Dodgy SPC 880?

[chris285]

Ok i have borrowed the webcam and a Asus EEE 701 netbook off a friend for some beginner imaging, and i've been able to get some moon stuff already with no problems.

However couple of times now i've tried to train the camera on Jupiter, however i've just not been able to pick it up. Of course my first thought is i haven't got it on target, however first thing i check is that the webcam is working by shining a light source over the wecam. Now tonight and not for the first time the webcam has just stopped picking up the light source, i have had it where even restarting the netbook and reconnecting doesn't fix the problem

Is it the tempature messing things up although that seems unlikely, does anyone have any ideas or pointers?

[Bizibilder]

It is quite difficult to get the image of a planet onto the chip of the webcam. The easiest way (for me anyway) is to get the image in the centre of the field of view of an eyepiece of around 10mm focal length (8mm or 6mm will do) and then swap over to the webcam - the image should be on the chip. (or you can use goto!).

You don't say if you have a motorised scope? If not then it could be even trickier as the planet will "move" (actually the Earth rotates!) quite quickly. A motorised mount should keep the planet in view for a few minutes at least - even if not perfectly aligned.

Secondly you may need to put the gain up (well up!) to get a bright enough image to see at all - especially if the planet is out of focus. Once you have found it adjust the gain etc to get the image you want.

[chris285]

Forgot to say i had it connected to a skywatcher 130m, and i followed your steps of putting my 7.5mm eyepeice and lining up and switching over. had the motor drive running so it was following it for a few minutes

i did have the gain set to 48 in sharpcap but still no joy, its just the fact it stops picking up ay light source at times even right at the end of the lense