Astrovideography (Page 3)


Using the Samsung SDC-435 video camera for astronomy

by Steve Wainwright

The most recent entries are at the top of the page


Images with a focally reduced, autoguided 10", f/4.8 Newtonian

These images were obtained with the camera AGC setting on LOW. In this mode, the image builds up gradually and persists. This mode is intolerant of any drift and the autoguiding was essential. The 0.5 focal reducer was placed with the light-pollution filter on the end of a very short nosepiece to reduce the focal reduction and allow sufficient in-focus.

The Running Man Nebula

 

The Horsehead Nebula

 

The Flame Nebula

 

December 9th, 2010


Images with an autoguided 6", f/5, focally reduced Newtonian

These images were obtained with the camera AGC setting on LOW. In this mode, the image builds up gradually and persists. This mode is intolerant of any drift and the autoguiding was essential.

The Horsehead Nebula

 

The Flame Nebula

 

December 8th, 2010


Images with an autoguided 6", f/5, focally reduced Newtonian

M31

 

M42/43

 

M97, The Owl Nebula

November 29th, 2010


Images with a focally reduced,  autoguided 10", f/4.8 Newtonian

C11, The Bubble Nebula

 

C27, The Crescent Nebula

 

M82, The Cigar Galaxy

 

M81, Bode's Galaxy

 

The Running Man Nebula NGC 1977

November 28th, 2010


C11, The Bubble Nebula with autoguiding an f/5, 6" Newtonian

The image was obtained from a 15 minute DVD VOB with every 8th frame being used


M57 with autoguiding an f/5, 6" Newtonian

A 70mm F=700mm refractor mounted in guidescope rings was used as the guidescope:

The scopes were mounted on a Synscan HEQ5 mount autoguided with a Shoestring USB Guide Port Adapter (GPUSB)

A DMK21AS camera was used as the guide camera set to 1.5s exposures PHD guiding was used as the autoguiding software

The modified Samsung SDC-435 video camera was the imaging camera set to 256 frames accumulation

The autoguiding software was run on a netbook. Here you can see the guide star at the intersection of the two lines on the computer screen and the ring nebula on the video monitor screen on the left.

Data were recorded to DVD for 15min (1 VOB file). The BMPs were extracted from the VOB using Dark Frame Scaler and were then stacked in Registax, being dark-frame corrected with a dark-frame scaled in Dark Frame Scaler.

The autoguiding allowed the whole field of view to be used in the final image as the edges were not lost due to drift.

November 9, 2010


The Dumbbell Nebula, M27 with an 11" f/10 SCT with a 6.3 focal reducer

The SDC-435 was fitted with a light pollution filter

 


The Crab Nebula, M1 with a 6" f/5 Newtonian

The SDC-435 was fitted with a light pollution filter

 


The Orion Nebula, M42/43 with an 80mm f/5 refractor

The SDC-435 was fitted with a light pollution filter


The Orion Nebula, M42/43 mosaic with an f/5, 6" Newtonian

The SDC-435 was fitted with a light pollution filter

October 11, 2010