but renown planetary astrophotographer Damian Peach shares his tips on how to get the most out of your imaging.

During the Practical Astronomy Show 2019, held in Kettering, he gave his talk in the practice of high resolution astrophotography; encompassing information for beginners and higher levels alike. No doubt you'll find something informative within this lecture! Sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.

There are a couple of transitions within the video whilst I had to stop and restart the camera (limited movie length!) but since the audio was still recording; nothing has been lost! I hope you do forgive me.

The Practical Astronomy Show 2019 was an astronomy convention held in Kettering, Northamptonshire on the 9th March 2019. Vendors and accomplished individuals from the hobby were in attendance and talks were available from the likes of Paul Money (AstroSpace), Niels Haagh (TTS), Gary Palmer, Dr Robin Glover & Damian Peach. Suppliers such as Tring Astronomy, The Widescreen Centre, Rother Valley Optics, Altair Astro, 365 Astronomy and many more.

Contact:

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Current equipment:

Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro Belt Modded
QHYCCD Pole Master
Skywatcher Evostar 80ED Refractor
Skywatcher Explorer 150P-DS Reflector
Altair Astro Starwave 50mm Guide Scope
ToupTek ToupCam GCMOS Guide Camera
Bahtinov Masks
Astro-Modded Naked Sensor Canon 450D
Canon 760D
SkyTech CLS-CCD Clip-In Filter

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[Astrolavista]

I went to see a presentation by Damian a few years back, pulled up in the car park and a guy pulled up besides me in a real old banger, the engine sounded as rough as a badgers arse. I looked across and saw that it was Damian and immediately realised that he so committed to planetary imaging that he must spend all his money on it, rather than other things like cars. I do hope he has a new car by now though :) I've been a big fan of Damian ever since I saw his images actually capturing detail on the moons of Jupiter, simply amazing!

[hudecjohn]

This guy is the best, IMHO.
As an avid, tenured amateur astronomer, who's dabbled in astrophotography, I can tell you it's not easy! I have never seen an amateur produce results equal to his. To the point that some of my peers have questioned authenticity. And the fact that he does it with relatively modest equipment makes it all the more astonishing. Hats off to Mr. peach. Best in the biz in my book!

[brianreynolds]

Damian, you're a legend! Thanks for allowing this to appear! Following your lead, been following you for many years now. Vheers!

[michaelschnittker]

Terrific! Thank you! Damian's photos are indeed incredible and no doubt useful for serious analysis of Jupiter and Mars as professional astronomers don't have the scope time to monitor either on a constant basis. I think of the late Dr. Donald Parker who did so much early work with film and early CCD cameras, I am certain would be most happy to see Damian's work!

[gregmckay]

Excellent talk and amazing results by Damian. He is THE MAN when it comes to planetary imaging in my book.

[sjpp]

Great video, thanks for taking the time to record it and share it, Ruzeen. As a side comment, wow, just hauling a C14 out to the backyard must be quite an undertaking... let alone taking it overseas!

[jamesw]

Great presentation. Never tried it, but solar imaging, does the intensity not damage your scope and camera etc?

Lastly regarding dew heaters. I'm always told to let your scope (mak and SCT) down to ambient to reduce turbulence in the scope. How does this not happen heating the scope with a dew heater?

[corinlewis]

I'm happy that you had a great time imaging the planets from my island home Barbados, I would had been there this year but of Covid-19 virus, I didn't want to take risk of infecting my 85 year old mom. Hopefully I'll be back on the island in 2021🙂🌠

[galacticus]

One of the best amateur astrophotographers. His DVD's are excellent also.

[thorshammer]

I know I am a little late to this video but I just want to say THANK YOU! I am just starting out and am looking forward to learning.

[PCPointerDE]

I would not set the gain to high. Let's say you set gain to 70% and exposure for example 5ms. It will be very hard to remove the noise. It has to be a good balanced.

For example o set 15ms and gain of 50%. Than I get 60fps. With 55% gain and 12ms I get 80 fps. So this makes sense. To increase to 70% gain and only 10foa more would make no sense. So a good balance is the way. If you set maximum gain for Uranus or 70% for Jupiter it is also difficult to focus because you will not see the details with gain and resulting high noise. So it also needs a low noise camera for high gain.

And btw you can get double fps but have also to double stack images to get the same sharpness without noise.

[I_Spaced_Out]

I've been doing alignment points wrong in Autostakkert. I used to go with hundreds of small alignment points.

[stannickle]

Excellent video, I learned so much! Thanks for sharing this!

[kamalalzayer]

Thanks, for the perfect lecture . I have a Celestron 14 Edge HD too & a hyperstar . Should i use the hyperstar for planets photography ? You did not mention about R + IR filters for planets photography & Methan filters . I Have also 82 & 100 grads eye pieces & 2x & 3X Barlows + Zwo ASI 174 . Should I buy the R & IR filters for plants photography ? I live in Saudi Arabia ( VERY VERY HOT & HUMID ) do I need the Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector ? I do not have it . Thanks a lot

[gnagyusa]

Excellent useful info-filled talk! Thanks!

[SaereeNon]

Thank you very much for sharing this video. It's really helpful.

[davidthompson]

Excellent presentation, I learnt a lot.

[rudirakete]

hello, can i share this video on my german canell for the german astrophotographers? .i name the source and credits.

[kingsbishop]

26:56 I don’t want astronomy to be an unreliable hobby that is why I’m waiting on amateur adaptive optics hopefully the MATX adaptive optics will be useful.

[astronautintheocean]

Hello from Ukraine🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦. Damian is an example for all Astrophographers.