My first image of a planet :)

[MikeWilson]

Ok, please be gentle as I'm just starting out Advice is more than welcome, it's encouraged - I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing!

Lately, I've been reading on the forum that the Microsoft Lifecam Cinema HD is a good planetary webcam and it seemed a waste to just have it sat there on my monitor, so with the help of plenty of red electrical tape, a 2x Barlow and a 32mm Plossl, I taped the whole lot onto the end of my scope and took some snapshots and video of Jupiter.

I also downloaded a copy of Registax and used all the default options to align the images. For the video I had to first extract the frames (as PNG files) using a free application called 'SUPER'. I can see a wealth of power within Registax and feel that I'm just seeing the tip of the imaging iceberg.

The final images:

Jupiter.bmp

2010-09-01 00-42-31.bmp

A webcam in a T-adaptor sat on a 32mm eyepiece in a 2x Barlow in a telescope and all held together with red tape.

My first ever picture of Jupiter, taken last month by holding a camera up the eyepiece and getting lucky....

There are more photos of the process and my after action report on my blog: http://www.mikewilson.cc/2010/09/01/my-first-attempt-at-astro-imaging/

[Sam]

Well done and a great image!

[MikeWilson]

Thanks lightbucket I'm really proud of those few pixels, given the effort it took to get even this far!

[MikeWilson]

I found a transit in my AVI file, too