ASTROVID StellaCam II

Anyone have a chance to test drive an ASTROVID StellaCam II yet? I am
curious to see some images taken with it.

Regards

I have one and I love it. Images are available on the Astrovid website
and in the Yahoo user's group called "Videoastro". Many threads about
the camera are there as well. Bottom line - the views on the monitor
in frame-accumulation mode are easily 10 times better than what I see
in the eyepiece from my light polluted back yard. I see the full
nebulosity in M42, whereas with as eyepeice alone, all I can see is
the inner core.


On 5 Dec 2003 05:02:18 -0800, (Lex) wrote:

Anyone have a chance to test drive an ASTROVID StellaCam II yet? I am
curious to see some images taken with it.

Regards


** If you want to send me e-mail, remove the NOSPAM from my address **

Anyone have a chance to test drive an ASTROVID StellaCam II yet

I didn't save any images (yet) but I got mine in time for the recent Chiefland
Star Party.

This is my first device of this nature and the first night's experiences showed
that I've got more than a few things to learn...BUT...
right out of the box the images were spectacular and attracted a crowd to the
tv screen.

Coupled to a 24" Starmaster/Skytracker
the Astrovid II nearly burned a permanent image of M-57 into my monitor screen!

I had to adjust the gain and the frame rate way down to avoid over-saturation.
The central star as well as the other foreground star that appears to be in the
center and the two foreground stars that appear to be IN the ring were so
intense they appeared as blobs until I cranked BACK the intensity.
Delicate detail within the ring was obvious.

When I moved the scope over to M-31 I thought I had missed the target and hit
M-32 instead. What I saw looked just like an eyepiece image of '32. I slewed
around looking for '31 and couldn't understand why
I was unable to sweep it up. It was only when I cranked the intensity back even
further that I discovered that what I had been seeing was the actual nucleus of
M-31!
When I got the settings right we were able to "drive' around the inner regions
using the slew controls. It looked very similar to the image on page 140 of
Burnham's, taken with the 60" scope at Mt. Wilson.
There were numerous dark lanes that I had never before detected visually.

It was about this time that someone walked into the table that the tv was
sitting on and knocked it off...putting it out of commission!
Since then, bad weather and a hectic work schedule have prevented me from any
further use.

When I do get it up and running again, I'm replacing the tv monitor with a
portable DVD player that will mount directly onto the mirror box. This will
allow finding, focusing and viewing right there at the scope and will greatly
reduce the number and length of assorted wires lurking in the dark.

Mike Harvey

The Stellacam II is a significant improvement over the Stellacam EX. I just
took a color image of M42, with my imaging friend Mike ..... and the results
are impressive, using only a 5.5" Schmidt-Newt. You can view the image at:

http://www.geocities.com/mtoconnor2001/M42a.jpg

Tristan


"Lex" wrote in message
m...
Anyone have a chance to test drive an ASTROVID StellaCam II yet? I am
curious to see some images taken with it.

Regards

I just
took a color image of M42, with my imaging friend Mike ..... and the results
are impressive

How did you do the color?
Mike Harvey

Hi Mike,

Even though the StellaCam II is a black and white camera, it's
relatively easy to take a color image. I just took a series of images
using a RGB filter set, along with an unfiltered luminance (L)image and
combined them in CCDSoft to produce a color image. It works well with
this camera due to its increased sensitivity.

Tristan



MHarveyWW1 wrote:
I just
took a color image of M42, with my imaging friend Mike ..... and the results
are impressive


How did you do the color?
Mike Harvey