Webcam Orion Nebula...WIP!

[teh_orph]

Hello guys,

I'm really trying to avoid buying a DSLR and see how far I can go without having to spend a lot of money.

I've been trying to get enough data for M42 over the last few weeks and here's my result so far. Since I live on a busy (and a bit dangerous) main road I have to camp out the front of my house and hope people don't notice me! Plus out the front there's turbo light pollution. After doing my first long exposure a couple of night ago I might wait to complete this once Orion goes overhead and maybe to the west. I might have a go in IR too.

So - Skywatcher 130P, ~1 hour of shots at 4 seconds each on a very foggy night, polar aligned with WCS (made such a difference!), lots of faffing with DSS and touched up in CS5. Using a modified PS3 EyeToy camera and some custom software. The left is 150% of size - tbh I'm not sure if this was a good move or not so right is 100%!

Thanks for looking

Simon

[johnh]

Thats great detail captured Simon and strong colour, I started with an SC3 Toucam mono and got great images without autoguiding just tracking, got a years worth of fun before my DSLR time. Keep going as its great fun.

John.

[yesyes]

This is an excellent image for a webcam!

[Tim]

Well done indeed, there is loads of structure showing up in the clouds around the trapezium

[rich_t]

Lots of nice detail and the trapezium resolved very nicely, very good especially given the conditions you described.

Rich.

[Beyond_Vision]

Thats a great result and well worth all your efforts

Regards

Kevin

[MartinB]

Great to see someone doing deep sky work with a web cam. I started that way, web cams were much more popular for DSOs 5 years ago.

[Dave]

Some nice results there.

You've gotto be pleased with that.

[ollypenrice]

Very impressive indeed on a budget rig. The Trapezium well reolved. Chapeau, as they say on the French forums!

Olly

[teh_orph]

Cheers guys, tbh I was a bit disappointed with the pic! I managed to get almost the same result (and more dark cloud) with one third of the exposure!

Ah what can you do, I blame society. And the fogging.

I did have more trapezium detail - I might make an extra pic of the centre but with less processing to bring out the detail.

[astroimpulse]

I'm blown away that you managed that with your EyeToy/Webcam.

I wonder if adding more will add noise? Would the flats, darks and bias way also be useful for long exposure webcam work?

[brantuk]

This is a quite superb example of what can be done with an otherwise very basic setup. A lot of new members frequently ask what they can expect to see with a 130P and what they can do with a basic webcam, and I'm sure they'd be keen to see this.

The detail and colour you've drawn out, and symetry of the difraction spikes demonstrate the optical quality of a scope frequently recommended on the forum. And the roundness of the stars show the accuracy of tracking and alignnment. And this! through fog?? I'm really quite amazed - very well done!

[janm]

I like it very much, not often you see images of the core itself.

[Steve]

[old_eyes]

Now that is nice with a webcam and the conditions described! Nicely balanced with the Trapezium stars clear and not too bright. I need to have another go at this target, it is sooo pretty.

old_eyes

[teh_orph]

Cheers again for the kind comments guys...I'm looking forward to getting some more data on this one!

Also I just renewed the home insurance - apparently I'm covered if I'm sitting out the front and get my scope and laptop nicked. Happy days!

[oldfruit]

That`s a great image for a webcam.

[smerral]

I agree with all the comments above! I have recently acquired a long exposure modified cam and it's so encouraging seeing images like these! Well done!

[Stargazing_Cliff]

Very good will have to get ps3 cam sometime

[fwm891]

Incredible effort with a web cam

[robbie c]

Looks fantastic Simon well done

[Stargazing_Cliff]

you have to post the settings and software used to get imaging like you have done.

i have xbox live vision modified cam that pics up stars using deskshare webcam monitor 5 long exposure takes snap shot every ten seconds.

how do u get settings to take pics like u have ?

[Sully]

I've read a few post on these eye toys and Xbox vision and the results look great. Exactly what mods have been done to get these pics, are they very technical or quite easy?

Sully

[Nova]

Also would be keen to know details/software/setting used to be able to achieve this. Have you considered writing a primer?

Well done excellent images!!

[spanky]

I can't believe you did that with 4-second subs with a webcam! What a result!