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First Saturn with Webcam

NiteGawper

By NiteGawper
in Imaging - Planetary

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NiteGawper

NiteGawper

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Last night I had my first ever go at imaging with a webcam. Obvious target - Saturn. I used an SPC900 cam with IR cut filter through my Skywatcher 127 Mak (Alt-Az GOTO mount). Taken from the very light-polluted skies of Swindon...

post-14498-133877361175_thumb.jpg

I followed Martin B's "Introduction to Planetary imaging with a Toucam" - VERY helpful, thanks Martin!!:)

Next time I think I'll try it with the 2xBarlow. But for a first go - I'm really chuffed with the result... :)

Andy...

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red dwalf

red dwalf

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well done, what software did you use ? and is the image increased in size any ?

i`m about to try with my skywatcher 130p shorter f range than your scope and a philips spc 900 webcam i managed to get after months of trying (like hens teeth), but if i get anything like yours i`ll be thrilled

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NiteGawper

NiteGawper

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Thanks All for your kind comments :)

To answer your questions Red... the software I used to capture the .avi was K3ccdtools. Then I aligned and stacked the frames in Registax.

The image is the size it was at capture - no enlargement has been done. The frame size has been cropped though, Saturn looked a little lost in a 640 x 480 frame :D

All the best with your imaging - I can't recommend following Martin B's tutorial enough, it was a huge help to me. One thing I did find (not sure if this is common or if I was just being dim) but when I removed the eyepiece and put in the webcam, I thought there was nothing on the screen!! So I spent AGES moving the scope around trying to see Saturn in the chip.

As it turned out, Saturn was there all along - it was just so out of focus that it hardly showed at all. In the end I did notice a REALLY faint patch of light moving on the screen - one quick tweak of the focus later - and bosh, there was Saturn!! Watch out for that, focus for the eyepiece will be miles from focus for the webcam - Like I say, it was probably me being dim :)

Andy...

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  • 2 weeks later...
Dante

Dante

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Hi, like you Saturn image. Can I ask, have you done the mod to your webcam for long exposures? I have one still in the box but a bit afraid to do the mod - the damn thing was expensive.

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Darth Takahashi

Darth Takahashi

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That's a very nice image of Saturn. Sometime, depending on the eyepiece you can adjust the eyepiece so that it comes to focus at roughly the same point as the webcam. Try sliding it back and to a little when you put it back in after using the webcam. You might be surprised, 5mm out and there you are!

Neil.

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Kokatha man

Kokatha man

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Thanks All for your kind comments ;)

One thing I did find (not sure if this is common or if I was just being dim) but when I removed the eyepiece and put in the webcam, I thought there was nothing on the screen!! So I spent AGES moving the scope around trying to see Saturn in the chip.

As it turned out, Saturn was there all along - it was just so out of focus that it hardly showed at all. In the end I did notice a REALLY faint patch of light moving on the screen - one quick tweak of the focus later - and bosh, there was Saturn!! Watch out for that, focus for the eyepiece will be miles from focus for the webcam - Like I say, it was probably me being dim ;)

Andy...

A couple of small "tricks" this erstwhile newbie imager of planets has found worthwhile is marking your focusser tube (if it isn't a calibrated one) where focus is with various barlows and the webcam so that you can "set up" rough focus with any chosen barlow and the cam.....this in effect creates a large but still bright diffuse disk that is much easier to detect and get centred on the lappy screen than the huge but faint fuzzy that "way-off" focus only provides.....:D:D:D

ps: top image, especially at that aperture....!:rolleyes::icon_salut::hello2:

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MrEd

MrEd

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Nice Capture Andy.

At that size have you thought about overexposing and getting some moons as well?

You can merge the two photos with image processing software.

Also put a 2 x barlow in and i garantee you will impress us all again.

Ed

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