M42, orion the hunter is back.

Steve, does it have an autoguide port? I suspect it doesnt. Even so if you are prepared to wire one into the 4 switches then it should still be possible.

Maybe I'm reading this wrong. Are you hoping to do deep sky imaging with your toucam??

I'm not a 100% sure if it does - I'll check when I get home tonight.

And yes - I was hoping to get started with some DSOs with the Toucam. The reviews I read said that it was a good starter camera for this. Am I misinformed?

Thanks lads for the feedback.
I always like trying M42, this image came out much more vibrant that I had imagined. I love the swirling dust lanes, especially at the top of the image, I never really got them like that before. It really has that cloud like appearance.
I do have a toucam and have installed guidedog, but on that night I was just trying to prove that the GEG offaxis guider is a viable working solution, and it is. I tried it on a number of objects and once you have a guide star, its not so bad, but you could end up with a sore neck the next day from it :lol: .
The toucam on my scope can get stars down to mag 6-7 so thats the next step.
I dont think you can do most DSO work using the unmodified toucam, its a great planetary image and good for autoguiding.

One thing about the HDR in photoshop CS2, its VERY easy to go over board with it and end up with a very artifical looking image, I much prefer to go with a natural look, even if it means leaving some of the detail abit soft.
The tracking is not bang on, the stars are not perfect circles, so we'll just have to do it again. :lol:

I have a number of things I must do like program the PEC, never got around to that, thats mainly what I was correcting for that night as the star went east/west, no dec correction was needed in any of the images.
I must start using dark/flat frames also.

I dont think you can do most DSO work using the unmodified toucam, its a great planetary image and good for autoguiding.

According to [url=http://www.aozc64.dsl.pipex.com/astro/deepsky.htmthis page[/url] it seems to work quite well. Admittedly he has a 10-inch F/10 scope and I'll be using an 8-ince F/5 but I've a 3x Barlow on order from Wally to go to F/15. And an IR/UV filter from Andy McCrea. Even if planetary is the best I can get the money spent on the barlow and filter won't be wasted and the camera only cost €60 as well.

According to [url=http://www.aozc64.dsl.pipex.com/astro/deepsky.htmthis page[/url] it seems to work quite well.

Steve,

this guy is using a *long exposure* modified webcam complete with cooling. see;

www.aozc64.dsl.pipex.com/astro/webcam.htm

You cannot take deep sky images without modifying your webcam first. Also you shouldnt forget that the image Dave took above is with a 6.3megapixel digital SLR camera. A webcam has a 0.3megapixel sensor, so a bit of a difference there. Your 8inch scope wont be the issue, the camera is the kicker here. I dont want to sound like a wet blanket, webcams can be effectively used, but they do need to be modified first and then you need to appreciate that your not going to get close to getting the same kind of image as you would with a 6+ mega pixel camera.

Superb image Dave, just stunning! :shock: