Carina Nebula with Modified Toucam

[ballaratdragons]

This is a 4 image Mosaic of Carina Nebula (unfortunately taken thru fog)

I'm happy with it considering the terrible conditions I captured it in.

ED80, Modified Toucam, 2 x 2 min exposures for all 4 mosaic sections.

[h0ughy]

well done Ken, I can just make out the shape!

[ballaratdragons]

Yeah Houghy, the core shape is sort of there.

To bring it out more, it showed the Amp Glow in the top left of all 4 sections (the brighter areas in the top left of each section can just be seen, looks a bit like nebulous gas). I had to sacrifice the detail in the Neb to hide most of the Amp Glow.

Here is the Amp Glow in all four sections when the levels are brought up more. Yuk!

[ving]

gah! amp glow!!!
there has to be a way to get rid of it!!!

nice one ken, the detail is just visible :)

[ballaratdragons]

There is Vingo. Cooling.

The detail is obscured by Fog even when brought right out. It was dumb trying to image thru it, but I was all set up and I wasn't going to pack up again without getting something for the night :lol:

It was also a test run for me to get images of a larger area and stitch them together manually, not with Autostitch.

[RB]

Nice one Ken !
How do you stack the frames, Registax? PS?..other?

There has to be a way to get rid of amp glow.......:confuse3:
Doh, posted the same time Ken.

[ballaratdragons]

Stacked in Registax (with darks), processed in PhotoShop, stitched manually in PaintShop Pro.

[ving]

hey ken, can you explain an idiots version of what amp glow is... talk to me as if i were a child if you like. :)
i am clueless. just what is an amp? :shrug:

[RB]

I wouldn't mind giving it a go, I'm PM you later Ken.

[ballaratdragons]

Vingo, the Amp is a very small device inside all webcams (and all digital cameras I think) which gives power to a webcam to download the image from the webcam to the computer. So it's like a download motor. While it is in use (all the time) it gets warm which heats up the imaging chip in the top left corner near where they mount the Amp.

Peltier cooling on the Amp can reduce this problem quite a fair bit. But there is an even better way. There is an small electronics board that can be made and fitted which turns of the Amp off, or to extremely low voltage, while imaging, then turns it back on for the image download, and when combined with peltier cooling gives excellent results.

But it comes at a cost, so when I get a few spare bucks I'll consider it. Still cheaper than updating to a better Camera at ther moment (even though I'd prefer to update).

I hope that makes sense :thumbsup:

[ballaratdragons]

OK Andrew :thumbsup:

[ving]

thanks for the "amps for dummies" lesson :)
completely understood!
I always thought it was a little red light or something and wondered why people didnt just take it off :lol:
:ashamed:

[seeker372011]

subtracting a dark frame -at least for my DSLR-helps control ampglow..should be the same for a modified ToUcam ?