woot, l33t soldering skilz

[Ian]

tonight, I took my least impressive yet most satisfying astrophoto. It is so not impressive I shan't bore you with it. But, it was taken with my Vesta-SC1 webcam! I'm going to go to sleep now, after several long nights and frustrated days. And several, oh no that's really screwed it moments. Now if the skies would clear properly...

[Mike]

Is that modified for long exposures ?

[Ian]

yup. Looks like a dogs dinner tho'. Those cameras are seriously robust. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.

[Ian]

First Proper Light. The pic mentioned above doesn't count as first light...

Name that Messier Object....




[ This Message was edited by: Ian on 2002-06-27 00:32 ]

[Mike]

Now that is pretty darn good !!!

How long is the exposure ?

Please bring the camera along to the meeting tonight Ian, I'd love to have a look.

Gonna have to try and fix mine after seeing that result !

[Rick]

Looks good!

[james]

Superb picture. Well done

[Ian]

OK, this is a stack of 12 of 15 30 second exposures at prime focus of 200mm f6. Aligned and stacked with K3CCD tools, with a 5 frame stacked dark subtracted and then histogram stretched to bring out colour and dimmer stars. The central star in the ring is just visible at a mag of 15.31. I am now in the process of identifing the others. Polar alignment of the scope could have been better, and next time, I'll give myself more time and take many more exposures and try and tighten up the focus.
I can bring the camera tonight Mike, but I'm afraid it isn't much to look at atm, I have a box to mount it in but currently it's all bound up in black electrical tape.

[Mike]

OK don't bother then. If the exposure is 30 seconds then how have you got around the problem of the image moving over time. is the scope guided now ?? Or did you artifically align the images afterwards ?

[Ian]

not guided, but driven. But they still required alignment as my mount wasn't well aligned.

[Mike]

Driven is what I meant. Is the drive home-made or shop bought ? How are you getting on with your home-made electric focussing system ?

[Whitters]

Nice pic Ian.