Lucky imaging is the next step to high resolution images
Atmosphere is the worst nightmare of the ones, who would like to get hight resolution images. Small telescopes can not have adaptive optics but could benefit of there small aperture and the statistical chance to get a clear view for a fraction of a second. The best fit for this is aperture of 100 - 150 mm. It is like being on the bottom of a pool and looking up. You will see a blurred view but for a fraction of a second you have a chance to get a clear view and you could catch this exact moment.
Generally it should be between 10 milliseconds to 2 second depending on the elevation and the state of the atmosphere.
How to estimate it? Record a video and count how much frames is it take before the image change.
For example if you have a change each 10 frames and you shoot 20 frames per second, then you have half a second clear view and your exposure best be set to 0.5x2/3=0.33s. You could use 0.5s of course, but you will have to discard more frames as you are not sure as the state change will be in sync with the exposure interval. For star system use the lowest exposure that you could and for deep sky the highest.
This is image of Almak with my 3 small telescopes in comparison. You could see the differences of the oprical system and how their diffraction limitation looks like:
Also SharpCap software have live stack functionality that can stack only frames that are above predefined focus quality FWHM. Witch is best for deep sky. This one is taken under bad seeing conditions due to wind:
Here is Jupiter with Vixen VMC 110L. No post-processing
The best thing is that you do not need precise equatorial mouth or autogiding to do that. You need a high speed, low noise, high QE camera that is now becoming cheeper as the advance of the sensor development. More on this topic will come this year as this will be the primary development of my largest telescope SW200pds!
This is a comparison of my not modified Pentax k5 DSLR and the same, but modified one without IR-cut filter.
Astrotracer is a great way to take advantage of the Pentax DSLR camera in-body shake reduction mechanism. It is available since Pentax k5 and track celestial bodies by moving the sensor. Here is what is it ablout:
Staying at my home inspires me to make some documentation of my experience. I got a dedicated drive for my astrophotos and start reorganize them by objects. Here is an article of the most recent process I use on my photos. Enjoy: )
For a few months from now Betelgeuse (Alpha Orion) dim so much, that it looks as bright as the stars in the Orion belt. This is not so disturbing and does not mean that cataclysmic events are happening with it.
For my last trip to the Rodopa mountain I decided to cross the limits and to target an object that is hard to believe that a non-professional equipment could catch.
