I acquired a cheap webcam - Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000. I actually got it to see if would give me a visual on the accuracy of the polar alignment of my astrophotography setup, but it wasn't much good for that. So what else could I do with it, I wondered during the daytime on my week off. Tried pointing it at the eyepiece of my telescope - nothing. OK, then I pulled the lens out of the webcam and taped it in place, poked into the scope focusser. How about that! I can get a focussed image and at a hell of a magnification!
Photo 1 - SLR camera and film - arrow is pointing at a distant hilltop - not the dark one (in shadow), but the light green one beyond.
Photo 2 - a tree on that hilltop - the webcam through my 8" 1200mm focal length scope. Actually about nine frames from an .avi stacked with RegiStax, though even a single megapixel photo I took didn't look bad. This is higher magnification than a 2x barlowed 8.5mm eyepiece.
OK, let's consult an expert. Set up again at Snake Valley the next evening with Ken (ballaratdragons) helping. He had the correct adapter to screw into the webcam and fit into a 1.25" to 2" adapter. Ken helped me focus up on Jupiter, adjust brightness controls a little and grab a 640x480 .avi file as Jupiter and four moons transited the FOV.
Photo 3 - From left to right - Europa, Ganymede, Jupiter, Io (with Callisto well outside FOV to the lower right) - Around 50 frames stacked in RegiStax. (Edit - just remembered - dark frame (generated by RegiStax from a short dark .avi) subtracted as well - did a good job removing noise and the one major hot pixel.)
Nothing special, but great fun for me. Even more fun when I realised I had the audio recording on as well and can play people the video where they can hear the excitement of success!
Thanks for looking. Thanks Ken.
