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I give true meaning to the term "amateur" in Amateur Astronomy. I had a
60mm refractor when I was a kid (1983 or so), and remember looking at the
moon and watching a solar eclipse using the sun filter. It was a pretty cheap
model compared to some that my friends had, but it was fun to look through.
Fast forward to 2007... something sparked my interest again, so I started
looking to the skies with a pair of Leupold 10x50 binoculars. These binos are
fabulous for wide field viewing, but I wanted to get a little closer look at some
objects, so I chose to pick up a Celestron 80SLT, an 80mm refractor on a
"go-to" mount. So far it's been lots of fun.
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Cartes Du Ciel Screen
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Registax Screen
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I didn't get too many pictures until
late in the year...
This is a shot of me getting the tube
aligned on Nov. 18, 2007.
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Waiting for the tube to track.
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I haven't got the greatest setup for
astrophotography, but it was too
cheap not to try. I used my old
Logitech Pro 5000 cam and fitted it
with a 1.25" adapter and IR filter. I
capture streaming video (30fps) and
stack the frames using Registax for
improved quality.
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A shot of the moon taken with the
web cam. I stacked about 800
frames to get this image on
Jan. 12, 2008.
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This is a shot of Mars on
Jan. 10, 2008... not real impressive,
but it was my first attempt at getting
the cam up and running, and I was
having a difficult time with finding
objects, and obviously the focus.
400+ stacked images
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Another shot of Mars on
Jan. 10, 2008.
400+ stacked images + noise
reduction for enhanced color.
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July 13, 2008
Another shot of the moon.
Comparable to the first I shot in
January. Not perfect, but a good
view of Tycho (just low and right of
center), where Surveyor 7 landed on
Jan. 10, 1968. Stacked ~20 frames.
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July 13, 2008
Not real pleased with the resolution,
but not too bad for my first try at
magnifying a $40 web cam with a 2x
Barlow. Looking at the southern end
of Mare Nubium, specifically at
Heslodus and Pitatus area. Stacked
~30 frames.
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July 13, 2008
This is a single frame shot that didn't
turn out too bad. Looking at Mare
Nubium and Cognitum, just south of
the equator where Ranger 7,
Surveyor 3 and Appolo 12 and 14
landed.
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July 13, 2008
~1500 stacked images of Saturn.
Not great, and it looks much better
looking through my 9mm plossl, but
not bad for what it is. Perhaps we
are looking at 70x or 80x with the
webcam.
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July 13, 2008
Here is a decent shot of Jupiter with
three of her moons visible. From left
to right... Io, Eurpoa and Ganymede
(Calisto was visible, but out of the
frame). Stacked ~500 58% quality
frames.
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July 13, 2008
Another shot of Jupiter. Actually the
same set of frames regenerated but
not enlarged. Stacked ~300 90%
quality frames.
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