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Skywatcher 130pm - webcam connection advice


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Hello all,

We attended the opening of a local observatory in Usk, South Wales last week and had a great time chatting to the people there and viewing the moon and saturn.

We have decided that we would like to purchase our own equipment now and have been considering the Skywatcher 130pm. We would like to attach a webcam to the telescope so we can take images.

Having received great advice from 2 members of this forum at the observatory (Nick and Tony) we have established what software we need and also a good webcam for astrophotography purposes. However, we are just wondering what the general opinion was on this potential set-up and also how we go about connecting a webcam to the telescope?

Many thanks,

Dan and Steph.

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Hi Dan/Steph

You can get a SPC880 webcam and nosepiece adaptor from Morgans here:

Cheap Philips SPC880 webcam - 49269 - discounts & offers

This is the favoured webcam currently and the adaptor is on the same page top right. It's worth paying the extra couple of quid for them to pre-flash it to SPC900.

The Skywatcher 130PM is basic but useable and with a webcam you should be able to get good shots of the moon and planets.

You'll need Registax to align and stack the .avi's and photo processing software like Gimp to tweak them up a bit (both free to download).

I'd also suggest Stellarium planetaria software to help finding stuff (also free).

Good luck :eek:

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Hi Dan and Stef - I'm just starting out on webcam astrophotography, and one way to attach a webcam to a telescope is with an adaptor. To use an adaptor, you remove the webcam lens (carefully, so that you can reattach it should you want to), screw the adaptor in place (this works fine for the Philips SPC900C webcam), and use it in place of an eyepiece, or with a Barlow for extra magnification.

You can find adaptors easily on eBay (search for 1.25 webcam telescope adaptor) for little more than a tenner, but someone on here may know where to get them for less. They are very simple devices.

Regarding the setup you describe, what sort of mount do you intend to get? The standard mount that comes with the SW130pm is (afaik) an EQ2, which, you'll find, wobbles at the slightest touch, especially with a large optical tube on it! With a small motor drive and a windless night, however, it should be stable enough to capture images of planets and so on.

Edit: and what ^ he said!

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Hello,

Thank you for your replies, very helpful and exactly what we needed to know :-) we have ordered the webcam (pre-flashed) and adaptor and have downloaded the software. As for the mount, we were planning on just using the standard mount that comes with the SW130pm, however, if you can suggest a better alternative for us to consider then that would be good but I should mention that we are not going to be spending a great deal to start with.

Many thanks for the advice,

Dan and Steph

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Hi and welcome from a fellow welsh member, i have the 130P with a webcam, the spc880 flashed to 900, the same setup as Brantuk was telling you about, bought from Morgans, the set has all you need to get going.

I have the goto version of the 130P on a alt/az mount, its great for moon pics and for planets but thats about it, its a good scope and will get you going with so good results

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