Can some explain to me if I can have my own ships defend my planet that they are located on? On the same note, can my shps defend another one of my planets that they are not located on?

I have experimented with this just a little bit with the deploy button but I'm not sure if that's just a shortcut to sending my fleet off somewhere else.

Thanks in advance,
Mn

Ships will only defend the planet where they are currently parked/stationed/deployed.

Deploy missions will move your ships to another colony and they will stay there until you give them another mission.

So what you're saying is that when my ships are stationed at a planet they will also act as defense against attacks..

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

Yes. As long they are just sitting on that planet and not on a mission.

for ships that are parked how do the hit points work when you are being attacked do they change or do they stay the same

They stay the same. But the defenses also take part in absorbing the damage. If you have a substantial defense, the attacker has to plow throw the defense before dealing a serious damage to your ships. In my experience the ship or defense with the least armor takes most of the damage. Solar sats go down first.