No luck at all with astro imaging with webcam!!

[timboo]

Hi all,

I'm having lots of trouble with astro-imaging at the moment with my Philips spc900nc. I've modded it and added the screw-in adapter. I've got my target - the moon, with 40% moon filter. Prime focus.

But no matter what, I can never get the image to be more than a bright blur with any of the freebie software i've been trialling. Frantic adjustments of settings don't seem to be helping either. Is it that the moon is simply too bright at the moment, even with a filter??

I can take some nice shots with digital cam via afocal method, but any object - even a pea sized jupiter cannot be picked up by webcam... any tips??

Many thanks!!
Tim.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

You might need an extension tube to be able to achieve focus Tim.

[iceman (Mike)]

What telescope are you using it with?

Like Jeanette said, it might not be coming to focus. Best bet is to try it during the day on a far away tree or mountain - if you can't get it come to focus during the day, it won't be able to at night either.

Also like Jeanette said (full of wisdom is she!), an extension tube or a barlow will probably help if focus is the issue.

Also, you can throw away (or at least, stop using ) the moon filter. With the web cam, you can adjust the exposure on the bright parts of the moon (ie: use a shorter exposure).

[erick (Eric)]

Which software, Tim?

You may not be getting the exposure right. If not, the Moon will be a bright furry disk! That's what I had last night until I found the right controls in Craterlet! Auto exposure and centre the Moon and it should adjust to a respectable exposure. But as the Moon drifts off centre (non-tracked scope) it starts over-exposing the Moon. If you turn off auto exposure, the key slider you then adjust is the "shutter". You can also twiddle the "gain". "Brightness" and "contrast" will do nothing useful until you get the shutter under control!

I'll post a snapshot of the Moon from last night (taken through a $25 plastic Gallileoscope!), when I can get it off the lappie - that is busy being backed up at the moment!

Update - photo attached. Nothing special - just a single frame grab, no optimisation of camera settings, focus probably a bit soft, no process.

[Insane Climber (Jason)]

Hey tim please show us a pic of the blur. there are heaps of things that can go wrong.

[midnight (Darrin)]

Tim, as Eric suggested the problem might be gain.

I am only starting out too with CCD stuff and my camera had me stumped for over week. Just a bright white blob and even jupiter was bright with no feature. Everything was white

I solved it when I found the gain setting. It defaulted to maximum so reducing this and in came the detail.

Brightness and contrast made no difference to the detail (eg the white blob just got dimmer or brighter).

Good luck.

Darrin...