[APML]: Astrovideography

[Jeff Cook <jcook@his.com>]

I'm forwarding this message I originally posted to sci.astro.amateur
because I thought would be of interest here too. I'll be doing more tests,
so if anybody has objections to my posting video stuff here, please let me
know.

Jeff Cook
jcook@his.com
Washington DC area

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Here are a couple of sample video clips I made with the TOPICA TP-505D/3
video camera (SUPERCIRCUITS PC-23C). Double-click, or type this into
your web browser:


ftp://ftp.his.com/pub/jcook/astro/video/

jupmoons.avi (4.3 secs, 82K) - clock drive off; some wind(?) as Jupiter
floats across field; dust on CCD chip; 2 moons appear from left;
electronic shutter off; adjusting brightness for moons would wash out
planet

sunaexp.avi (13.4 secs, 267K) - clock drive off; sunspots reveal;
electronic shutter (autoexposure) adjusts open as sun's limb passes

They were both shot with the camera on extension tube attached to a C8,
feeding a Hi8 camcorder. I then captured the video with an Intel Indeo
card into my 86MHz Win95 PC, adjusted the brightness and contrast during
before the capture, then compressed with Indeo5 (even at 160x120, the
files were HUGE, but it didn't hurt the image much).
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