Testing webcam in daylight

[Charlie_132]

Helllo, is there any way of testing a webcam will focus and be able to get a clear picture in daylight, after connecting it to the telescope ? Or will the picture on screen always be blurry/unrecognisable because of the ir filter being removed ?

Also, the length of the webcam adapter i have is 4.5cm, the ones i have seen other people use look much smaller, this wont affect the image i get on screen will it ?

I'm using a heritage 130p on a dob mount, i think the only way of focusing it is to put the focuser as low as it will go,and then slowly move backl the metal tubes to bring it into focus. Is this correct ?

Should i use a 2x barlow to make the image bigger or will the webcam on its own be enough ?

will be trying to image without the aid of a motor tracking for me, so I know it will be pretty hard to keep the image on screen. What would the shortest video be that i could capture and still get a decent result after puttng it through registax ?

Thanks

[Cornelius Varley]

Helllo, is there any way of testing a webcam will focus and be able to get a clear picture in daylight, after connecting it to the telescope ? Or will the picture on screen always be blurry/unrecognisable because of the ir filter being removed ?

Also, the length of the webcam adapter i have is 4.5cm, the ones i have seen other people use look much smaller, this wont affect the image i get on screen will it ?

I'm using a heritage 130p on a dob mount, i think the only way of focusing it is to put the focuser as low as it will go,and then slowly move backl the metal tubes to bring it into focus. Is this correct ?

Should i use a 2x barlow to make the image bigger or will the webcam on its own be enough ?

will be trying to image without the aid of a motor tracking for me, so I know it will be pretty hard to keep the image on screen. What would the shortest video be that i could capture and still get a decent result after puttng it through registax ?

Thanks

You will be able to get an image during daylight, it might be slightly off colour (pink) because the ir filter has been removed.

Your adapter is a bit on the long side, it only needs to be long enoung to fit comfortably in the focuser tube and held in place by the locking screws. If the adapter tube is too long you might have problems getting the sensor close enough to the primary mirrow to reach focus.

[Amra]

I recently did this, pointed my telescope at some houses miles away, works just fine. Keep in mind that the sensor size of a webcam makes the view look like what you'd see through a 6mm Ocular so it'd have to be far away. As far as recording a planet on the Heritage 130P, I think it will be annoying to manually guide, even more so if you put a barlow in between, it will drift a lot, but it's probably doable. Some kind of software can probably align the planet in the video for you later on.

[E621Keith]

If you want to test your astro web cam in daytime , you can get a full aperture solar filter and a shroud for truss tube dob and use it to image the sun.

[Guest]

Hi,

You can attach the webcam to the scope, and focus on a distant object, the picture will show up and not be blurry, but will be a bit off colour due to the IR filter being removed,the size of the adapter should not make hardly any difference.

MM

[Charlie_132]

Thanks for all the replies, they're really helpfull !

I recently did this, pointed my telescope at some houses miles away, works just fine. Keep in mind that the sensor size of a webcam makes the view look like what you'd see through a 6mm Ocular so it'd have to be far away. As far as recording a planet on the Heritage 130P, I think it will be annoying to manually guide, even more so if you put a barlow in between, it will drift a lot, but it's probably doable. Some kind of software can probably align the planet in the video for you later on.

How long of a video would you say is long enough to be able to get something decent out of it through registax ?

Would a 40/50 second recording of a planet drifting across the screen be enough to get some results out of ?

[Amra]

Someone with more experience can probably guide you better, I've only had one session with Jupiter with my xbox webcam so far and it wasn't very successful, I spent my time trying the different SharpCap settings & playing with focus.

I did read somewhere though that you shouldn't shoot more than 3 minutes of Jupiter because the planet rotates so fast (10 hr rotation.)

[Charlie_132]

Oh okay, thanks anyway.

I think 1minute may be the maximum I will be able to record anyway doing it manually and just letting it drit across the screen

Do you use a xbox cam ?

[JamesF]

I'd recommend setting up during the day and having a practice, without a doubt. Clear nights are such a rarity these days that you don't want to spend time faffing about working out what you're supposed to be doing.

If you can do a minute of Jupiter letting it drift across the field of view there's no reason not to gently nudge it back to the other side afterwards and carry on capturing. You can use PIPP to strip any frames missing the planet or where it's not fully on the sensor. Go for the most frames you can get in three minutes and work from there. There's a fair bit of practising and getting it wrong to be done when you start imaging, so keep trying and working at it and you'll get there.

James

[Charlie_132]

Okay then, I'll give it a go, manually finding jupiter and getting the settings correct so i pick up some detail in the first place could be tricky. I'm guessing that I just need to get the 2 main bands to show up on the screen and then registax can work its magic from there on ?

I just hope i canget images better then what I got from my phone (although they are pretty good considering they're taken with a mobile camera)

[Guest]

Oh okay, thanks anyway.

I think 1minute may be the maximum I will be able to record anyway doing it manually and just letting it drit across the screen

Do you use a xbox cam ?

what camera are you using??

[Charlie_132]

Xbox cam modded

[Guest]

Xbox cam modded

don't do ant more that 2 mins of jupiter because of rotation

MM

[Guest]

don't do ant more that 2 mins of jupiter because of rotation

MM

Are those cams good, as they seem to be the latest one to be used for astro...