New Mexico Skies Imaging

Introduction:  Just picking objects to image is not the way to start.  Information that is needed first would be where the moon is with respect to the type of things you want to look at, followed by what time these objects are going to be out.  After you pick you put it in the order that best uses the amount of time you have, either by entering the Right Ascension and Declination or just the name of the object.

After an observing list is made you pick how long you want to expose each image. This depends on what type of image you are taking, for example a comet versus a nebula. 

For imaging with NMS there are links located under the Meade Planetary Imager section.

The Meade Planetary Imager

This really works best with a telescope that can track.  It is very difficult to get an image in focus in the camera long enough to take a picture if it is constantly moving out of the field of view.

For images of the moon the best thing to do would be to set the camera to Moon, located under object, and then focus it in the camera.  Focusing it in the telescope does not mean that it will be focused when it is switched to the camera, so make sure to do that before taking images.

When taking images Meade LPI stacks them for you.  The best thing to do would be just to take a few images at a time then stack them manually.  If the camera is left stacking on its own too long the images will become blurry and not able to be fixed. 

If there is a problem with exposure or focus there are three main things to do, first off is to use the Magic Eye focus by adjusting the two yellow triangles to how it looks best.  Also using the Auto Adjust helps greatly to let the right amount of light into the camera so the image looks clear.  However this does not always work, so using gain and offset can also improve any other problems that may happen.

While Meade LPI is compatible with the Fits Liberator, it is not necessary to use it when taking shots of the Moon, the camera does a great job of focusing and getting the right amount of exposure if it is not left to stack images for too long. 

For other images such as planets for the Meade LPI sometimes it is necessary to use the Fits Liberator to adjust the image.  Meade does not separate the images by filter so like before with the luminance frames, the levels, curves, and hue/ saturation actions have to be set manually, and then just adjust it accordingly.

There are many different variables that can change what needs to be done to an image.  There could be two images of the same thing, where there were completely different procedures to assemble the picture just for a slight change in exposure times, or the amounts of frames used in different filters. 

Things to try to do would be for moving objects take pictures fast, and as many as possible so stacking is easier.  It also is not always necessary to use a Luminance frame in the picture, while it usually ads positively to the picture sometimes it can over expose it, cover up color, and make stars in the background too bright.