Lunar and Planetary Webcam User's Guide (eBook)

Martin Mobberley (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2006 | 2006
XII, 230 Seiten
Springer London (Verlag)
978-1-84628-199-0 (ISBN)

Infos

This book de-mystifies the jargon of webcams and computer processing, and provides detailed hints and tips for imaging the Sun, Moon and planets with a webcam. It demonstrates how inexpensive tools are revolutionizing imaging in amateur astronomy. Anyone with a modest telescope and a webcam can now obtain jaw-dropping lunar and planetary images to rival those taken with mid-range astronomical CCD cameras costing thousands of dollars. A glance through the images in this book shows just what spectacular results can be achieved by using a webcam with your telescope! Your scientific results will be sought by professional astronomers.

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In the last few years, cheap webcams have revolutionized amateur astronomy by providing a very inexpensive alternative to purpose-made astronomical CCD cameras, which use refrigerated imaging chips and are thus extremely expensive. Webcams are capable of more advanced work than 'normal' digital cameras because their simple construction makes it easy to remove the webcam's lens, allowing it to be interfaced directly to a telescope. Using a webcam is not difficult but most amateur astronomers who have tried to do this do not achieve the finest results, despite the webcam's potential. There are numerous imaging and image processing tricks and techniques, and all of them are needed to get the best results.Along with webcam technology has come simple-to-use image processing and enhancement using a PC: the most powerful technique is, 'stacking' in which the best images (out of hundreds) are selected and summed automatically to provide startlingly good results."e;Lunar and Planetary Webcam User's Guide"e; de-mystifies the jargon of webcams and computer processing, and provides detailed hints and tips for imaging the Sun, Moon and planets with a webcam. He looks at each observing target separately, describing and explaining all specialised techniques in context.Glance through the images in this book to see just how much you can - easily - achieve by using a webcam with your telescope!

Inhalt

Webcam Technology
The Solar System – a brief guide
High-resolution basics – Telescope choices and Collimation
The World’s leading amateur planetary imagers and their results
Webcam choices – Webcams on the market from cheap to expensive
Video cameras – an alternative for brighter objects
A beginner’s guide to using a webcam and Registax/K3 CCD Tools software
Understanding Colour: RGB, LRGB, noise and dynamic range
Imaging the Moon – Lunar Techniques plus a concise guide to some of the best lunar features taken with webcams. Webcam Imaging
Imaging Mercury & Venus (emphasis on UV & IR Venus work)
Imaging Mars (includes the planet’s characteristics, dust storms and using filters)
Imaging Jupiter (as well as imaging techniques…lots of information about its weather patterns etc and recent spots, storms, shadow transits etc…etc…..)
Imaging Saturn (plus Saturn’s Great White Spots etc…edge-on ring appearances…)
Imaging Uranus & Neptune (the CCD/webcam era now makes this possible!!)
Imaging the Sun (the usual cautionary advice….)
Visual techniques (in case the reader still wants to look though the eyepiece!)

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 3.8.2006
• Reihe/Serie: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
• Reihe/Serie: The Patrick Moore Practical Astronomy Series
• Zusatzinfo: XII, 230 p. 80 illus., 20 illus. in color.
• Verlagsort: London
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Natur / Technik ► Weltraum / Astronomie
• Themenwelt: Mathematik / Informatik ► Mathematik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Astronomie / Astrophysik
• Themenwelt: Technik
• Schlagworte: Astronomy • CCD • Guide • Lunar • Mobberley
• ISBN-10: 1-84628-199-7 / 1846281997
• ISBN-13: 978-1-84628-199-0 / 9781846281990