my disaster first image of jupiter

[doorhand]

Hi all, i though id give astrophotography a go on the cheap. Iv bought and modified a cheap webcam, attached to a x2 barlow. And viewing through my astromax 5".

This image is my first attempt (stacked) and as you can see it was a bit of a disaster. I briefly went out in the back garden to do this test, so there was a fair bit of light pollution, i tried changing a few settings but to no avail. I lost jupiter behind some trees so had to abort for the night, so will retrying some other settings another night.

This to me looks over exposed, or is my webcam not up to the job? Its a 3meg cmos not the recommended ccd. Any recommendation are greatly appreciated.

I am very happy with the size of the disc however!

Many thanks,

Doorhand.

[Adz]

Hey doorhand welcome to SGL

How is the image appearing on the capture software? I use Sharpcap and whenever I get my best results from stacked, its when I can make out some detail in live view already. Try and use the gain and exposure sliders to pick up some detail. Also your focus wants to be perfect so perhaps something like a Bahitov mask could be useful? Well done for a having a good go at it tonight, the conditions were marvelous weren't they?

HTH

Adam

[todd8137]

hi and welcome great first try ,morgan do a good cheap ccd one always better to have a less brigh object to start with (jupiter) and touch it up after ya stacked it as a say morgons do a cheap good one philllips 880 and they will flash to spc900 great job at least you learnt those settings were not so good

[doorhand]

Thanks for replies, it was indeed a great night tonight, also hoping for clear skies tomorrow to try and better my photography.

The software i was using was 'debut' on a free trial and exposure and gain settings where at its lowest, so im looking forward in trying sharpcap tomorrow.

Focusing was also a challenge as the image kept bouncing around everywhere lol, but il get the hang of it. Thanks for the Bahitov mask suggestion, this looks very interesting, never even heard of it until now.

Il see how i get on then maybe splash out on a better ccd webcam, my one cost £4 from ebay

Thanks for replies, much apreciated!

Doorhand

[spacebloke]

This is my first attempt at imaging jupiter. It was a bit of a rush and through a little bit of cloud cover.

There are so many great images on here that when people start for the first time they're disheartened when they don't get great results from the get go.

Mine isnt much of an improvement on yours, but it's a start.

The thing I find funny is how bad the image look through the webcam compared to the final stacked image.

Stick in there buddy jupiter 1st attempt.jpg

[doorhand]

congrats spacebloke! thats a great first attempt, you can just make out the stripes! im feeling hopeful that i can reduce the gain tonight, clouds permitting.

Looking foward to seeing your progress too, thanks for the support!

Doorhand.

[doorhand]

Having a play around with more settings before my 2nd attempt tonight. It seems that no matter what video capture software i use, sharpcap/debut/nero, the exposure setting makes no difference to the image, same goes for the gain. So im wondering if this must be down to the standard windows drivers for this standard cmos webcam. Iv had a look for better drivers but because this camera doesnt seem to have a make/model im not having any joy.

Will try again tonight but looks like il be purchasing another cheap but decent cam from morgans.

[doorhand]

ok, so gave it another shot tonight, but no good. i cant control the settings that matter, gain + exposure. But im starting to wonder if it is my actual scope thats no good...

The image i have captured is pretty much what i get to see through the eye piece anyway, but less magnified, im hoping someone can blow this theory out of the water!?

To clarify i am using a Celestron Astromax 130, i tend to view through a 2xbarlow + 10mm eyepiece (because thats all the magnification i got for the moment)

Any help greatly welcomed. Cheers,

Doorhand.

[todd8137]

Check the end of your webcam's USB cable

for a tag with letters and number

There should be three pieces of information;

a number labeled M/N, which is the model number;

a number labeled P/N, which is the part number;

and a field called PID, which is the product ID

finding these and google them should get you the name of the cam ect and right drivers

[doorhand]

thanks todd, unfortunately my webcam doesnt have that sticker, i did find a driver for it actually from the ebay page i bought it from, but that still doesnt give me control over gain + exposure. no probs anyway, im going to buy the Philips SPC880 from morgans like you previously suggested.

[brantuk]

I use wxAstroCapture software to run the spc900. The drivers only make the camera accessible to the operating system. The webcam software is used to control gain and exposure.

[doorhand]

Thanks Brantuk, my cheapy webcam doesnt seem to get on with that software. Or any others it seems. I made a newbie error and bought the wrong cam. New spc880 on the way soon though