Long Exposure Toucam from Snake Valley Camp

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Another camp is over.

That's 'Snake Valley Astronomy Camp' number 4 out of the way, and it was a blast!!!

Here are some of the long exposures I captured with the Toucam during Camp.

None of them have been processed properly yet as I am very tired (I didn't sleep much over the last 4 nights). But I thought I'd post them to give you a look at what I was up to.

All images with ED80 on EQ6, Modded 840k Toucam, 0.5x Focal Reducer, and hand guided with a Guidescope made by Bert.

Remember, they haven't been stacked properly or processed right yet.

1. Omega Centaurus
2. Sirius
3. Antares
4. Orion Nebula
5. NGC 4945 (the Great Edgewise Spiral In Centaurus)
6. NGC 4976 (a companion galaxy of 4945)
7. Centaurus 'A'
8. Centaurus 'A' with a small bit of processing done

[RB (Andrew)]

I'm glad SVAC4 went well Ken !

Wow these shots are fantastic, you've really milked the Toucam and got excellent results.

Great work.

[Adrian-H]

looks like alot of effort coming from your way, thats what really matters in my opinion.

big thumbs up coming from me, to you.

[iceman (Mike)]

Excellent work Ken, great images from the ToUcam. You're coming a long way fast!

[xelasnave]

You fellas with flash observatories get great shots .
Congratulations Ken they are excellent sure you are not a salesman for these cameras .. they should put you on the pay roll I already want to get one .
alex

[xelasnave]

Try a dark frame subtract when you get to work on them... I used to avoid dong them because I was happy with my results but when I started adding this aspect to the proceedure you could see the improvement.
But dont let that comment take away from your excellent work.
alex

[h0ughy (David)]

Well Done Ken, I especially like the full moon shot (only kidding). Mate I would have to agree, that poor little toucammy has had a hard life, you are DSLR ready now

[Tamtarn]

WOW !!!!!! Congratulations Ken amazing shots with a Toucam

[ving (David)]

wow! they are the second best toucam images i have seen today!!!

onya ken!

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Bert has done a bit of work with one of my images of NGC 4945 (with permission) to bring out more detail.

He has used gradientXterminator to get rid of the gradients and clone stamp for the hot pixels.
And then a bit of curves to enhance the faint stuff.

There is data in my pics, but I don't quite know how to pull it all out.

Thanks Bert, great job
I am even more stunned now at what a Modded Toucam can do!

1. Berts re-process.
2. Same, but I converted to Greyscale for the folk who like Galaxies that way.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

And here is my attempt at cleaning one up.

NGC 4976 at 200% image size increase, and noise reduction in 'Neat Image'.

At least I'm having fun trying

[Ric]

Hi Ken, great images and lots of detail.
You are really getting your money's worth from the Toucam.

Cheers

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Yep, I sure am Ric.

Here's another one. This time I have restacked and re-processed centaurus A.

I have sent all the raw frames to Bert to see how it comes out when done properly, but here's my effort at Cent A.

[mick pinner]

you're improvement is an inspiration, great images with the Toucam.

[ballaratdragons (Ken)]

Thanks Mick.

I am using the addage: The best equipment is the equipment that gets used.

I hope others with modded Toucams will post some pics so I can see where I need to improve, and if I happen to inspire someone else to give modded Toucamming a go, all the better.

[mick pinner]

after seeing your pics l am sure others will see modded Toucams as a viable alternative as entry level gear.