Planetary imaging astrophotography camera test

I finally got the chance to test my DIY camera today. It's still cloudy, but I couldn't wait any longer and decided to see if I could get it to focus on anything. I needed a distant target, so I chose some trees about 50m outside my window. I filmed from inside as the wind would have ripped the scope off the mount, on top of adding vibration to my capture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AHPJ_dkm78Q&feature=plcp

I used Registax to capture a 30 second clip at 30fps, using the default settings chosen by the program when the camera was plugged in. (I think 320x240 res, with white balance and exposure on auto and everything else at either 0 or whatever it is on program startup).
I had the whole thing set up, focussed and uploaded to youtube within about 5 minutes, but for a first attempt I'm extremely happy with my results.

I have since got the camera to work at 640x480 at 30fps with no loss in picture quality or "screen lag", and have played with the hue, saturation, contrast and white balance to achieve an accurate full colour image.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSiP0J_JhjQ

Roll on clear skies!

Ginger

It's finally here...

The postman finally came yesterday, bringing me a HUGE box and leaving me with a smile that stretched from ear to ear. After some pretty appalling customer service causing "next day delivery" to take a week, my telescope finally arrived, and naturally I spent the next hour and a half tearing open all the boxes and putting it together.

It's a Celestron Astromaster 130 EQ-MD, but I've left the motor drive off for now as the EQ mount had me confused even before I'd finished setting it up. Hopefully I'll get the hang of it faster than I anticipate...

It took me a while to set up, but overall I'm very impressed. I don't have much to compare it to having never owned a proper telescope before, but the build quality is very sturdy and I'm eager to get it out as soon as the clouds clear up.

After some close ups of some clouds and the trees at the end of the garden, I decided to see if my DIY camera fitted in the eyepiece slot... a snug, but perfect match. Hopefully I'll get the chance to test it before too long, but the bad weather isn't showing any signs of letting up any time soon.

I'm waiting for a couple more webcams to be delivered so I can make a detailed guide for you to follow in order to make your own. I'll do both a step by step guide with loads of pictures here on this blog, as well as a video tutorial to upload to youtube. 

I'm also working on a checklist of astronomy objects, consisting of 8 planets and 110 Messier objects, with their names and locations so I can tick them off when I've found them. I'll probably upload that at some point for anyone who would like a copy.

I'll hopefully be uploading my "Build your own DIY astrophotography webcam" in the next day or two, so check back soon!

DIY Planetary imaging camera - COMPLETE!

I got bored of waiting for the postman, so I made a start on my makeshift planetary/lunar imaging astrophotography camera.

It's based on Microsoft's Xbox Live Vision webcam, but you have to open the casing up, destroy the 4 micro-LEDs, carefully remove the lens and infra red filter without touching the sensor chip, and then seal it all back up again. It then needs to be modified to fit into your standard 1.25" telescope eyepiece slot, so a PVC tube is glued on to the front of the body. I've put a lid on the end of mine to stop any dust particles getting onto my sensor chip, but this probably isn't necessary.

There are a couple of guides dotted around the internet that you can follow if you wish to build your own astro-imaging webcam, but for a camera that costs £5 on ebay I'm not expecting much. If I can distinguish between saturn and jupiter in my pictures I'll be over the moon! (no pun intended...). I'll let you know how I get on.

I'm working on my own "Build your own DIY planetary imaging camera" guide, so watch this space!

3... 2... 1... Lift off!

Welcome to my blog!

My name is Ryan, but I've been nicknamed "Ginger" since I started primary school. Currently I'm a sixth form student, studying Physics, Maths, Electronics and Computing. I've been fascinated by space & the universe for as long as I can remember, and have finally bitten the bullet and bought my first (proper) telescope!

I'm EXTREMELY excited about my first night camping out with my new telescope, and thought it would be nice to have somewhere to record everything I've seen, what I've done and what was difficult to find in order to track my progress over time. I'm also keen to try my hand at Astrophotography, and so I've bought & modified an Xbox Live Vision webcam in order to try some basic lunar and planetary imaging in the not too distant future.             

Whilst I realise that a diary would have been a much simpler record of my progress, I must admit to being an absolute tech geek and feeling more at home whilst sat in front of a computer. It also allows me to share my progress and findings (hopefully some pictures too, but we'll see...) with friends, family and complete strangers from all over the world.

I'll post up some pictures when the delivery man brings my telescope, as well as post regular updates following each observing session! I hope you find my progress, (assuming I make any...) interesting, and clear skies!

Ginger