Star 76 Virgo

Imaged and captured on June 18 at 2045 UTC.

It may not look like much (no processing was applied to the left image) but this is a mag. 5.2 star, and was imaged in broad daylight! The right image has had a 15 pixel unsharp mask applied. The salt and pepper effect is the result of heavy processing in 8 bit mode. The file simply ran out of headroom. The image may have been more presentable after processing if it had been a 16 bit file. However, since it was a video capture, it was 8 bit.

Telescope: 8" f10 Meade LX200.

Camera: PC23C video camera from Super Circuits at prime focus, modified to prevent video gain from rising on small bright targets.

Capture device: ATI All In Wonder Pro video card at 640 by 480 resolution.

Processed with SkyPro (now CCDSoft) to stretch the contrast. medium sharpening was applied.

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