I had always wanted to try ccd
astrophotography, but
couldn't afford the necessary equipment. There are numerous on-line
sites for modification of webcams for astrophotography, but this is one
device I didn't want to construct myself. During the summer of 2007,
Meade DSI Pro ccd cameras with RGB filter sets
were on sale. I couldn't
resist and bought one for the great price of $100 plus an additional
$100 for the RGB filter set. I have not had the time to start using
this camera, with the exception of taking a few test shots of a
microwave tower. As I eventually begin using this camera, I plan to
develope this webpage into an on-line gallery of my astrophotographs.
Currently this page is quite limited and only includes a few
astrophotographs taken with inexpensive webcams and a consumer digital camera. As I
gain experience with my DSI Pro ccd camera, this page should expand
accordingly.
Any telescope mount will work for simple planetary imaging with a webcam (equatorial tracking is an advantage, but you can get by without it here). The basic idea is to use the webcam to record a short video file, extract still images, and then align and stack the images with a free program such as Registax. This is a pretty simple method that lets you turn a webcam into a planetary imager. Below are two photos of Juipiter using my C8 SCT and the $5.00 Quickcam (left) and Philips (right) webcams. The conditions were very bad when I took these images because Juipiter was quite low on the horizon. Despite the poor conditions, some cloud details can be seen.
The below photo is a Philips SPC900NC webcam image of the Trapezuim star cluster in the heart of the Orion Nebula (M42). Note that the webcam picked up the bright stars, but none of the nebula structure; this illustrates that an unmodified webcam can image brighter objects (moon, planets, stars) but can't show dimmer details of deep sky objects.
Back To Top
Several photos of the March 2007 lunar eclipse:
Back To Top
Webcam
I purchased two inexpensive webcams from eBay: An old logitech Quickcam VC for $5.00 and a Philips SPC900NC for $35. These webcams require special modifications for deep sky imaging, but for brighter objects like planets they work very well. An adaptor is required to fit the webcam to the telescope; these can also be purchased on eBay or you can easily and inexpensively make your own like I did (see Webcam Adaptor webpage); all you need to do is tape a 35mm film canister or tube to the webcam.Any telescope mount will work for simple planetary imaging with a webcam (equatorial tracking is an advantage, but you can get by without it here). The basic idea is to use the webcam to record a short video file, extract still images, and then align and stack the images with a free program such as Registax. This is a pretty simple method that lets you turn a webcam into a planetary imager. Below are two photos of Juipiter using my C8 SCT and the $5.00 Quickcam (left) and Philips (right) webcams. The conditions were very bad when I took these images because Juipiter was quite low on the horizon. Despite the poor conditions, some cloud details can be seen.
The below photo is a Philips SPC900NC webcam image of the Trapezuim star cluster in the heart of the Orion Nebula (M42). Note that the webcam picked up the bright stars, but none of the nebula structure; this illustrates that an unmodified webcam can image brighter objects (moon, planets, stars) but can't show dimmer details of deep sky objects.
Back To Top
Consumer Digital Camera
My first attempt at astrophotography was photographing Saturn (Feb., 2007). I set my Cannon Power Shot A710 IS camera on a tripod and photographed through the low power eyepiece on my 10" telescope.Several photos of the March 2007 lunar eclipse:
Back To Top
