More Xbox cam results

[Twiggles]

Really pleased with these, still using the xbox cam and Skywatcher 130M. Managed to get Jupiter and Mars tonight with the kids:

Still think its amazing what this little cam can do, even under street lights! Got a little nervous at one point as three teenage lads making a bit of noise came down the street about half ten. Once they saw us they came across and started asking what we could see. They were amazed when we told them we were looking at mars and even had a look. Pointed out Jupiter as well, unfortunately we couldn't swing the telescope round as it was just out of view from where we had set it up.

Anyway, think the images are getting better now with a little practice!

[prassi007]

Very nice photos.

[Charlie_132]

Nice photos! What settings did you use for mars?

[hazegood]

Really pleased with these, still using the xbox cam and Skywatcher 130M. Managed to get Jupiter and Mars tonight with the kids:

Still think its amazing what this little cam can do, even under street lights! Got a little nervous at one point as three teenage lads making a bit of noise came down the street about half ten. Once they saw us they came across and started asking what we could see. They were amazed when we told them we were looking at mars and even had a look. Pointed out Jupiter as well, unfortunately we couldn't swing the telescope round as it was just out of view from where we had set it up.

Anyway, think the images are getting better now with a little practice!

I get the same here, I( live close to central Leeds, in a very bad part of the town, but I grew up here, its my home,)

When I go out in the front yard with my scope and webcam, I get the teenagers asking what I am doing, and asking questions, like how far can you see etc, iwhen I show them what I can see, they are amazed then usually leads to questions like how much does the telescope cost which always worries me, as I tend to think they may be assessing whetehr to rob me or but I like to think they want to know if they can ask the parents to buy them one for tehier birthday or Christmas

Also get the same results from some adults,  (notably a very nice polish lady, I have become very good friends with, she was passing one night, saw what I was doing and wanted to see the moon) she does keep confusing astronomy with astrology though

[Twiggles]

Nice photos! What settings did you use for mars?

Frame Divisor=1

Resolution=640x480

Frame Rate (fps)=15.00

Colour Space=YUY2

Exposure=-5

Brightness=14

Contrast=19

Hue=9

Saturation=45

Sharpness=0

Gamma=250

WhiteBalance=3526

BacklightCompensation=0

Gain=6

Really more a case of playing around until I got something that looked semi decent..

[faulksy]

mars is brilliant well done

[Iron Lung]

Pretty cool, From an xbox cam? Really?

[C7tsj]

Agree, Mars is very nice given this is just a £5 webcam! Well done.

[Twiggles]

Yep, just a little ole xbox cam. Processed first using PIPP, then autostakkert and then RGB balance and wavelets plus resize in registax. Actually got three shots of Mars, but this one turned out the best. Got focus on Jupiter by upping exposure and gain until I could see the moons and used them to get best focus. Didn't shoot Mars until after our visitors had left (didn't want the laptop on show just in case!) so couldn't use Jupiter to help with the focus. Just dabbled a little for each video with focus to try and get the sharpest image on screen. Each shot is around 2 minutes of footage before processing.

Don't manage to get out too often due to one thing or another, so not had many oppurtunites to practice with the camera. In total its perhaps only half a dozen nights where I've been able to learn a little about both it and the telescope, most of those have been on Jupiter. Really really chuffed at the results here, particularly as that was also the first night I had seen Mars in the scope, let alone try getting a picture.