Webcams can be modified to serve as astronomical cameras, if you're brave enough.

There is a great deal of talent available from the QCUIAG people, and, it is their research and that of Steve Chambers and Martin Burri that has been the inspiration for my attempts.

There are basically two ways to use a web cam for astronomical work. one is to modify it to allow the electronic shutter to stay open for longer exposures than the camera is designed for. the other is to modify the software used to control the camera in order to "stack" multiple images and build up a simulation of a single long exposure.

there are advantages to both methods and it should be noted that if you perform the long exposure mod to your camera it doesn't preclude you from using the latter method as well! it is for this reason that I chose to have go at the long exposure mod.

before you attempt to go down the path of dismantling your quickcam you should be aware that there is some seriously small scale soldering to be done, plus a small amount of interpreting circuit diagrams. when I say small scale I mean it this link will illustrate the scale to which I refer

I used a Quick cam 4000 pro as a donor as it has a good size chip and is pretty sensitive to lowlight (an absolute essential)