"Roger Hamlett" wrote in message
...


If you think about it, using a device like the Toucam, as a 'video' input,
it is not potentially hard to look at each frame in turn, and guide on any
errors in this, while at the same time integrating multiple frames to
produce a 'psuedo' long exposure image. Downside is that with short
exposures, unless the object is relatively bright, there will not be
significant data recorded in the individual images, to give any record in
the result. However it is a simple (and cheap...) solution. It sounds as
if they have implemented something along these lines.

Though unless your mount is particularly badly aligned, you dont really need
to do the guiding on line, just align and stack afterwards. I believe there
is a program which does this on the fly producing pseudo real time stacked
images (Astrosnap possibly)

If anyone is interested in the effect of stacking on signal to noise ratio,
I have just completed a page on it as part of a Stacking FAQ project I am
working on for QCUIAG.
http://tinyurl.com/72s5t
http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/...stacking_noise
..htm

With a B+W rechipped vesta webcam and 8 inch aperture, I was surprised to
find I was getting down to mag14.5 in a 1000 frame stack of 0.2 second
exposures. Quite a bit of nebulosity was visible in M42 too for example.


Robin