I wasn't going to get into planetary imaging but ...

[AllanJ]

I had tried my hand at afocal imaging with my NexStar 4", but earlier this year I decided to stick to visual, and acquired a 10" dobson. Lovely stuff. And anyway, I didn't have a laptop computer to control the imaging stuff. But then, for reasons other than astronomy, I acquired a Samsung N150 netbook (with Windows 7). And I started putting odd bits of software on it, like Cartes du Ciel. I tried Stellarium, but that wasn't too happy; maybe I'll try again another time. And then I thought, maybe my netbook would be OK to drive a NexImage webcam. So after a lot of reading various helpful posts, etc, I bought one. The Celestron website has a handy help section on installing a Windows 7 driver for their kit, and that was very straightforward to follow. So yesterday evening, still in a lot of daylight, I set up my scope, not on the tripod but on a slightly shaky table, and looking through the window glass (it was cleaned recently), aligned it on the edge and terminator of the Moon (I used a 25mm eyepiece first, then changed to a 6mm to get a focus approximating to the webcam's which I think is equivalent to a 5mm), plugged in the NexImage, fiddled with the focus a bit, then the image settings, and ran a 20sec avi. I processed this with the version of Registax bundled with the NexImage and got an image of a bit of Moon no problem. Focus could have been better, but I was only running a first test.

It all seemed so easy. I might even try using it it outside in the dark next time!

Allan

[Psychobilly]

Welcome to the Dark Side Allan

Attach a safety line early on as its a slippery slope...

Peter...

[michaelmorris]

Now you've done it! Welcome to to the world of lunar and planetary imaging - endless hours of seemingly fruitless endeavour punctuated within fleeting moments of satisfaction!

[ollypenrice]

Now you've done it! Welcome to to the world of lunar and planetary imaging - endless hours of seemingly fruitless endeavour punctuated within fleeting moments of satisfaction!

Michael, really! The fact that you are right doesn't mean you have to out and say it...

Olly

[Glider]

"endless hours of seemingly fruitless endeavour punctuated within fleeting moments of satisfaction!", LOL, could apply to most things in life.

[jgs001]

Nice one, it's great when the final image pops out isn't it. It's worthwhile hunting out the latest version of Registax, I think the one you got is version 2 or 3 from other posts I've seen. Where's the image then ??

[AllanJ]

John - thanks for the note about Registax versions. I have the latest version on my desktop computer, and I may well install that on the netbook in time. I didn't post the image because it is, shall we say, basic, but since you are curious, here it is.

Allan

[michaelmorris]

Allan

That's good man. I can assure you that that's much better than my first effort.

IMHO spending time to get the focus as good as you can is time well spent. Personally, I always try to underexpose my images to make sure that I don't saturate the highlights.

[TheThing]

Well done Allan. That's not a bad first effort for daylight and thru a window.

You'll have endless fun now imaging all the planets you can lay your scope on.

When you've got a few images of the moon, try using Microsoft ICE to stitch them together into a mosaic.