matthew.earl
Andromeda and Triangulum taken with webcam
Image taken with an unmodified Philips SPC900NC webcam (other than the raw software mod), data sourced from 15 minutes of light frames, and 15 minutes of dark frames. Video shot at 5fps maximum exposure. Videos captured using Sharpcap, split up into 1GB size files using VirtualDub. Aviraw used to decode raw format, and compose into 40 second chunks to give around 20 light frames and 20 dark frames. DeepSkyStacker then used to compose these dark and light frames into a single FTS image. GIMP used for post processing.
I'm fairly pleased with the results for such a cheap camera, but the low aperture of the webcam requires a long exposure compared to images taken with a DSLR. I'd like to try this technique again but next time take footage over a longer period (e.g. 1hr.) I'd like to also try and get the images in colour - if I remember correctly AviRaw would only (for some reason) save the debayered images in black and white. If I defer debayering duties to DeepSkyStacker I should get full colour.
Andromeda and Triangulum taken with webcam
Image taken with an unmodified Philips SPC900NC webcam (other than the raw software mod), data sourced from 15 minutes of light frames, and 15 minutes of dark frames. Video shot at 5fps maximum exposure. Videos captured using Sharpcap, split up into 1GB size files using VirtualDub. Aviraw used to decode raw format, and compose into 40 second chunks to give around 20 light frames and 20 dark frames. DeepSkyStacker then used to compose these dark and light frames into a single FTS image. GIMP used for post processing.
I'm fairly pleased with the results for such a cheap camera, but the low aperture of the webcam requires a long exposure compared to images taken with a DSLR. I'd like to try this technique again but next time take footage over a longer period (e.g. 1hr.) I'd like to also try and get the images in colour - if I remember correctly AviRaw would only (for some reason) save the debayered images in black and white. If I defer debayering duties to DeepSkyStacker I should get full colour.