Imaging hardare and Stacking Software

[EdF_uk]

Hello,

I've decided on my scope and mount (200P and HEQ5 syntrek) and am now turning my attention to imaging equipment. I'd like to get myself a decent DSLR camera in the mid term but was wondering about other options including the use of webcams for the shorter term. What sort of quality images can you get using these devices? Any recommendations? Presumably you need a special adapter to attatch the camera, is this the case?

I have read about people using stacking software that can be used to stack the individual images or frames to produce effectively an average photograph. The results that I've seen from this technique look very good. I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this technique and if so can they recommend any software packages.

Many thanks

Ed

[ollypenrice]

Webcams or rather better fast frame cameras are the tool of choice for imaging solar system objects. Registax and AVIstack are free software products to support their use in astronomy. Plenty of online tutorials will Google to get you going.

You need an adapter to fit them to the focuser and a Barlow (or two) or Powermate to boost the focal length to get the planets up to a good scale on the chip.

In webcam imaging the alignment of the images is post-capture so no need for very accurate tracking. In deep sky with a DSLR very accurate tracking aided by an autoguider is the way to get good results.

Olly

http://ollypenrice.smugmug.com/

[EdF_uk]

Hi,

Thanks for the reply. I'll continue to research the options. At the moment I'm limited on funds so am looking for something that will give reasonable results fairly cheaply. I'll have a look at what's available on retail sites. I've heard of registax and I'll check out the tutorials.

Ed