Starry Dave's Window Sill Observatory

Dave’s Video Cleaner (DVC)

Solar HA Comments Off

Aug 062022

Here is a preview of my latest app DVC which is used to clean up astro videos.

I capture hundreds of videos using DSSR over several hours to create my solar animations. These are then batch processed by Registax or Avistack. However, any dark frames caused by clouds can cause glitches or even shutdowns for the stackers. DVC works by first analysing the brightness of every frame in every video. Any videos with frames that are too dark are moved into a folder called “2Bcleaned”.

DVC then processes the videos requiring cleaning and creates a copy video with the darker frames removed. These can then be included with the ‘clean’ videos and batch processed by stacking software with no problems.

8 Hour Solar Rotation

Solar HA Comments Off

Jun 272022

This animation shows 8 hours of solar activity caught with my Coronado PST on June 23rd, 2022. Software used was DFM, DSSR, Avistack, Gimp, Advanced Renamer and DVS. It repeats in reverse so you can see the Sun’s rotation.

I also managed to catch a jet passing the Sun which is below at half speed.

Latest AstroKam Captures

CHDK AstroKam, Deep Sky Comments Off

Mar 062022

Here are a selection of my latest captures taken with my £90 Canon SX530HS. Click on an image for full size original.

Svbony SV105 Lunar Flyover

Moon Comments Off

Feb 202022

I shot this with my SV105 camera on February 10, 2022. Clear Highland air gave very steady seeing so I caught a lot of detail.

Sunlit Birdbath

Birds Comments Off

Apr 212021

The video above shows blackbirds enjoying a shower with the splashes lit up by sunlight. Shot using CHDK in Canon SX530HS. The video below shows how it looks after processing in Dave’s Motion Stacker software.

Svbony SV105 First Light

Moon No Responses »

Jan 202021

My new SV105 camera just turned up from China for £36 including 7 day delivery. Remarkable, considering a lot of UK vendors won’t deliver to Scotland. Worked straight out of the box so hooked it up to my 140Mak and left DSSR running overnight capturing a series of lunar mosaics. The best seeing was just before dawn and you can watch a flyover animation of the resulting mosaic below.

And below is another animation made on the 23rd January 2021:

PC Control of Orion AccuFocus

Tutorials No Responses »

Jan 092021

FOLLOW THIS TUTORIAL AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

My astro mount is beside my garage with a PC just inside to control it. I can control the mount and cameras remotely from my home study using Google Remote Desktop – but not my Orion AccuFocus focusers.

I read a forum post (that I can’t now find) which explained how to control the focuser over USB. I adapted it slightly to avoid the need for stripping one end of the focuser cable by adding an RJ10 socket.

Component links: USB Relay – RJ10 Socket

The wiring diagram I used is here. Note that the wires to the socket are soldered to the left and right pair of pins respectively.

To control it, I modded an app I found on the net to give me a selection of timed pulses in both directions. This gives fantastic control for fine focussing.

The whole thing cost less than £10 but means I can now control everything from the comfort of home – or even further afield.

Moon with £12 Camera

CHDK AstroKam, Moon Comments Off

Dec 222020

I took this with a second hand, grade C Canon A810 camera I got for £12 looking thru the eyepiece of my Nextar 4SE. Capture of 54x 30sec videos done in CHDK-PTP, stacking in AviStack, stitched in MS ICE and polished in Paint.NET.

Click for Full Size Image (3200×4400, 6MB)

Solar Animation Compilation

Solar HA Comments Off

Aug 212020

This is a compilation of my solar animations made between 2012 and 2020. Most were made with a Coronado personal solar scope and DMK21 camera. Watch out for the Mercury 2016 transit at the end.

DMD Baby Birds Feeding

Birds Comments Off

Jun 092020

This was taken with my SX530HS using the CHDK extended video script to capture 200 minutes of video. I then selected all the feeder visits in DMD which produced a 27 minute ShotCut project file. This was slowed to half speed to better show the action and the sound track was cleaned up in Audacity to remove camera and traffic noise. Watch out for the one legged blackbird which we have nursed back to health over the past few months.

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