Research Committee Reports & Observations 

Webcam Imaging

Clif Ashcraft‘s Jupiter Images

Step by Step Webcam Imaging Procedure by Clif Ashcraft

Club Images

Clif Ashcraft‘s Mars Images

Clif Ashcraft‘s Images

Ed Carlos‘ Images

Dale Gary‘s Images

How can I contribute

Astronomy Imaging Series - Webcam Imaging

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AAI Webcam Imaging with the Restored 10inch Refractor at Sperry Observatory

February 15, 2005 Captured Jupiter images using the 10inch refractor telescope by Clif Ashcraft and Ray Shapp

AAI Webcam Imaging at Sperry Observatory

July 14, 2005 Captured Lunar images using the 10inch refractor telescope by Ed Carlos

AAI Webcam Imaging at Jenny Jump Barry Malpas Observatory

July 9, 2005 Captured Lunar and Jupiter images using the Celestron C14 SCT telescope by Clif Ashcraft and Al Witzgal

Webcam Imaging Class Image

Captured during the launch of the AAI Webcam Imaging Class

Clif Ashcraft‘s Images

Oct 31, 2005 Image of Saturn

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date: Thu, 19 May 2005 03:12:42 +0000

... I got a 40mm Coronado filter which I have on a small refractor attached to my 10" Meade SCT. Will be interesting to compare that with the PST. Here‘s a couple of pictures I took through it on the 13th with my webcam:

Clif

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 15:16:00 +0000

My grandson (a junior at the U of Maine) was visiting last week and I made this image comparison for him to show what my telescope could show compared to a spacecraft actually going there. I thought it might be interesting for the research committee as well. Note that the 930 pm image is the one which showed detail on Ganymede when blown up. The first picture is from the Galileo spacecraft orbiting Jupiter in 12 7 00 and the second and third were taken with my 10" reflector in NJ on the night of 3 13 04. The seeing got noticeably better as the night progressed and was as good as I have ever seen it in NJ when the third picture was taken. The side of Jupiter visible at 822 on 3 13 04 is very much the same as that seen by Galileo, however Jupiter had rotated quite a bit by the time the picture at 930 was taken. The GRS is seen just disappearing over the limb of Jupiter in this picture and Ganymede has emerged from transit while its shadow is still on Jupiter. So you can see that the details I resolve using a webcam and Registax processing are real, just not as sharp as they would be if we went there. There is more detail in the Galileo picture than you can see at this screen resolution. Blow it up using Photoshop to see more. You might see a bit more in my pictures too. The details of the cloud formations have actually changed a lot from 2000 when the Galileo picture was taken til when my pictures were taken in 2004. Note how close the single white spot in the south temperate zone is to the GRS (just above and to the right of if) on the Galileo picture. It had lagged behind the GRS by about 70 degrees of longitude by the time my pictures were taken. It is to the right of center in the 822pm picture and to the left of center in the 930pm picture.

Clif

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2005 04:26:46 +0000

I uploaded to the AAI files an image of Jupiter which I took on the evening of Feb 19 using the 12.5" reflector at my observatory and my Philips ToUcam pro webcam . It is a stack of the best 300 images from a 60 sec video. I was using the 640x480 resolution mode and the f/21 focus of the telescope. 15 frames/sec, 1/100th of a second exposure. It‘s the boring side of Jupiter, but quite a bit of detail is visible, including some of the blue holes.

Clif

Combined Pre-Processed

Combined and Processed

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date:Sat, 22 Jan 2005 16:58:35 +0000

After I got home last night, I noticed that the stars were not twinkling, so, even though the temperature was 8 degrees and going down, I went out to the observatory around midnight and set up for webcam photography. I took three four minute long avi‘s at 15 frames per second of Saturn. I am not finished processing them with Registax, but it is apparent that I have some good images. Attached is a stack of 1000 frames from one of the avi‘s. I am working on combining the best frames from all of the stacks. My goal is to resolve Enke‘s division, which I have not yet managed to do. I think I‘ll be making a few trips out to the observatory in the snow today to continue crunching.

Clif

Date:Sat, 22 Jan 2005 23:44:08 +0000

This seems to be the best I can do with these videos. Can‘t quite resolve Enke‘s division. This is a stack of the best 500 frames out of 10,000 frames in three separate avi files. For some reason Registax can only look at 10,000 frames, so even though my three 240 sec avi‘s contained 10.800 frames, it only looked at the first 10,000. There‘s a lot of detail in the cloud bands on the planet, particularly in the polar region, and you can see the shadow of the rings on the planet and the C ring (crepe ring) is also visible. The image looked better in photoshop than it does pasted into this email. You might want to try to darken it a bit in your photo program. By the way, my fancy SBIG CCD camera, can‘t do a better job than my web cam, simply because it can‘t take short exposures. You have to freeze in the instants of good seeing with a short exposure, preferrably 1/100th sec or shorter. This is difficult for objects like Saturn which are too dark for really short exposures. My videos last night were taken with 1/50th sec exposure. You can get down to 1/100th or 1/250th with the Moon, Mars or Jupiter.

Clif

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date: Sat, 27 Nov 2004 15:56:04 +0000

Here‘s a shot of Saturn I took friday morning, maybe a little better than the one I sent you last. 12.3" reflector at f/45, ToUcam Pro. Stack of the best 500 frames of a 3600 frame video. Seeing wasn‘t very good (4 or 5) but Registax-II sees through the turbulence.

Clif

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date: Tue, 16 Nov 2004 22:51:39 +0000

Attached is my latest and best so far picture of Saturn. I took it at the f/45 focus of my 12.3" reflector using double Barlow projection onto the CCD of my webcam with Registax processing. Lot of detail in the cloud bands, and there is a hint of Enke‘s division.

Clif

Email excerpt from Clif Ashcraft

Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 12:37:41 +0000

Here‘s the saturn image I got this morning. It was made from a stack of the best 300 of 900 images in linear wavelet mode using 20, 30, 5, 1, 1, 1 for the amplitudes of the six wavelets.

Clif

Ed Carlos‘ Images

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Mars Nov 25, 2005

Image was captured with a Celestron CR150HD/1200mmFL @F8. I used my Philips PCVC 690K Webcam mated to a 9.7mm eyepiece and a 3x Barlow lens with a distance of approximately 50mm from the eyepiece to the CCD. Image was processed using Registax V2.0 and Photoshop 6.0.

June 4, 2005 - Captured during 2005 StarQuest using a Philips Vesta Pro WebCam and a Celestron CR-150HD @F8 with eyepiece projection of 32mm

Dale Gary‘ Images

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Mars 2005

Email excerpt from Dale Gary

Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 00:18:24 +0000

I took a series of pictures of Mars last night and put them together in this little animation, which shows the rotation of the planet. I thought the seeing was pretty good--definitely a lot better than Saturday night at Jenny Jump. A total of 8 frames, taken with a TouCam II web cam, went into the animation.

Regards,

Dale

If you‘d like to contribute or participate to the Research Committee please contact Ed Carlos