Jupiter 24 Jul 2008

Jupiter Meade ETX 125 Logitech WebCam

This is my best image as far as detail goes.


This is some information on my Setup as it stands today.

Meade ETX 125 Premier edition

26mm Meade Eyepiece
15mm Bintel Eyepiece
2.5 Bintel Barlow
Meade rear port "up righting" prism
Logitech CCD based web cam, with home made adapter.
Home made "parfocal" adapter. Made from plastic fittings from Bunning’s, and some lathe work.
Home made power box which holds a 12v Gel Cell battery and various power leads.
This hangs on hooks in the center of the tripod.
I also have a USB to Serial adapter strapped to the tripod.
Two 5 meter USB leads to connect my scope to my laptop.
From my laptop I run "wxAstroCapture" software which is fantastic, supports modified webcams, guiding etc.
I use a little program I wrote in "Gambas" to drive the Scope. I process the AVI file in Registax, and various image programs.

I set this up so I can sit in the warmth of our living room, while my poor ETX is in the cold.

For the Jupiter Pic.

I set the tripod and mount to polar position and mode, when you do this it starts tracking immediately.
Point it south, (must do this better in future)
I'm basically switching between visual and webcam using the scopes "Flip mirror" this is why I need the parfocal adapter.
line up image and focus on the visual side, this allows me to then check my alignment.
I then run inside to find Jupiter smack bang in the center of my laptops capture window, Ha Ha, with practice it gets easier.
Once I see it in my capture window I alternate between keeping it in the field of view and adjusting exposure etc.
When I’m happy I start recording my AVI.

Before all of this I have of course been practising and adjusting my adapter in the back garden to check it's all ok.
Because of the flip mirror system you need to know how the two line up (it's not perfectly at 45 deg), depending on how I have it setup I need to place (Jupiter in this case) above or below center. it lines up perfectly in the horizontal plane.

I really like the ETX, as it's portable, quick to setup, great images for a small size, and cute.