Planets images using a video camera

Encke's division. in Saturn

Equipment used

Telescope Meade 10" Lx50 

Camera Sony TVR110  camcorder with viewing screen (very useful !!)

Eyepiece Meade 24.5 Wide angle,18mm and 12mm

A photographic trpod with geared head (very useful too!

Photographer : Dimitris Balasis

Location : Greece Athens

Image Technique

All the images were obtained by amateur astronomer Dimitris Balasis (e-mail dimbal56@hotmail.com)

from a very light poluted suburb of Athens.

The telescope must be well collimated and requires about two hours for the right temperature.

You need a good polar alignment(LX50) in case you don`t have a Go-to telescope. After supporting the videocamera on the tripod you bring it right in front of the eyepiece and the fun begins...

All the camera controls must be manual.These are focus,shutter-speed and zoom.

You need to play and experiment with them enough hours but the final result will reward you. And,don`t forget, you are on the roof or the balcony of your house.

About ten seconds of videotape contains 250 frames.All you need is to stack them together in a single frame.

There are two good stacking programs:"Astrostack" and "Registax".You must use a computer video frame -grubber.After grabbing the frames to your computer you stack them with one of the stacking programs.

Last advise:the frame-grabbing order must be "whole uncompressed frames".

 In case you need further details or any clarifications, don't hesitate to contact Dimitris by e-mail.

GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR OWN IMAGES!!!

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