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First Webcam attempt Jupiter Qs?

Started by mhart, 05/06/2003 11:28PM
Posted 05/06/2003 11:28PM Opening Post
This is my first ever attempt to dabble with a webcam. I took the shot the same night I built the camera. I simply cracked open an old Kodak DVC323 webcam and put a 11/4 nose on it wrapped it in duct tape. I used a 12" LX200 with a 2X barlow.

I was only able to take two AVI's between clouds (roughly 70 or so frames each) and just messed in registax at random until I liked what I saw.

Two Qs

1) Should I use another barlow to increase image scale to improve resolution?
2) Is 320X240 enough or should I find a better webcam?
3) Any advice on registax? I was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of choices it offered and would appreciate shortcuts.

Attached Image:

mhart's attachment for post 5731
Posted 05/07/2003 01:24AM #1
Nice start. I can see small details in this. I'm not familiar with the technical side of webcam imaging, but this is quite good compared to most of what I can get with CCD cameras on Jupiter.

Ron Wodaski

Ron Wodaski
New Astronomy Press
http://www.newastro.com
Posted 05/08/2003 01:52AM #2
Very nice first picture!

You could use a barlow to increase the image scale,
or you could move the webcam out from the eyepiece like I did.
Philips webcams particularly TouCam Pro and Vesta are good for astroimaging (if you can find them).

Registax is a good program and I use it regularly (it's help files might be useful reading).
I get much better results with it compared to K3CCDTools which I used before.
You could try K3CCDTools which might be easier to use.
Hint - use K3CCDTools's Planetary Wizard.

Some images (and maybe some hints as well) in my webpages:
http://members.surfeu.fi/tapiol/astro/

Greetings
Tapio