Category Archives: Astronomy

Europa’s Transit of Jupiter, 29 November 2012

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

Having managed to catch some of Ganymede’s transit the previous day, it was then Europa’s moment of fame, though again I didn’t manage the entire transit: And an animation of the end of the transit:

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Ganymede’s Transit of Jupiter, 28 November 2012

Posted on February 21, 2013 by james

On the 28th November I (pretty much accidentally) caught the transit of Jupiter by Ganymede. Here’s one of the better stills from that night: And an animated sequence of first half of the transit:

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SPC900 vs. PS2 Eye camera

Posted on December 7, 2012 by james

When I posted images from the Xbox, Lifecam and SPC900 for comparison, someone asked about the PS2 Eye camera (not the Eye Toy). Last night whilst I was imaging Jupiter and Europa I had a go with it. Control is … Continue reading →

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Registax v6 vs. Autostakkert!2

Posted on December 7, 2012 by james

I’ve had some discussion with a few people about using Autostakkert!2 instead of Registax for stacking planetary images, and potentially using AS!2’s drizzle function as well so I decided to reprocess some of my recent Jupiter images So, here are … Continue reading →

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SPC900 webcam brightness setting

Posted on December 7, 2012 by james

It has been said that the brightness setting for the SPC900 camera affects only what appears on the screen and not what appears in the capture file. Having read the code for the Linux SPC900 driver I wasn’t at all … Continue reading →

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SPC900 vs. Xbox Live cam vs. Lifecam Cinema

Posted on December 7, 2012 by james

“What webcam can I use if I can’t get/afford an SPC900?” seems to be a common question now the SPC900 has become difficult to get hold of, but there doesn’t seem to be much empirical evidence on which to base … Continue reading →

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Hot Shoe Red Dot Finder

Posted on November 15, 2012 by james

Having taken a few wide field images with my DSLR on the EQ3-2 now, I’ve realised what a pain it is getting the target area in the field of view when much of it is too faint to see, let … Continue reading →

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Perseus wide field

Posted on November 15, 2012 by james

Taken the on the same night as my earlier image of Cassiopeia, here’s Perseus. In the top right corner it’s just possible to see the California Nebula starting to emerge.

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Cassiopeia wide field

Posted on November 15, 2012 by james

I spent an evening playing with my new Canon 50mm f/1.8 “nifty fifty” lens and taking some long exposures of constellations near the zenith. This is Cassiopeia. The keen-eyed will spot the double cluster at the centre of the right … Continue reading →

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Another Sunspot Image

Posted on October 10, 2012 by james

This is a full-size crop of my solar image for 4th October. Very pleased with the detail I’m getting here. The image was a “white light” full solar disk taken using a Canon 450D and 127 Mak using Baader solar … Continue reading →

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