Category Archives: Astroimaging

Xbox Live All-Sky Camera

Posted on March 19, 2012 by james

I picked up an Xbox Live camera very cheaply in the hope that it might be comparable to the SPC900 for planetary imaging. Very quickly however that turned out not to be the case. When testing the camera I discovered … Continue reading →

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New Images of Mars

Posted on March 19, 2012 by james

Last night I captured what I think are possibly my best images of Mars ever (maybe even of any of my planetary images), and it may well be the best I can do with the kit I’m using at the … Continue reading →

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Capture codecs for Solar System Imaging

Posted on March 19, 2012 by james

Until the last few days I’ve not been aware that the various codecs offered for capture by my SPC900 webcam (and others) are not equal and some retain more data than others. Once aware of the issue I did a … Continue reading →

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Registax 6 Tutorial

Posted on March 5, 2012 by james

I use Registax for stacking video frames for planetary imaging, but the learning curve is steep and many online tutorials are out of date because the UI seems to change quite significantly between releases. I was pleased therefore when someone … Continue reading →

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Jupiter, Venus and Mercury

Posted on March 5, 2012 by james

A poor quality photo, I know, but I was grabbing a few seconds when I should have been doing something else so had to make the best of it. Jupiter is at the top, separated from Venus by what appears … Continue reading →

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EQ3-2 Polar Scope Illuminator

Posted on February 23, 2012 by james

I’ve read a few posting by people who have made polar scope illuminators for their EQ5 mounts and as I find aligning my EQ3-2 very awkward thanks to the lack of illumination of the reticle I decided to attempt to … Continue reading →

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A (Relatively) Cheap Illuminated Reticle Eyepiece

Posted on January 23, 2012 by james

When imaging with the 127 Mak and SPC900, getting the target somewhere the webcam will pick it up is one of the most awkward things to do. It’s made more tricky by the fact that if the scope is sufficiently … Continue reading →

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Jupiter and Moons

Posted on September 27, 2011 by james

Since Jupiter is returning to our skies now I thought I’d take advantage of last Thursday’s clear-ish skies to do some imaging practice with my 127 Mak and SPC900. I’ve not been through all the clips I took with my … Continue reading →

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My First Astro Image

Posted on February 10, 2011 by james

I didn’t really know what I was doing when I took this — just put a webcam in the end of the diagonal and did my best with to get an image as it travelled across the camera. I know … Continue reading →

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