Webcam imaging: part 2

[milkyjoe]

Hi.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of this webcam astrophotography lark. I've managed to setup my scope with the ra motor drive and got the moon steady in the frame of sharpcap. Is there a way to decrease the magnification or zoom out because when I'm using my webam, it's pretty close-up to the moon, am I missing siomething or am I just veing stupid??

Many thanks.

Richard.

P.S. I've attached my first pic of the moon, not great I know, but it's a start!

[tooth_dr]

You magnification is linked to the focal length of your scope - in this case 500mm . You can get closer with a barlow, but not sure about getting it smaller! The sensor on a webcam is also quite small, so you will have a smaller field of view in comparison to say putting a DSLR onto the scope!

You could do a mosiac, where you take say four images of a quarter each time, then join them together after. That will give you a larger oveall image at the end, but is more difficult.

[John]

I think the webcam is the equivalent of a 6mm eyepiece or therabouts. A focal reducer might be worth thinking about:

Reducers/Flatteners - Astro Engineering 0.6x 1.25" Focal Reducer