Starry Dave's Window Sill Observatory

CHDK AstroKam Overnight Test

CHDK AstroKam Comments Off

Sep 242019

I left AstroKam running overnight with my SX530HS recently and it worked great. I had set up an 8 target observing list in Cartes du Ciel and imported it into AstroKam with 60 minutes per target and 300 seconds per exposure. Darks and biases were set at 1 per 5 lights.

AstroKam automatically controlled PHD2 autoguiding and plate solved each target using All Sky Plate Solver to provide spot on aiming.

The next morning I used the sort module to remove any duff shots and satellite trails and then generate Deep Sky Stacker project files. These were then batch processed in DSS and processed in StarTools. Final touchup in Paint.Net and I got the results below.

These were all shot at 25x zoom so I can still zoom in to 50x for more detail.

Canon SX530HS First Light

Deep Sky Comments Off

Sep 022019

Here is my first attempt at deep sky with my new (second-hand) Canon SX530HS compact camera. I shot this with a beta version of AstroKam that I hope to release soon. I only used about a third of the optical zoom range so there is plenty of scope (pun) to chase smaller targets.

Still messing with settings for it but I think it compares well with a similar shot I took with my Canon 1100D below.

Dave’s SpeedCam

Uncategorized Comments Off

Jul 252019

Here are the first results from my upcoming SpeedCam app which turns any camera capable of shooting video into a radar speed gun. The graph below is a summary of traffic speed in my street over a 7 hour period. SpeedCam also saves a picture of each vehicle with its speed printed.

Vultures in DMS

Birds Comments Off

May 292019

Dave Lochhaas kindly gave me permission to show his first published video using Dave’s Motion Stacker. Great to see how they trace out rollercoaster tracks in the sky.

Dave’s Motion Detector – First Trial

Birds Comments Off

May 282019

This is a first test of my latest software. It allows you to scan multiple videos and only select scenes with action. Great for subjects like bird feeders above.

Sunspot AR2738 13th April 2019 Timelapse

Solar HA, Uncategorized Comments Off

Apr 152019

This was taken with my Coronado PST solar scope from Inverness, Scotland over 8 hours of sunshine. It repeats a couple of times at different speeds so you can watch the action.

Painting by Birds – First Results

Birds Comments Off

Mar 082019

Here is the first result from my latest app. It processes video of the sky and adds color trails to all the birds. Click on the image to view the video.

Painting by Birds over Inverness – 18th March 2019

Dave’s AstroTour Software – First Results

Deep Sky Comments Off

Jan 262019

I have been working on a new app that will automatically take astro images overnight and below are some early results. All taken with a Canon 1100D and Sigma 70-300mm lens, stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and processed in StarTools.

AstroTour interfaces with PHD2 autoguider (including dithering), All Sky Plate Solver for accurate targeting and digiCamControl for capture. digiCamControl allows a wide range of Canon and Nikon DSLRs to be controlled as well as some Sony and other cameras.