Page 65 - BBC Sky at Night Beginners Guide to Astronomy - 2017 UK

WHAT TO USE

WEBCAM TURN A SIMPLE WEBCAM

IMAGING ON THE SOLAR SYSTEM FOR
STUNNING PICTURES OF THE
PLANETS AND THE MOON

Finderscope

Telescope

Webcam

Adaptor

Digital photography has made taking pictures of webcam. These were cheap and simple to use, so A Philips SPC900NC webcam
celestial objects much easier. In days gone by, you it’s not surprising that they opened up digital astro sits in a telescope’s eyepiece
holder using an adaptor
needed all manner of telescope-mounting regalia imaging to everyone.
for your camera, and then had to get the camera’s Webcams were originally developed to sit by
fi lm processed before you could see your pictures. your computer to make video calls and home
Then the CCD (charge-coupled device) camera movies, but soon astronomers found that they
arrived on the scene. A CCD is an electronic light were also good at taking pictures of the night sky
sensor that’s used in digital cameras. At fi rst, only when fi tted to a telescope. They’re particularly well
astro-imaging experts used them because CCDs suited to the brighter objects in the Solar System
came in big, heavy cameras with complicated like the Moon, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
controls and were expensive. But the era of digitally A webcam works well on these subjects because
imaging the heavens had arrived. it records a video comprised of many individual MORE
Pretty soon the CCD and its electronic-light- picture frames played quickly, one after the other. ADVICE
sensor cousin the CMOS (complementary metal-
When you look at the Moon or the planets through
WILL GATER oxide-semiconductor) chip found their way into a telescope, you also magnify imperfections in the OVER THE
PAGE
a smaller, lighter, friendlier package called the
atmosphere, which leads to shimmering and boiling
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