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webcam help!


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Sorry for all the questions!

I got got my scope out last night, using the webcam and usbwebcam on my phone (laptop battery is dead and won't charge) anyway I pointed the scope at the moon, just webcam no Barlow or anything, the moon filled the field of view, how do people get the full moon to show in view? I don't have a zoom function on the usbwebcam app. Would moving the webcam out of the focuser and using a parfocal ring make the full moon visible?

Thanks in advance... The photo is how much of the moon fills the view!

Jasonpost-41658-0-99842600-1425029282.png

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Nice image.

You are stuck with that view.

How much moon that you will image depends mostly on the focla length of your telescope and I suspect you have a long focal length scope. Also, if the webcam sensor is very small, then only a bit of the field of view coming through the telescope will be projected onto the sensor, the rest of the moon may be projected onto plastic of the camera, like this:

post-25543-0-27211900-1425033148_thumb.j

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Thanks for the replies!!! I don't mind only seeing that much, I have a point and shoot that fits with the mount. Another question I'm looking at getting the Microsoft HD lifecam 3000 would it be any good for imaging? I have a very cheap wilko webcam at the moment, the webcam I have now works well the the adapter and just worried that it won't fit the lifecam what with it being rectangular rather than round like the one I have now. Aldo my telescope is the skywatcher 130 explorer.

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How large the Moon appears is dependent upon the focal length of the OTA.  Assuming we're talking about the 650mm 130 here, the Moon will be a disc of about 6mm diameter where the webcam is in focus.  I don't think  you'll find many, if any, webcams with a sensor that big.

Imaging through an eyepiece might help if you want to get a single frame containing the entire lunar disc, but often there's some distortion or chromatic aberration when doing that.  The alternative is to take lots of images of different parts of the Moon and stitch them together in a mosaic.  Or you could use a DSLR, but the 130 models do have a reputation for being something of a pig to get to reach focus with a DSLR.

Moving the webcam out of the focuser won't help at all.  The design of a newt is such that there's only one position at which a camera will be in focus, so if you moved the camera "out", you'd only have to move the focuser "in" by the same distance to get the image back in focus.

At least some of the Lifecam series of cameras are passable for imaging bright objects such as the Moon, but they do require some fairly heavy modding.  I have a modded Lifecam Cinema that required complete disassembly, removal of the zoom lens and other unnecessary gubbins and the reassembly in a new housing.

James

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The webcam I've got now was easy, the lens just unscrewed, I went for a tecknet HD, hopefully its as easy to take apart as my wilko one... The one I have bow works very well just wanted another to compare and see if I can get a better image of Jupiter.

I have the 900mm version I believe it is.

I didn't fancy fully taking it apart and then breaking it and being out of pocket.

May try the mosaic option of the moon!

Thanks for that idea!!!!

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