Back home again... with NexImage!

The NexImage webcam system finally arrived the day before we returned home. I really wanted this for the Cedar Key trip. (Thanks, Astronomics...)

With little idea how to use the capture software, I set up the C8 with TV85 piggybacked, slapped the camera on the C8, hooked up the Dell laptop, ran the capture software, and... got an error. Fuck it, I grabbed the Mac and used BTVPro to capture some clips of the Moon and Jupiter. Spending the next few days figuring out Registax on the Dell downstairs, I managed to produce the following stacked and processed images:


Not great, but not bad for "first light". I've done some homework, so next time it will be "first clue" and the results should be better. The Jupiter clip may or may not be a basket case, I have had trouble getting it into Registax.

UPDATE: This image from 050521 was processed in Lynkeos on the Mac on 050605:


Before doing any imaging, I observed Jupiter just after sunset when the sky was still bright blue. I was shocked at the amount of detail I saw! Also tried using a washer under the TV at the front bolt; this helped bring objects much closer to center of field in the TV when the same object is centered in the C8. Now it should be close enough to be fine-tuned with the adjustment screws.

Cedar Key, FL

Our visit to see Oli and Doreen allowed but a couple of hours for stargazing. After our BBQ on Tuesday night (UTC Wed.), Oli and I took the TV85 out to the Shell Mound, a dark site also used during the Cedar Key Star Party. There was a good amount of haze, with thunder storms flashing to the north, but the sky near the zenith was a bit darker than I'm used to at Lake Wallkill. Upon our arrival we got to see the setting of the 3-day old thin crescent moon in the west. By the time I got the scope set up, it was gone. Checked out Saturn before it descended too far. Wind from the north picked up, shaking the scope, so we moved to the other side of the Jeep to block the wind. Jupiter was great, very sharp detail of the equatorial belts and northern and southern zones. Omega Centauri was not visible due to muck, nor were any other interesting deep sky objects other than a faint-and-fuzzy near zenith - unidentified, but probably a Messier galaxy. So we mostly stood around looking up, Oli having no idea what he was looking for or at, and me trying unsuccessfully to locate M13 in Hercules. Truth is, I was pretty lost without the GOTO mount, and I was also pretty high. Springtime skies are pretty much unknown to me anyway, so I felt kind of dumb.