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As an example of what can be accomplished with a small telescope, this page
presents images captured with a Discovery 6 inch Newtonian (f/5) telescope
using a modified QuickCam Express Webcam. The QuickCam was
disassembled, and the circuit board mounted on the end of a plastic bottle
bottom that happened to fit tightly on my T-adaptor. Images are taken at either
prime focus, or through a 3x to 4x barlow.
Some of the images list a 5 inch f/6 instrument. For those, I used my
6 inch f/5 stopped down to 5 inches. By focusing without the stop, then
taking photos with the stop, I found that I decreased critical focus
problems by increasing the depth of field.
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All of the moon photos except the Appenine image are composites made
by averaging from 2 to 6 of the best images for the region.
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Use this astro-customized search engine to find astrophoto accessories.
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| The Equipment: Discovery 6" f/5 Newtonian
With a 2" f/15 Refractor Guide Scope. |
Clavius Image, Feb 2, 2009, Modified QuickCam Express Webcam,
6" f/5 Newtonian, 3x Barlow. Stack of 15 images.
Click Here To Enlarge
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Composite of 3 frames taken with 6 inch f/5 Newtonian (masked to 5 inches)
and Quickcam Express webcam. Shots were all taken at prime focus, each photo is
a stack of about a half-dozen frames. This image reveals the
narrow field offered by the small CCD in a webcam. The moon easily fits in
the field of view of the f/5 telescope, but at prime focus the webcam sees
only 1/3 of the moon. Click here to see a
larger image in a more natural orientation.
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Moon Image, Albategnius Region, Modified QuickCam
Express Webcam, 5" f/6 Newtonian, 3x Barlow.
Click to Enlarge
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Moon Image, Straight Wall Region, Modified QuickCam Express Webcam,
5" f/6 Newtonian, 3x Barlow.
Click to Enlarge
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Moon Image, South Polar Region, Modified QuickCam
Express Webcam, 5" f/6 Newtonian, Prime Focus.
Click to Enlarge
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Moon Image, Plato Region, Modified QuickCam
Express Webcam, 5" f/6 Newtonian, Prime Focus.
Click to Enlarge
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| Moon Image, Apennine Range Region, Modified
QuickCam Express Webcam, 6" f/5 Newtonian, 3x Barlow.
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Moon Image, Alpine Valley Region, Modified QuickCam
Express Webcam, 5" f/6 Newtonian, 3x Barlow. Averaging but
a few images brings out the subtle variations in surface color.
Click to Enlarge
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Moon Image, Eratothenes crater, Modified
QuickCam Express Webcam, 5" f/6 Newtonian, 3x Barlow. I always thought
I could glimpse about 3 mountains in the crater. These images, excellent
for the 6 inch f/5 I think, show the mountains clearly.
Click to Enlarge
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Moon Image, Tycho crater, Modified QuickCam
Express Webcam, 5" f/6 Newtonian, 3x Barlow.
Click to Enlarge
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| Jupiter Image, Oct 16, 2000, Modified
QuickCam Express Webcam, 6" f/5 Newtonian, 4x Barlow. | Saturn Image,
Oct 16, 2000, Modified QuickCam Express Webcam, 6" f/5 Newtonian, 4x Barlow.
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Personal Notes
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All of these images were obtained with my modified webcam. If you have a
laptop, that form of photography is reasonable convenient. Early on I only
had a desk top computer (used for the planetary and Lunar Appenine photos),
and dragging out the equipment was quite a chore.
Now I have an old Dell laptop (Windows 98 vintage) that I use. I have
Debian Etch on it, and use a program named camstream to grab the images.
I set camstream to take 20 to 40 snapshots in sequence, then I look through
those, grab the best ones (usually about 1 out of 10), and average them with
a perl script I wrote.
Many people have had good results with digital cameras. The advantage to
using them is that they are self contained -- no computer required. I've
constructed a mount so I can start using my Fuji digital camera. The Mercury
transit images at The 2"
Lens were taken with my Fuji digital in this manner.
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