once i take a planent how and wait a hr with my gear on it how do i collect the recources it produces?

For artifacts/minerals
Go to trade, you will find the information there under "resource" -> minerals or artifacts. These are just points. Clicking harvest will convert them into minerals/artifacts and placed in your cargo in the appropriate tab (minerals/artifacts)

For Research, go to research tab and research in the appropriate field of your choice.

The timers are in their tab respectively so you know when your mineral/artifact/research points are going to be added

the timer will always tick for the same minute of the hour for each player

for me, it's on the :45

for example, if I grab a planet at 3:42pm, I only have to wait 3 minutes to get the next hourly reward

but if I grab a planet at 3:46pm, I have to wait 59minutes : (

each player has their own minute of the hour that it happens on

When I try to harvest the artifact, i cant do it. it say 'Not enough artifact points yet to acquire a significant find' what does it mean?

That error message needs some improvement

You will need to wait until you have *at least* 250 points before you can claim an artifact. However, the longer you wait (the more points built up), the greater the chance that you will be eligible for a better artifact.