The Great Orion Nebula (M42) Webcams

11 Jan 2003
Sample raw image

Tom's scope (8" newtonian reflector), Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 (no lens)
Tom's back garden, near Southampton,   -4°C, slightly hazy

This was our first attempt at capturing M42.  Whilst the unmodified webcam is easily capable of capturing a recognisable image of a planet, a diffuse object such as a nebula wasn't so easy to capture, even the brightest nebula wasn't bright enough to show up on the webcam's longest exposure of 1/15 second.

However, collecting ~200 such images, using Registax to combine them and then making aggressive use of Photoshop did indeed reveal nebulosity - our quest to improve our images of M42 had begun...

11 Jan 2003
160 images
1/15 second

23 Jan 2003
1100 images
1/15 second

Tom's scope, Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 (no lens)
Tom's back garden,   -1°C, slightly hazy

This is a repeat of the previous attempt only this time using 1100 images instead of 160. We wrote a program to read the three 16bit FIT files that Registax can produce and convert them into a 48bit RAW format which can be opened in Photoshop.
This extra information has resulted in smoother shading after the gamma curves were tugged around but there is still plenty of room for improvement. We also benefitted from having a clock motor for the first time. 


17 Feb 2003
Sample raw image

Tom's scope, Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 SC Long Exposure Modified
Tom's back garden,   -2°C, hazy, full moon.

This is the first attempt at imaging M42 after the SC long exposure modifications were made.  As the sample raw image shows, nebulosity can clearly be seen with a 5 second exposure, as can signs of drift where the scope wasn't accurately aligned and signs of atmospheric turbulence.

The resulting image was compiled from only about 25 exposures of 5 seconds and is already noticeably more detailed than the previous effort with more than a thousand exposures of 1/15 second.  Signs of nebulosity can be seen extending to the edges of the frame indicationg that we needed to widen our efforts.

17 Feb 2003
25 images
5 seconds

21 Feb 2003

Tom's scope, Logitech QuickCam Pro 4000 SC Long Exposure Modified
Tom's back garden,   brrr.

Having spent some time working out how to get the webcam and laptop not to crash, this effort combined seven sets of stacked images all combined in Photoshop to make an image with a larger field of view - M43 can be seen in the upper left quadrant of this image.  The extent of nebulosity can be seen very clearly in this image suggesting that we need to cover a much wider area still.  The effects of light pollution are also in evidence, future efforts to improve our images will involve travelling to a much darker site.