[Joe Hadenuf]

Taken with a 225 mm refractor.... With a cheap little webcam no less.

Stunning image considering....Amateurs astronomers have come quite a long way in the past 10 years.

[July 4th]

True, but that's a damn nice home refractor. Granted, the Toucam is a $100 little webcam that was not made for astronomy. I've had pretty good luck just sticking my digital camera in the eyepiece.

[Phsstpok]

Amateurs astronomers have come quite a long way in the past 10 years.

I don't disagree with your point regarding the relative quality of the image given the tools, but "amateur astronomers" have made most of the major scientific discoveries regarding our solar system of note, including the majority of the planetary and notable cometary discoveries.

Traditionally almost all astronomers in history have been, technically speaking, amateurs. It's the tools available to all that have changed. I love CMOS.