Simple questions from a beginner

[gcorniani_br]

Hello everybody abs thank you for this nice forum. I am starting on astronomy and I have a Celestron Nextstar 6SLT telescope (6” -150mm Schmidt Cassegrain optical tube).

I already was able to take nice pictures from the moon and Jupiter. But I have a lot of questions and I will star with two basics one:
1- when I focus on Jupiter, for example, it keeps moving out from my eyepiece. I am assuming that this is because the movement of earth and Jupiter, right? So I need to keeping refinding it every few seconds…right?
2- to take nice pictures of the planets is best to use a DSLR camera or a Svbony Telescope Camera CMOS 8M ?

Thanks for your support!

[turboscrew]

The earth tends to turn away from Jupiter (and other planets and stars) and then back, in about 24 hours.
I don't know much about AP (at least yet), but I'd think that the planet images are usually quite small, so the camera, with smaller pixels might be better.

[Graeme1858]

Hello gcorniani

It's always a bit of a surprise how fast things move out of an eyepiece view! What type of mount is your telescope on?

As for cameras, do you have either a DSLR or a Svbony yet? Which is best would depend on the model and quality.

Welcome to the forum.

Regards

Graeme

[Butterfly Maiden]

Hello gcorniani_br and welcome to the Forum.

There are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful members on this Forum, who will be able to guide you on your journey through the stars.

Do not be afraid to ask. No questions are silly.

[JayTee]

Jupiter's motion is not noticeable over the short time span you are referencing. What you are witnessing is purely the Earth's rotation. Either one of those cameras will work, use the one that's easiest for you.

Cheers

[gcorniani_br]

Thank you all for the replies. Answering the question made by you:
I do have the svbony sv205 camera and I was thinking in get a DSLR camera if it better. But, again: I do not know if a DSLR camera will give more details pictures that my current svbony sv205.
Question about my mount: I do not know which kind it is. It came with my Celestron SLT. It is not an equatorial mount, this I know.

Thanks

[Graeme1858]

Question about my mount: I do not know which kind it is. It came with my Celestron SLT. It is not an equatorial mount, this I know.

The Celestron SLT will automatically track the apparent movement of celestial objects.

My advice would be to get used to using it visually before you put your Svbony camera on it.

Regards

Graeme

[KathyNS]

When your mount is properly aligned, it will track objects in the sky by itself. Not well enough for long-exposure deep sky astrophotography, but certainly enough for visual viewing, and even short exposure planetary photography.

Read up in the manual about aligning the mount.

[helicon]

Hi and Welcome to the Forums.

[Bigzmey]

Welcome on board Gcorniani. You have a nice scope there. SLT mount should track targets quite reliably.

Make sure that:
1) The right date/time, coordinates and altitude of your location are set as accurately as possible in your handset.
2) You are using good external power source. If you run it off AA batteries the accuracy of tracking is not as good.
3) Level your mount as best as you can.
4) Balance the scope.
5) Do proper two star alignment following the instructions. It is better to use bright stars rather than Moon or planets for alignment.

[mikemarotta]

Hello everybody abs thank you for this nice forum. I am starting on astronomy and I have a Celestron Nextstar 6SLT telescope (6” -150mm Schmidt Cassegrain optical tube).
I already was able to take nice pictures from the moon and Jupiter. But... So I need to keeping refinding it every few seconds…right?

I went to the Celestron website to read the specifications.
https://www.celestron.com/products/nexstar-6slt

As Graeme1858 and KathyNS noted, your motorized, computerized mount will track and hold position once it is properly aligned.
I have a different Celestron product but similar in many ways. Allow me to suggest that you do more than two stars, four if you can.

(Just for one thing, smart as the software is, the fact remains that it takes three points to plot a conic section curve like a circle or an ellipse. So, give your telescope all the data it needs.)

Also the stars you select should be far from the North Pole (Polaris) and close or the the Ecliptic or the Equator. The Ecliptic is the path of the Zodiac. It is not easy with the Celestron software, but you have to know the stars by their Arabic names and where to find them. That means spending time with star charts planning your session outdoors.

I know that we all want this to be like channel surfing the television, but it is more like flying an airplane, and pilots spend as much time or more planning the flight as they do flying.

Also, the advice here to get used to your telescope before attemting photography is very sound. You have to walk before you can run. I have been doing this for a number of years and with my new computerized Celestron mount, I devoted daylight time indoors before four nights outdoors just learning the menu.

Final piece of advice here and now: NEVER give the telescope a command unless you have control of the OFF switch. Your SLT computer does not know which telescope it is carrying. So, it can drive the telescope into the mount if you are not careful. Also, some moves are impossible for the computer though easy for a person and you can give it a command that will make it turn upside down, telescope and all. So, guard that switch. (Hard lesson I should have known from working with robots.)

[Baurice]

I would expect better results from your current camera.I have experimented with planets and a DSLR and find a dedicated astro camera or modified webcam gives better results. However, a DSLR can be used for everyday use and is also a very versatile piece of equipment for photographing bright deep sky objects, the Sun (with filters) and Moon. On a very clear night, I even leave it outside to capture meteors, using an automaic timer (intervalometer).

[lostone]

I have the 9.25" version of that scope and it's mount. Your tracking is be set to Sidereal, (usualy default) You won't be able to keep the planets in the center due to the planets moving at different speeds. As for capturing the, It's best to use a fast planetary camera such as the ASI 462. When capturing planetary, you need to capture as a video, This way you can capture several hundred or thousand of frames. SharpCap and FireCapture are used for this. Then there are other software to use to process and clean up the image. Best part FireCapture and other processing software for planetary is FREEEEEEEEE.