Ed Ting
Lowbrow
June 15, 2012
 Astrophotography is…
 Expensive
 Time Consuming
 Frustrating
 Steep Learning Curve
 Inexpensive
 (Relatively) easy
 Fun
 Video is just a series of stills run together.
 If you take enough stills, some of them are
bound to catch moments of good seeing.
 We have software (Registax) that will throw
away the images in bad seeing, and keep the
good ones.
 Stacking the good ones brings out detail in
the images.
 C90 Image
from 2011
 The lowly computer webcam.
 Philips ToUcam (L), SPC900NC (R)
 Resolution is low (640 X 480)
 One shot color reduces this even further
 Some rows of pixels are masked off, reducing
pixel count even more
 Jupiter will not even come close to filling the
chip (200 pixels across is excellent)
 1 Gb of video  one image 7K – 50K
 Some of the best planetary images EVER
have been taken with this method.
 A modified Philips ToUcam
 $129 list, about $100 street
 Uses the Sony ICX098QB chip, 640X480, ¼”
 $350 - $810 depending on model
 Uses the Sony ICX098QB chip, 640X480, ¼”
 $800 - $1000
 Flea uses the 4X more sensitive Sony ICX618 chip
 Webcam (NexImage, ToUcam, etc)
 Telescope with 1.25” focuser
 Laptop running 1) Capture software, 2)
Registax (both are FREE)
 LOTS of hard drive space
 Centering of the image
 Focus
 Dust on sensor
 4000 mm to 4500 mm is ideal
 8” f/10 SCT with a 2X barlow
 4” f/8 refractor with a 5 X barlow
 6” f/8 reflector with a 3X barlow
 80 mm f/6 refractor with 3X and 2.5X barlow
stacked
 Start collecting barlows!
 (L to R) – 2400 mm, 3000 mm, 3600 mm, 4000 mm,
4700 mm
 TeleVue Pronto, prime focus, unguided Alt-Az
mount
 Oct 19, 2010/ Nov 28, 2010
 Dec 2, 2010/ Jan 2, 2011
 January 2012
 Both cameras use the same chip!
 Step 1 – Sorting through individual frames
 Step 2 – Align the good frames
 Step 3 – Stack the images
 Step 4 - Wavelets
 Step 5 – Post Processing
 C6 w/ 2X barlow, NexImage, Registax, 1/2/11
 Start with the moon
 Venus is easy but not terribly interesting
 Jupiter is the next easiest
 Saturn is a little more difficult
 Mars is not easy
 Uranus is hard
 Visual Priorities – Optical quality, steadiness
of mount.
 Webcam Priorities – Steadiness of mount,
Seeing, Image Scale (Emil Kraaikamp’s
imaging rig pictured.)
 Celestron C9.25, 1.8X barlow, Imaging Source
DBK
6:31 PM
6:53 PM
6:58 PM
Concord NH, C6, 1.8X , DBK camera
7:01 PM
 Clavius (143 miles)
Plato (62 miles)
 Archimedes and the Alpine Mountains (L),
Copernicus (R)
 Ptolemaeus (90m) Alphonsus (72m) Arzachel (60
m), Straight Wall (72m). Right: Aristarchus (24 m)
 C90, DBK
@ Prime
Focus
 Gardner Gerry, Orion XT8, G11
 Herb Bubert, C9.25
 Herb Bubert
 Pat Adams, C8 – First attempt (L), Much
Better (R)
 Rich Schueller, C14
 Emil Kraaikamp
 Christopher Go
 Damian Peach
 Zac Pujic
 Eric Ng
 Netherlands
 Philippines , DMK
and Flea 3
cameras
 Selsey, West Sussex, UK – Point Grey Flea3 Webcam
 Plato
 Aristarchus
 The Alpine Valley
 Singapore – These are ToUcam images
 10” f/6 reflector, Vixen Atlux, shared with friend Dennis
 Lowbrow Astronomers – Let’s see your
images!