jjacobso@lainet.com (James Jacobson) [22 Dec 01]
Here is my latest attempt at Jupiter and the GRS. Taken with a ToUcam pro CCD and DS-90EC at prime focus with a 2x barlow.
a.hatwood@net.ntl.com (a.hatwood) [16 Dec 01]
The skies here in Wales aren't clear that often, but Saturday morning they were great. For each image I took 4 sets of 50 shots each at different camera settings ( Logitech Quickcam Web). I put each set of 50 through AstroStack, which left me with 4 images. I then put those 4 images back through Astro Stack to get the result images. Thanks again for the great site!
PVerandas@aol.com [13 Dec 01]
Saturne/Jupiter ETX 125 EC et caméra Vesta pro Alain Bouchez, France
AblesS@usa.redcross.org (Ables, Steven, G) [13 Dec 01]
Just wanted to send you a couple of photo's I took last night for the gallery. The pictures were taken with my ETX-70AT and a 9mm Plossl using Scopetronic's wonderful Digi-T adapter along with my Olympus C-2040Z. The first shot is a composite. Jupiter's moons were a single frame with a 1 second exposure. To be honest, the first shot was an accident. I forgot to change my exposure time and didn't realize until later that I had captured two moons. Had I done it on purpose, I would have got all four moons ! Jupiter itself is a stack of 18 images using Astrostack resampled X1 with unsharp mask. Jupiter was copied and pasted over the overexposed Jupiter on the original. The second image is a stack of 22 images resampled X2 with unsharp mask. These are not as fancy as many of the images I've seen, but it does show what can be done with this small scope even though planets are not it's strong point.
ARottal@gmx.de (Arno Rottal) [6 Dec 01]
There is a pic of saturn attached. It was my first attempt with the ETX-90EC and a modified Quickcam Pro 3000. I'm satisfied but I think I can do better. The pic was taken one day before saturns occultation. I shot more than 100 pics and I think this pic was my best from them. Sincerely Arno Rottal Austria/Vienna
ldaniel@wfubmc.edu (Larry Daniel) [6 Dec 01]
This image of the Moon and Saturn was made on November 30, 2001 with a Meade 90mm ETX and a Sony digital camera (DSC-S30). Mike here: I cropped this somewhat from the original.
mvasseur@videotron.ca (Michael F. Vasseur) [2 Dec 01]
Thought I would share my experience with you, along with a few pics: At 4:00 p.m., I arrive at home (Gatineau, Quebec) from work (Ottawa, Ontario) and decide to look at the satellite pictures. The Canadian Meteorological Centre was predicting cloudy skies all over, but the satellite pictures seemed to indicate that there might be a clearing around Kingston at the right moment. I called Pierre Martin, and he decided to join me. I then packed up the car and went to pick him up. After joining at the museum of science and tech., we go south on HWY 31, then turned west to get the 416. As soon as we turned west, whatever rain that was falling stopped. later, after reaching the 401 and heading west, we started to see some clearings. At about 60km from Kingston, (around exit 670), we notive large clearings in the sky. We happened to notice a Tim Horton's on the other side, went for a few more kilometers, and decide to turn back to install in the parking lot. How convenient! A Tim Horton's at our observing site. AAhhhh, paradise! We arrive there about 30 minutes before the occultation, and the skies were clearing. I set up my ETX 125 with the QuickCam, and Pierre set up mu camera with a 200mm telephoto lens. At the prescribed time, we saw the occultation. I recorded a video of it, from which I extracted the photos We noticed that the final disappearance (last contact) occurred at 19:53:05 EST (00:53:05 UT), plus or minus 5 seconds. The coordinates were (on the GPS) 44 degres 30 minutes 17.60 seconds north, 75 degres 50 minutes 12.62 seconds west. We stayed to witness the re-appearance, and about three minutes before the predicted time, a man and his son came by to watch. Unfortunately, the cloud cover had started only 2 minutes before re- appearance, and we didn't get to notice it. The man seemed genuinely interested, and mentionned that he wanted to buy a telescope for his son for Christmas. We referred him to our Yahoo! newsgroup (OAOG), and hope to talk to him soon! On our way back, the sky was overcast, and by the time we got back to Ottawa, we were travelling in pea-soup fog. I dropped Pierre off next to his car, and headed home. Well, that was it. Enjoy the Pics!
jjacobso@lainet.com (James Jacobson) [28 Nov 01]
This picture of Saturn and Jupiter was taken during an extremely steady night using a color ToUcam Pro webcam and a DS-90EC. Hope you enjoy it!
gaza32@lineone.net (Gary) [27 Nov 01]
This is my first ever attempt at astrophotography,I was using my ETX90 RA with a Kodak dc265 digital camera pointing down the oddly set erecting prism, 26mm super plossl an 2x Barlow what do you think?
yoshi@galaxies.jp (Yoshi-K) [25 Nov 01]
Hi weasner san. spec.. QV-3500EX 1/6 sec. 33 frame composite with AstroStack I'm Japanese ETX Site ( www.yk.rim.or.jp/~ykida/etx/ ) Yoshi..
astrosfigato@katamail.com (Daniele Vigan) [23 Nov 01]
Here is a photo taken from my garden (Monza, MI Italy) during last Saturn occultation (11/03/01). They were taken with a Vesta at the prime focus of an ETX90/EC, then I've cut the central part of each frame to save space. The frames aren't processed. More photos and an *.avi videos of the immersion and the emersion of the planet are available at the following link: http://digilander.iol.it/weega/foto/occ_saturno.htm
yann.duchemin@free.fr (Yann Duchemin) [13 Nov 01]
Just Jupiter on saturday 10 november arround 22:00PM UTC Conditions : bad weather (wind) Materials : ETX90-ec eq.mode + VestaPro + Barlow celestron Ultilma x2 Soft : QcFocus + Iris + Gimp
jy@lesbeninger.com (Jean-Yves Beninger) [13 Nov 01]
After the webcam, I have tried the digital video camera : not bad, I am quite glad that the Cassini Division, clearly seen visually, came out in the picture. The sky was hazy, it has been raining for weeks here, I surely hope that when the monsoon goes, it will be spectacular.
yann.duchemin@free.fr (Yann Duchemin) [9 Nov 01]
Just some pictures taken from Bzh during the occultation on 3rd november 2001. I've used my ETX-90ec in equatorial mode with an QuickCamVC at prime focus. Every pictures was stacked with Gimp (per 2 or 4), the original avi count arround 165 pictures.
wakemann@libero.it (Claudio Ch.) [9 Nov 01]
i send you two images of Jupiter & Saturn from Genoa (Italy) ETX90+Vesta Pro+Barlow 2X
rafael.pacheco@acm.org (Rafael Pacheco) [6 Nov 01]
I'm sending you three images of Saturn, taken with the ETX-70AT and a Connectix QuickCam B/W. The last one is a picture from the last occultation of Saturn (3/11/2001, Oeiras/Portugal). The other two pictures were taken same days before the occultation. Setup: [Top 2] Barlow 2x and no post-processing; [Bottom] Two stacked 2x barlows and a slight brightness/contrast adjustment;
kardrak@hotmail.com (Eduardo Lopez) [21 Oct 01]
I would like to share this pictures i taken, all images were collected using a QuickCam Express and processed using Astrostack.
vincent_ysc1@yahoo.com (chan sing) [21 Oct 01]
attach photo was took at 15/10/2001.ganymede transit and IO egress.IO egress photo was took in the morning,so have blue background.photos was capture from camcorder,used astrostack and photoshop edit.
jy@lesbeninger.com (Jean-Yves Beninger) [16 Oct 01]
Thought of sending you this picture of Jupiter taken with a 30 USD webcam adapted at the back end of the ETX125. There is hope ! I'm now perfecting the mounting and the software to command the webcam and will try and improve the end result.
jjacobso@lainet.com (James Jacobson) [10 Oct 01]
Didn't see any pictures using a DS90 on your site yet, so I thought I would send you these of Saturn. Picture #1 (left) was made using a DS90 and Greyscale Quickcam at prime-focus with a 2x barlow. 10 images stacked in Photoshop on my G4. Picture #2 (right) was made using a DS90 and Canon Powershot350 digital camera held up to a 6.5 eyepiece. I am still working on getting my techniques down - your website has been very encouraging.
vincent_ysc1@yahoo.com (chan sing) [3 Oct 01]
Thanks your site.attach Jupiter photo was used ETX90EC and camcorder+40mm eyepiece with X2 barlow.Polar tracking.Astrostack and photoshop edited.
etx125ca@yahoo.ca (Michael Vasseur) [29 Sep 01]
Great Site. I own an ETX125, and love every bit of it, especially the Autostar. Anyway, I connected my Logitech Webcam Express on the scope at prime focus, and got a shot of Saturn just before occultation in Ottawa, CANADA, at about 9:20. I played with the colour levels and contrast/brightness to bring out Saturn, and there are a couple of artifacts because the camera was a bit dusty, but I'm very pleased with the image. Next time, I will make a video of it, with the audio recording the time signal on my shortwave radio as the QuickCam takes the pictures. Should be interesting.
bareketj@internet-zahav.net (Ido) [29 Sep 01]
Hello Weasner and all the others astro's :-) It's been a while since my last post, but I'm back with one of my latest. Here is my pic I took- of the Occultation of Saturn and the Moon in the crystal night HAVE FUN!. Kind regards, Ido -Israel.
cmason@shentel.net (Chris Mason) [25 Sep 01]
Here is a pic I took of the Occultation of Saturn and the Moon on Sept. 10 at about 9:14 AM as viewed from here in Winchester VA. I took the pic using my Pentax KX at prime focus, and although Saturn was easily seen through an eyepiece I'm not surprised that it didn't show up on film well do to my inexperiance, (This was my first attempt at Prime focus photograghy) and the bright blue skies in the background. I put an arrow in the pic to point it out, but if you are not familiar with what Saturn would look like next to the moon it will be hard to see.. If anyone can see it let me know. I can pick it out, but then I took the pic.. I love the mighty ETX site, and it has helped me alot.
yann.duchemin@free.fr (Yann DUCHEMIN) [31 Aug 01]
thanks again Mike for this web site's exchange ! Some weeks ago I've tried to take Mars (low in the horizon : delta = -26 deg. and diameter arround 15") with my ETX-90 and quickcam vc at prime focus. I've caculated the F arround 1500mm, the F/D > 16, the weather was too bad to try with my barlow :o( It's only 5 stacked pictures from an avi arround 250. Good sky for all !
vincent_ysc1@yahoo.com (chan sing) [31 Aug 01]
Attach photos used ETX90 and video camcorder,40mm eyepiece+X2 barlow.used Astrostack and photoshop edit. polar tracking.
juergen@cometmillenium.de (Jrgen Linder) [10 Aug 01]
i have seen your etx side on the web. It's very nice and usefull. I'm an expierenced amateur astronomer. I own some telecopes from 6cm Refractor to 28cm (C11), a Schmidtkamera (200mm Main Mirror, Corrector 157mm and focus is 257 mm), a Videocamera and the ST5 CCD. My newest Telescope is an ETX 90 with Autostar. I've seen some pictures taken by the ETX 90, some are very good indeed. I'll send you a Jupiter picture taken on January 14 this year with a Sony Videocamera (older modell, automatic an 0.3 LUX sensutiv) and the C11. This picture was image processed by "giotto". Giotto can work with Videostreams (or If you have an AVI-Video) and do a lot of work fully automatically. Gitto adds the Videopictures automatically. I sink this can be very usefull for yours too. Look here for downloading the software! www.geocities.com/georgdittie/giotto.htm The software is freeware, but in german !
a.hatwood@net.ntl.com (a.hatwood) [29 Jul 01]
Here's another one for the Mars pile! This image is a composite of around 200 images (4 sets of 50) taken at different exposures, and compiled with Astrostack. The air was quite steady that night.
achernarg@earthlink.net (Jonathan Garrison) [9 Jul 01]
I love your site! It's a great place to learn about what can be done with this marvelous little telescope. I've had my ETX-90 EC since September '99, and have enjoyed every minute of it. I thought you would be interested in some photos I've taken with the scope. Digital Camera: Sceptre SVC 300 CMOS color in eyepiece holder (I modified the camera by removing its swiveling base and lens, thereby exposing the CMOS chip, and supergluing to the camera a plastic film canister which had had its bottom cut out, allowing the camera to be slipped into the eyepiece holder.) www.sceptre.com/Products/PCCamera/svc300.htm Exposure: AstroStack enhanced composite of approx. 80 images Clayton, NC For the record, all the photo's I've sent you were taken with the Meade ETX-90 EC. Hope you like them. Thanks!
GSkoubis@ussco.com (Skoubis, George) [9 Jul 01]
Here are my first attempts at Mars with my ETX90EC. I took these with an Olympus 3000 digital camera in manual mode using a remote looking through a 26mm+2x barlow eyepiece in a North Chicago Suburb on June 21 at about 11:00p.m.
tcredden@bellsouth.net (Clay Redden) [3 Jul 01]
Took these photos of Mars about 9:00 p.m. (7-1-01). I had to shoot through haze, heat, and high humidity here in Central Alabama. I'm lucky I'm getting any usable pictures. I shot these with an Olympus C3030Zoom attached to the ETX-125 with a 15mm eyepiece. Exposure was 1/13th of a second at F2.8 with an ISO 100 setting and photo quality set at HQ. Although reduced from the original image size to bring out a little more detail, no other enhancements were made. As with my previous shots of Saturn and Jupiter, the ETX wasn't tracking.
dschmitz@onramp.net (Dan Schmitz) [30 Jun 01]
Another shot for the Mars pile. ETX90EC Olympus C3030 Astrostack of 30 images afocal
rschlackman@gorp.com (Robert Schlackman) [27 Jun 01]
I just bought a Digi-T adapter from Scopetronix for my ETX90/Olympus D490. I am so happy with the results. First night out I got a great picture of Mars. I used the standard 22mm Meade eyepiece with a Celestron Ultima 2x Barlow.
igrodroch@enlace.net (Ignacio Rodriguez) [27 Jun 01]
Click image to begin movie. It will appear in a new window.
I sent you a mars movie some days ago ( and you post it, thanks! ). Now I have another movie showing a bigger mars and also more detail. The setting is the same: Sony Hi8 handycam + ETX125 + Meade SWA 13.8mm plossl. I set the handycam in its own tripod and it is dificult to have mars in the camera finder. When the camera zoom is used mars easily fills the camera FOV!. That can't be done in the ETX with any eyepiece/barlow combination. ( As you can find in the eyepiece simulator ) Of course the image quality is not good at high magnification but you can actually observe surface detail in the video. Video was taken last June 10 from my backyard ( N 25 21' , W 99 50' )
a.hatwood@net.ntl.com (a.hatwood) [25 Jun 01]
Here is my latest attempt at Mars. This image was compiled from 4 sets of 50 images. Each set was shot at different exposures (all looked too dark on the screen), and then run through Astrostack a second time.
vincent_ysc1@yahoo.com (chan sing) [23 Jun 01]
This night was quite clear,I used my ETX90EC+26mm+X2 barlow and DV camcorder to shoot Mars again.photo used Astrostack and Photoshop enhanced.without tracking.
cbdane@pacbell.net (C. Brent Dane) [23 Jun 01]
Here is a photo that I took of Mars early (about 1a.m.) the other morning from the street in front of my home in Livermore, CA. Here are the specs: - Mars at approximately 25 degrees ALT. - ETX-125 (it didn't take me long to upgrade from my ETX-70). - Afocal eyepiece projection, Meade 9.7mm Plossl series 4000. - Coolpix 990 using Scopetronix eyepiece adapter. - Full zoom, macro auto focus mode. - ISO equivalent 100. - f4.0, 1/4s manual exposure setting. - Remote USB trigger cable. - XVGA resolution, fine image compression. - Selection of 24 best images from 84 taken continuously at 2 per second. - Images aligned and averaged with AstroStack. - RGB channels separated and fine-aligned to compensate for atmospheric dispersion in vertical axis using Photoshop. Thanks again for your great effort on the ETX site!
CJones@online-can.com (Jones, Clive) [13 Jun 01]
I have included some photographs that I hope you will feel that some of them are worthy of inclusion on your website. Mars - Taken with an ETX125 and a QuickCam pro. Processing is with AstroStack. Mars was very low and the atmosphere turbulent. I also overexposed too much. I know I can do better but I am pleased with this as a first attempt. June 9th, 2001 Clive Jones (Winnipeg, MB)
jim@emmgraphics.com (Jim Berry) [8 Jun 01]
I'd appreciate it if you'd post this image on your web site. This is the first chance I've had to image Mars - I just wish it was higher than 20 degrees above the horizon. The image is the result of stacking the best 50 of 150 images taken using a polar-aligned ETX-90 (without AutoStar) with a #126 Barlow, an extension tube and an old Connectix QuickCam Color.
igrodroch@enlace.net (Ignacio Rodriguez) [7 Jun 01]
Click image to begin movie. It will appear in a new window.
This is a video taken with a Sony Hi8 handycam. I used my ETX125 and a SWA 13.8mm plossl. The atmosphere was not good , however you can see some detail in mars surface. I used a Meade Orange filter. I'll try a picture this week with my Olympus SLR if the conditions are better.
vincent_ysc1@yahoo.com (chan sing) [7 Jun 01]
Thanks your excellent site. attach photos was taken at May/2001.used ETX90EC with DV camcorder to took video and used Astrostack and photoshops enhanced.40mm eyepiece with X2 barlow.without tracking. and also I built the homepage for my ETX90. http://members.tripod.com/~chan.ysc/etx/etx90ec.html
a.hatwood@net.ntl.com (a.hatwood) [7 Jun 01]
Here is my first attempt at capturing Mars. It's not an easy target as it stays low to the horizon. This image is a composite of 80 frames stacked and an unsharp mask applied. Think I can do better!
YDuchemin@Antibioticos.it (Duchemin Yann) [3 Jun 01]
Since one month I try to see Mars but it's really hard :o( Here you could see one of 05/13/01 taken with my ETX-90ec and a QuicCamVC with no filter, from Rouen in France.
b_allouche@yahoo.fr (bernard allouche) [13 May 01]
Click image to begin movie. It will appear in a new window.
I just wanted to send you my first movie of Jupiter and a composition (sum of 160 images 26/04/2001:20:04 UT 1/50s each). I have done with my DVcam (sonyTRV20) afocal with my ETX90-RA) without tracking. Note the very important turbulence. Compositing made with thumbs+ and astrostack, contrast enhencement with Paint Shop.
Dave.Rosenthal@ie-ate.com (Rosenthal, Dave) [25 Apr 01]
Meade ETX90-EC, QuickCam VC @ Prime Focus, My own custom image capture software, AstroStack and Adobe PhotoShop
bareketj@internet-zahav.net (m&j bareket) [28 Mar 01]
Saturn was captured with the 6.7 eyepiece exposure=4 sec, with kodak 400asa film.
yann.duchemin@free.fr (Yann Duchemin) [9 Mar 01]
Just quick image of Venus and Jupiter taken directly at prime focus of my ETX- 90, the 16 february 2001, in town with really too bad lights. It's the composit result by 40 pictures for Venus and 10 pictures for Jupiter, from an avi film with a QuickCam VC. I've used IRIS software by C. Buil .
david.rosenthal@prodigy.net (David Rosenthal) [21 Feb 01]
These are the result of my first attempt at CCD Astrophotography. I just got an ETX-90EC. Mofified a QuickCam 3000 Pro 640X480, attached it to 2 2X Teleconverter and shot these through the rear port at prime focus. David Rosenthal Midland Park, New Jersey P.S. I love your site by the way. It is a great place for beginners to get started. Could you please add a lint thanking Rick Krejci for his assistance getting started. My next attempt will be better. Rick sold me his electronic focuser! Should Have it tomorrow
tcredden@bellsouth.net (Clay Redden) [18 Feb 01]
I've enjoyed your website for more than a year and I wanted to show what you can capture even when the telescope is NOT tracking and if you don't have any photo stacking-enhancement software. Your finderscope setup has to be pretty accurate so you can "lead" the planets in order to snap the picture as they track across the eyepiece. I realize this isn't the best way to do astrophotography but it shows what you can do on the spur-of-the-moment. These eyepiece projection photos were taken with an Olympus C-3030Zoom digital camera and a 15mm eyepiece attached to an ETX-125. Exposure for the Jupiter photo was 1/20th of a second, while the Saturn photo was taken 1/4th of a second. Absolutely no enhancements were made to either picture. Mike here: these were cropped from the original sizes.
bernard.fournier12@wanadoo.fr (Bernard Fournier) [16 Feb 01]
Picture made with an Etx 125 and a Webcam Phillips Vesta Pro at prime focus. Some processing was made on Jupiter (stacking and image enhancement with Iris software) Hope you will like it and feel free to put it in the gallery, I think we can do very much better with this wonderful Etx ! Amicalement Bernard Fournier N 5 09 / W 52 39
rjkrejci@earthlink.net (Rick Krejci) [16 Feb 01]
Last night I captured some great shots of Jupiter taken with a LX90 8". I am thrilled with the new Jupiter shot. This scope really ekes out the details!
alain.sfera@epfl.ch (Alain Sfera) [13 Feb 01]
I just wanted to send you my first image of Jupiter I have done with my new webcam. This picture of Jupiter was taken the 11th of January 2001 on a ETX-125 EC using a webcam Vesta Pro and a Meade 2x Barlow lens. The image is the sum of 151 images (0.03 sec exposition) using AVI2bmp. Finally the contrasts is sharpened using Photoshop.
scott@phototablet.com (Scott Geiger) [13 Feb 01]
First let me compliment you on a great sight with many informative contributors. You provide a great service (investing significant personal time). Your site embodies the fulfillment of the promise of the Web as an information and social conduit. I'm a long time Graphic Arts (Mac :) ) programmer who was the beneficiary of both an Etx 90 and a Nikon CoolPix 880 over Xmas - a great combination for planetary viewing and photography. In Santa Rosa (Ca) we've had a relatively dry Dec & Jan which has been outstanding for introducing a novice like me to the Winter Skies. For the first several weeks we left the scope in a nonEquitorial mount and simply acquainted ourselves with the skies to get our bearing. In early January we graduated to an Equatorial mount in conjunction with an Autostar alignment and have found that it has accelerated our familiarity with the relative positions of objects. This is somewhat contrary to some of the thoughts I've read from the more seasoned sky watchers who often warn against the ease of use of computerized finding/tracking devices like Autostar. My guess is that anyone who is really interested in tracking celestial objects will be looking up even when no scope is available. That seems like motivation enough to learn your way around apart form AutoStar. Anyway enough on that I've got a couple of pictures to share. I'm sending a montage of two pictures Saturn and Jupiter taken on Feb 5th, 2000 using the Coolpix 880 and the Etx 90. My setup was as follows: Feb 25, 2001 (Nikon 880 / Etx 90) - GMT 04:00 (approx) Saturn - Jupiter - 35 exposures (Saturn) / 42 exposures (Jupiter) - AutoStar enabled tracking to keep the Planet in the neighborhood while shooting. - Deluxe Field Tripod unextended (as much as possible after alignment) with no secondary clamps or rubber feet etc) - Scopetronix 25 mm Plossl using the 28mm step Ring adapter (I also use a Nikon ring to 28mm) in conjunction with Scopetronix Eyepiece Projection Camera Adapter. home.att.net/~celestron/digital.htm. - Camera Manual Settings: - Aperture f/4.2, Zoomed in max (2.5X Optical). - ISO 400 - Eposure time was 1/4 sec(Saturn) / 1/8th sec (Jupiter) using the 10 second timer to dampen my unsteady "click".(BTW this camera allows up to 60 second exposures). - no optical filtering - All pictures were taken at a resolution of 2048 X 1536 at the Fine Quality - this is a slightly lossy Jpeg compression (my guess around 80-90 on the PhotoShop scale) / my other option is Tiff but I only have a 64 meg Flash Card so it would fill quickly ... maybe someday I'll have a 250 meg or a 1 gig card. - Stacked via the Windows app AstroStack using defaults for Unsharp Masking and Deconvolve. Minor Levels adjustment in photoshop (on the Mac). - The evening was warm and the atmosphere steady.
a.hatwood@net.ntl.com (a.hatwood) [3 Feb 01]
I invested in a Quickcam Web which has a resolution of 640 x 480, but also uses a CCD, instead of a CMOS chip. I find it gives clearer images than the Quickcam Express I was using. These images were all compiled using Astrostack, from around 80 shots taken through an ETX-125EC. The "Jovian system" image was created by first over exposing Jupiter to reveal the moons, and taking a set of shots, then taking another set of images with Jupiter exposed properly. The images were then processed, and one superimposed on the other. Thanks again for the great site.
e_suty@yahoo.com (Evan Sutton) [31 Jan 01]
[Left] Venus 1/27/2001 Mead 4504 (Costco$200) w/broom-head PVC sexipod mount (homemade ~$40), 4mm .965" eypiece projection, Poloroid PDC640 digital camera (Walmart $150), cropped, contrast adjusted and converted to jpeg (Visioneer Paperport $?) Just downloaded and tried Astrostack (freeware from Robert J. Stekelenburg www.knoware.nl/users/rjstek/index.htm). Very cool. [Middle] Jupiter 1/27/2001 Mead 4504 (Costco$200) w/broom-head PVC sexipod mount (homemade ~$40), 4mm .965" eypiece projection, Poloroid PDC640 digital camera (Walmart $150), 38 images combined with AstroStack, converted to jpeg (Visioneer Paperport $?) [Right] Saturn 1/27/2001 Mead 4504 (Costco$200) w/broom-head PVC sexipod mount (homemade ~$40), 4mm .965" eypiece projection, Poloroid PDC640 digital camera (Walmart $150), 7 images combined with AstroStack, converted to jpeg (Visioneer Paperport $?) I joined the 4504 egroup: http://www.egroups.com/group/Meade4504Telescopes that I learned about here. Rick Krejci's pictures are quit spectacular. Im fixin to send 3 more pics from my 4504. i wont be hurt if you dont post. Just wanted to let you know Im still tweaking. Thanks again for you effort on this great site. -Evan
xrr@altern.org (Xavier Rey-Robert) [27 Jan 01]
Click image above for full size version
I wanted to share with you this picture of Jupiter I took yesterday night with my ETX90 and the Phillips ToUcam Pro webcam... I took a small avi and selected the best 150 pictures out of the 963 frames. All the processing was done using Iris (addition of the 150 pictures / unsharp mask) I also changed color balance using xnview and resized it (x2). I wish I had a barlow x2 or x3 ! Let me know what you think about it... Could you see the satellites ? I did all the luminosity / Contrast glitches on my notebook screen and someone told me that he could only see one satellite... So I'm suspecting a big difference between my screen and "regular ones"... I've joined a frame of the video for you to see the original before processing... All the best, Xavier Mike here: I see three satellites on my Mac monitor.
rjkrejci@earthlink.net (Rick Krejci) [27 Jan 01]
I had a nice calm night here tonight with great seeing, so I thought I'd run a few more pics of Jupiter and Saturn with my ETX90/QC combo. Not quite as dramatic as my December Pics, but very satisfying nonetheless...some interesting cloud patterns on Jupiter. I chose the best 80 or so out of about 200 pics, ran them through astrostack at 4x resampling at 448 width and used sharpening and deconving and a touch of Photoshop brightness and contrast adjusting. I've included a picture of my setup, as I've been getting e-mails from some great folks requesting info so I thought I'd publish it here. Thanks for you're great site! Rick Krejci
hj.boonstra@zonnet.nl (Hero Boonstra) [27 Jan 01]
Great site! I got my scope (ETX-90/EC) a week ago and have since tried to use it in combination with a Canon S-10 digital camera. Here a the first results. The photos were taken using the standard 26mm eyepiece and 2x Barlow and exposure times were 1/30 and 1/15s. Since these are first results, from a very poor observation point (Rotterdam, Netherlands) and with an unstable platform, I guess a substantial improvement is possible. Keep your site going. thanks, Hero Boonstra Rotterdam, the Netherlands
jah@helix.nih.gov (John Hanover) [27 Jan 01]
I noticed that venus isn't getting much coverage. Video and Astrostack can really help get rid of the bright glare and atmospheric turbulence. Here are three shots of Venus, Jupiter and Saturn obtained on 1/19/01, 1/2/01 and 1/12/01 respectively. All images were collected using a Lanthanum zoom eyepiece at about 20 mm setting and the ETX 125 EC on the advanced field tripod (#887). Eyepiece (infinity to infinity) projection was carried out using a JVC 805 digital camcorder at 10X optical zoom mounted on a tripod adjacent to the ETX-125EC. Images were captured either with the digital still camera at 1/500 of a sec (21 frames; venus), or the video camera (88 frames, 1/250 of a second-Jupiter; 38 frames, 1/60 of a second for Saturn). Astrostack was used to average the images with one iteration of deconvolution. Using this method, I am able to capture the planets and get them on the screen in about 10 minutes. Thanks again for a great site. John
swans045@maroon.tc.umn.edu (david swanson) [24 Jan 01]
Your site is the best. I'm a real newbie. This is my third picture of Jupiter, taken with the Quick-Cam/ETX90 and processed with Astrostack (whose author deserves endless kudos). I sent it to a friend of mine who asked me about the red dot on it, which I thought was artifact. It is, he pointed out, the transit of Io across the surface, occurring at 7:30 pm central time.on 1/23/01. Blew me away. I appreciate all the website activity of those people I have emulated. I'm having more fun than any human deserves.
a.hatwood@net.ntl.com (a.hatwood) [21 Jan 01]
I'd like to thank you for the most informative ETX/astro photography site on the web. Well done!!! These two photo's were taken with an ETX 125 and a doctored Quickcam Express. This camera only supports 320x204 resolution. Could someone tell me whether it's worth changing it for one that supports 640x480, in order to get a little more detail in future? If you think their good enough could you show them on your Guest Astro photography Gallery with my question?
e_suty@yahoo.com (Evan Sutton) [19 Jan 01]
[Left] Jupiter w/ Meade 4504 4mm .965 eyepiece and Polaroid PDC 640 & broom-head PCV sexipod camera mount. Cropped and converted from bmp to jpg [Middle] Jupiter w/ Meade 4504 4mm .965 eyepiece and Polaroid PDC 640 & broom-head PCV sexipod camera mount. Contrast and color adjusted with whatever software came with my scanner so as to see the cloudy-thingy, Cropped, converted from bmp to jpg [Right] Saturn w/ Meade 4504 4mm .965 eyepiece and Polaroid PDC 640 & broom-head PCV sexipod camera mount. Cropped and converted from bmp to jpg
nunosilva2000@yahoo.com.br (Nuno Miguel de Freitas Silva) [13 Jan 01]
I'm from Portugal and my age is 18.Ive been taking photos over the moon, planets and deepsky since i own my etx-125ec which i would like to show you (and if possible be shown on you wonderful site). As i havent much experience with long exposure photos you may find the deepsky ones a little poor. Saturn0 (65KB, 24 bits color)- etx-125ec, polar mount with RA motor on, 9.7 mm eyepiece projection, 1.4 sec exposure, black card technique. Jupiter0 (65KB, 24 bits color)- etx-125ec, polar mount with RA motor on, 9.7 mm eyepiece projection, 1.9 sec exposure, black card technique.
SnoDok@aol.com (Alan Bodnar) [13 Jan 01]
Thanks to your terrific site and the useful information it provides, I was able to solve a number of minor problems interfering with the operation of my ETX-90EC. The attached photo through the ETX is a composite of the moon, photographed with a hand-held Olympus D-460 digital camera, Jupiter, and Saturn, recorded with a hand-held VHS analog camera, and digitally processed on my computer.--Alan Bodnar