On Tue, 24 Feb 2009 19:32:09 GMT, "U. N. McGregor"
wrote:

Ok group thanks. As someone who wants to make observations of at least
NEO's , I understand that
carefully determining the changes in RA and DEC relative to known star
positions is the first step. What is the least
quality of CCD or CMOS digital camera is needed to take photos of orbits?
What is the best what is the best way
to determine good RA and DEC measures?

You want to get a telescope and imager that has a large enough field
to have sufficient reference stars. A monochrome detector also is
better than a one-shot color camera. The Handbook of Astronomical
Image Processing from Willmann-Bell also includes AIP4WIN software,
which does astrometry (finding positions from images). It is a decent
book with practical information. University textbooks on spherical
astronomy will have the heavy duty math.

Bud