A litttle astro photography

[Tamiyacowboy]

Cheers, the cam works all ok, on thing i have noticed, in the nose piece, there were 2 lenses, both of which i have removed, so in theory, all i have left now is my ir filter, however when i screwed back in the nose piece to the adapter, i still had to manualy adjust the nose piece to focus, i thought there would be no focus at all, untill fitted to the focus tube?

ah found the culprit, there appears to be a 3rd lens, which sits just in front of the ir filter

was then going to say maybe a stealth fitted third lens hiding behind IR, but you have already spotted it

Edit:

just stripped down my lens unit, 4 lens system with a single IR. think it has more lenses because it was a auto focus (actuator driven type )

Edited October 2, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[martleeds]

Well thats astro webcam mk1 complete, now to pull out the scope, and see if my efforts have paid off, feels a little fragile, but not a bad first effort

Edited October 2, 2011 by martleeds

[Tamiyacowboy]

looking good martleeds

yes best to test in daylight, find a very distant object and see if you can focus to it.

if your unable to get a clear view ie: blurred image try popping in a 2x barlow then the webcam , if that does not work try a 3x barlow.

if these do not work, remove the bottom piece to the barlow ( part with lens) and place this into the bottom of the film cam ( barlow without extender tube)

[martleeds]

Was just about to mention, using both the 3x and 2x barlow, i was unable to get a clearly focused view, of a church, which i know to be about 4 miles away as the crow flies, got some lovely close up views of a tree about 20 yards away though

[Tamiyacowboy]

aye same as me, short sightedness

hold out till i find the fix, should not be to long.

at mo i am removing the eyepiece holder from my focuser its going to give me another 5mm + to play with. will post results here.

[martleeds]

Nice one, the only other frustrating thing with the 900mm is the image shift, every time you touch the focus adjustment, you have to wait a good few seconds for the image to stabilise, it takes a day and age to focus

Also i can see the need for cooling too, not sure how hot these webcams should get in normal use, but i could deffinatley feel a bit of heat, in the new enclosure, even with a couple of holes already in the case, think cooling will be a priority, if i make a mk2

Edited October 2, 2011 by martleeds

[Tamiyacowboy]

what already thinking about a MK II version lol

so here is the fix buddy

the focuser tube has an eyepiece holder fitted, ( black ring with thumb screws holding eyepiece in), wind out the focuser a little and with one hand grip it with fingers.

No with other hand and gentle but firm'ish unscrew the eyepiece holder and remove.

now your left with a focuser and no EP holder, slip your cam into the focuser tube, now try to focus on distant object, you should find the 5mm reduction from the eyepiece holder allows webcam to sit just right on the focal plain.

Above method worked with my short sighted 76mm dobson perfect. all i need now is that big lunar body to show itself in the sky. and i can calibrate scope & cam. heat yes all electronic give of heat in our enclosures it builds up, but its like mid 70's at the mo and evening times we drop to around the mid 40's, so camera will be cooler in the evenings and over winter even cooler.

Do not store webcam where dust can gather into your barrel. maybe use cap as a dust cap.

as for focusing, yes a small judder becomes a huge swing or jolt. this is the camera and the telescope. and something you get used to. have to remember shoestring astronomy does not have the money for expensive super heavy mounts. wait till you get a windy night lol then you see huge errors coming up.

Edited October 2, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[Tamiyacowboy]

Moon : Lunar Object

so here we go, i solved the telescopes short sightedness, 180mb Avi : 309 frames.

telescope had eyepiece holder removed, the 5mm gained from the removed holder gave me enough travel to focus to infinity. the above pictures is a 309 frame stacked shot, i tweeked wavelets to bring out the detail.

microsoft HD-5000 converted astrocam @ 300mm prime @ f3.9 96mm heritage 76 dobson

[Tamiyacowboy]

MRTamiyaCowboy presents : moon capture Avi from telescope and webcam

You can see from the Avi that seeing was bad, lots of what appears to be heat waves. i hope the cooler winter nights will help. but i did only leave thescope for around 20 mins cooling down before filming.

camera heat output stayed stable once body had cooled down. overal i am stoked that the baby scope held up so well. i do not see this type of detail from a 60x eyepiece.

Next is Jupiter but tracking will be somewhat hard. as you can see the moon shifts along at a fair speed in just 30 seconds with the prime focus method

Edited October 3, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[martleeds]

Heres my attempt at Jupiter tonight, what an absolute mare, quite windy here, plus struggling with focus, i only managed to run approx 60 frames through registax, this was without a barlow,using the primary method, can see 3 of the moons, but 4 were visible when viewing

Edited October 3, 2011 by martleeds

[Tamiyacowboy]

Heres my attempt at Jupiter tonight, what an absolute mare, quite windy here, plus struggling with focus, i only managed to run approx 60 frames through registax, this was without a barlow,using the primary method, can see 3 of the moons, but 4 were visible when viewing

takes a while buddy, we have just started on the long road, i had same problem with focus, the vid above is a clip of the 180mb i shot. focusing is like a very fine touch here and there,

looking good for a first try and have to remember, we are a long way away. i doubt my baby dob will get anything near yours

[martleeds]

hopefully the skies will be a bit clearer tonight, so il have another crack at that big celestial body above my head, the moon, i had a crack on tuesday night, inbetween breaks in the cloud, but i could not get the cam to focus at all, i removed the eye piece ring from the focus tube, but im still slightly short sighted, im going to see if i find a fix, although im a bit stumped at the mo

[Tamiyacowboy]

hopefully the skies will be a bit clearer tonight, so il have another crack at that big celestial body above my head, the moon, i had a crack on tuesday night, inbetween breaks in the cloud, but i could not get the cam to focus at all, i removed the eye piece ring from the focus tube, but im still slightly short sighted, im going to see if i find a fix, although im a bit stumped at the mo

maybe see if you can slip the cameras pcb into the broken eyepiece.

other way is dropping the mounting points in the case for pcb a little . dropping the sensor closer to the hole in camera body, getting it a few mm closer to the focal plane

[martleeds]

Your a genius mate, just realised i can gain an extra 5-6mm by opening up the hole in my cam body, where the lens screws in to the lens adaptor, the adaptor is about 5 to 6mm deep, but this is recessed into my camera body, if i open up the hole slightly, and let the adaptor protrude through the camera body, i should gain a bit more focus hopefully

[Tamiyacowboy]

Crank your Heads Skywards Tonight : meteor shower

This year, the Draconids could see peak rates of 600 meteors an hour, a 1,000 an hour and its classed a meteor shower.

so if you have clear skys tonight enjoy the viewing.

[Tamiyacowboy]

Well i have been under clouded skys for the past 7 days. not even a glance at the stars or lunar planets.

so with my time away from the heavens, i have been looking at a new telescope and have chosen two i like.

Skywatcher 150P with an EQ3-2 pro mount @ £285 give or take a couple pounds. sexy looking black tube and white mount body

Skywatcher 250 Dobsonian mount. nearly the same price as a 150P. all white tube and box mount

here is the problem The MOUNT/Tripod :

you really need a expensive tripod/mount to be able to do deep sky objects like nebula and dust clouds with camera and webcams, and the expensive mounts are designed to track these objects like nasa tracking the ISS. they never skip a beat. where as the EQ3-2 mount will not have this superior tracking. a good mount will cost me more than the scope at around £500 - £900 gbp and that will let me shoot what i really am aiming for, Nebula's cloud formations and dustclouds, globular clusters etc etc.

so what do i do, but a 150mm with a not to bad mount and save for a betetr mount ( no nebulas etc ) or buy a larger 250mm with a very cheap mount for the same price as a smaller scope with tripod. the 250mm costs the same as a 150mm ( bigger is better as they say). it has been eating my mind what to do, so i asked a few astronomers for advice. expensive mount , large mirror and short'ish focal length ( 650mm /1200mm min-max)

so i will Buy the 250mm on the cheap mount ( bigger mirror ) as i get larger mirror and aperture, then at a later date save pennys and purchase a good heavy duty mount (HEQ5 pro secondhand) . and then fit the large 8" mirror tube to the new mount. a longer route to getting nebula photographs / movie, but cheaper in the long run and lets me learn to hone my astrophotography skills.

so hopefuly after christmas i should be the proud owner of a 8" space cannon, all i need to find now is a couple of milk crates as i will not be able to see through the focuser once the 8" gets mounted to a tripod. and a camo cover so it is not mistaken for a skud launcher by the local population

[martleeds]

Haha good stuff tamiya, last night was the first time, i have seen the moon, since a week last tuesday, Jupiter is in opposition to the sun this month, so im hoping to cut my teeth, with a good photo of Jupiter, and hopefully a couple of moons for good measure

I managed to modify my webcam slightly, havent had chance to test it yet, but hoping the clouds stay at bay tommorow night, when i will have some time to have a good play, i would love to track nebulae with my Powerseeker, but will stick to planets for the mean time, i wouldnt mind a larger scope, but until i can master polar alignment, and the workings of my current set up, i will leave the expensive stuff, untill i know the hobby is for me, although im liking the look of a goto scope, like this one http://www.telescopehouse.com/acatalog/Meade_DS2130ATS_LNT_Telescope.html

on a side note, i sat and watched the sky at night, never once have i considered watching it before, but found it quite interesting

[Tamiyacowboy]

been overcast every night for the past 7-8 days. i am itching to get some shots off and try find me a smudgy nebula in Lyra.

you can track with yours, those Dec/RA twiddle knobs should let you track the moon fairly well. but nebula are a lot harder, they require mins-hours of exposure. i will be happy seeing them through an eyepiece, and you should be able to see a few yourself, at the mo there is one in LYRA the halfway between the two bottom stars, pop scope to it and have a wandering gaze around the area of them two stars and you should find it, maybe a little fuzzy but its there.

larger scope does not have to be polar aligned is just good for tracking, a dobsonian does not need to be PA just plonk it down and start viewing, they are the most easy mounts to use.

lol hooked, have watched a lot of them best is bbc4 you get a half hour program and not 20 mins. and yes it is interesting , and sometime boring but i guess thats how astronomy is lol.

[martleeds]

Im getting good at tracking the moon, saying that, it is the biggest thing in the sky, still need to align my finderscope too, its a red dot type, took me about 10 minutes last night, just trying to find jupiter haha

I might get lucky tommorow night, and get a view of M31 too, im also looking for a good tripod/stand for my 15/70 powerseeker binos

Found this usefull on the sky at night website http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/field-view-calculator it gives an idea of what to see, using the equipment you have

Edited October 14, 2011 by martleeds

[Tamiyacowboy]

i set my finder scope to Vega / arcturus , they very bright so good for getting aligned with scope.

what i do is set scope to the star and centre it in eyepiece. now lock down scope and set the finder.

check scope for star adjust scope to centre star and check red dot alignment. do a couple times.

one tip. once red dot is set do not, and i mean do not touch it (only to turn on/off) otherwise your work is undone and you have to reset it. trust me it is not fun lol i should know.

[Tamiyacowboy]

So you have looked outside at night skywards and have said to yourself " meh that tami must be crazy" i cannot see anything.

so here are a few tips to help you along with naked eye viewing.

First off lets get to a fairly dark place and let our eyes settle down to nigh vision mode. if you need to find your way around a simple red cycle light is your best friend. its all about your eyes. lets wait about 20 mins and then have a gaze upwards. you should now start to see stars and maybe some fuzzy blobs.

so we can see stars but how many should we see, popping to this link http://www.avex-asso...ss/?page_id=127 we will find a map of the UK's light pollution. this pollution is from streetlamps and the likes and the map shows you roughly how dense it can be. i live in a red/orange area so have around 80-200 stars. i would also say go and buy a copy of" Left turn at Orion" a very good book for starters.

a cheap pair of binoculars will allow you to see Some of the planets, the lunar moon, Jupiter and its moons and saturn as it comes round to the night sky. other objects can be found to, just below Orions belt ( three stars ) you will find a faint fuzzy looking cloud/star, this is m42 a nebula. In lyra's box the last two stars have a nebula to. Sit for long enough and it may be possible to make out the milkyway .

now you may find a nebula or a large spiral galaxy and say " hey tami why is it grey/black and white ",

well our eyes just cannot collect enough light for us to see this colour, so to humans it looks a grey'ish clolour, even so an image would show the colouring.

be it your eyes, a toy telescope a set of binoculars, or a huge 20 inch telescope you can always see something.

Edited October 14, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[dtokez]

Im glad I don't live in london lol, that place is glowing!

I live in Southampton, right next to the new forest which is showing up clear I didn't think it was that good

[Tamiyacowboy]

depends but thats a rough guess to what darkskys are around your area.

still have to remember even if your a few mile away from a town/city you can still be affected by LP. you can buy filters to cut out the light pollution.

at the mo been to busy looking for work, to do any photography and i am waiting till winter hits.

word of warning, been having dew problems so you may want to look into a dew heater / shield and keep your eyepieces in your pocket , and swap over when they get misty.

[Tamiyacowboy]

Just thrashed out 4 AVI files of Jupiter traversing the nights sky. sadly the scope did not reach far enough so all i have is a glowing ball.

going to be refining the MK 1 camera, i require a IR cut filter to leave me with less glare. have decided maybe a whole new case re-mod or maybe change.

have noticed the 3x optical zoom has been replaced with a 4x digital zoom in a 10 step slider. slipping camera into an already aligned scope, i had a picture right away on screen, needed to infocus slightly but have a good rough cut recording. i shall post said video once uploaded, will give people an insight to what you can record with a very small mirrored scope.

Edit : 1.5 hrs to upload the 250+mb file but here is the 40 odd second recording i done

to put the vast distance into some perspective it takes 36 mins for the light reflecting of juipter to travel to earth.

the distance is 4 AU ( 1 au = 93,000,000 miles ) and it takes 8 mins for light to travel 1 AU.

Edited November 20, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy

[Tamiyacowboy]

Orions belt

so here is a photograph of orions belt. ( three bright stars diagonal ) below orions belt is three mid sized double stars , the middle of these double stars is infact M42 a nebula. here it is seen as two mid sized blobs of light almost touching. a naked eye can see M42 as a fuzzy blur below orions belt on a good clear night.

shot was taken with a canon 350d and a 90-300mm lens.

ISO 100

2.3s exposure

f4.5

90mm focal

tungsten white balance

every couple of shots the camera was moved to track orions belt as it moved across the nights sky. the picture is a stack from 58 shots, and given a slight tone up with gimp. sadly the nebula cloud does not show.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Tamiyacowboy