Hunting all the Messier Objects Astrophotography with a $40 Web Cam James Maughan RVAS February 21, 2005

8” Dobsonian from Coulter Optics My Odyssey 8

Progress towards 110 Messier Objects

Long Exposure Photographs- Camera Only - 16 sec maximum exposure - f/ mm equivalent - manual focus

Iridium Flare (16 sec exposure)

Northern Lights

Modifications for Telescope - modified mount from 4” Newtonian - eyepiece projection - 4 to 8 sec exposure

Comet Ikeya-Zhang

Epsilon Lyra Double Stars

Mercury Transit

Jupiter Moons

Saturn Occulation

Saturn Reappearance

Orion Nebula

Asteroid 2002NY40 Flyby, 18 Aug second exposures, - separated by 30 sec

Meade 10” LX-50, and Logictech Quickcam unmodified, 1/30 sec exposure, direct projection - K3CCD and Registax software

Jupiter Processing For Noise Reduction

Moon- Straight Wall

Mars

Saturn

Jupiter

Modifications for Longer Exposures - modify circuitry to bypass 1/5 sec exposure limit - K3CCD computer control

Requires Accurate Polar Alignment - K3CCD to calculate RA and dec drift - Excel program to calculate angular misalignment, correction needed - adjust set screws as needed

Periodic Error in LX50 Drive - Limits practical exposure length to appx 30 sec

Crab Nebula

Pluto

Sombrero Galaxy

Whirlpool Galaxy

Ring Nebula

James Maughan Thank You!