News from NEAF:New Astrophysics 'Scopes, SBIG, Bisque, Maxim DLfor Mac OS?

- Roland and Marge Christen unveiled two new prototype 'scopes at NEAF
today. I made quick-and-dirty photos of the information sheets attached to
each scope and posted them at
http://www.davidillig.com/new-from-neaf.shtml. I don't have time to post
photos at the moment, but the new 'scopes look like white AP refractors, of
all things. Roland told me that the new "Traveler" will be priced between
three and four thousand dollars.

- At the Northeast Astro Imaging Conference SBIG President Alan Holmes said
that they are working on a new type of retro-reflecting autoguider that is
intended (initially, at least) to work with SCT's. It will utilize an
artificial star that will be generated by a red LED mounted in the optical
path of the imaging 'scope. The artificial star will be sent /out/ of the
front of the imaging 'scope and reflected down into the guide camera
(mounted on a separate guide 'scope) via a mirror system that will be
affixed to the rim of the imaging 'scope. The guide camera will control the
mount to maintain the relative positions of the artificial star (i.e., of
the imaging 'scope) and a real star. The reql star may be any star in the
guide scope's field of the guide 'scope. Mr. Holmes said that this scheme is
controversial, due to concerns that artificial star light will be reflected
by the correction plate and scattered in the imaging 'scope. SBIG testing
reveals that the number of photons reaching the imaging system would be
extremely low and would not affect imaging. SBIG doesn't even have a
prototype yet, but they expect to build and test one very soon. This new
guiding system is SBIG's answer to demands from DSLR astrophotographers for
an autoguiding system. This is not on the SBIG web site yet, but Mr. Holmes
will try to get info there soon.

- Software Bisque expects to release the next version of TheSky for Linux,
Mac OS, and Windows /without/ /telescope/ /control/ within the next couple
of months. They are still working on drivers for the myriad of mount
protocols. The are in a long term program to re-write all of their software
for Linus, Mac OS, and Windows. The Windows software is not a mere update of
TheSky 6; this software is being re-written from scratch.

- Douglas George, developer of Maxim DL, told me last year that there would
not be a version of Maxim for the Mac OS. Now he says that he is thinking
about it. He authorized me to quote him publicly and accurately: /thinking/
/about/ /it/ . My take: He is thinking hard about it or he wouldn't have
told me. Developers are aware of the phenomenal growth in Mac sales,
particularly the Intel-based MacBook Pro. Nobody expects the MacOS to
supplant Windows, of course, but the proverbial niche is growing. When the
MacBooks begin to approach a 25 percent share of the laptop market is the
MacBook still the niche player it was at 5 percent? The developers don't
think so. They are getting more and more requests for Mac versions of their
software. An amazing number of amateurs say that they switched to the Mac OS
after getting a taste of Windows Vista. Those who run both the Mac OS and XP
Pro SP2 on their MacBooks (and I'm one of those) are unanimous in saying
that the MacBook Pro Core 2 Duo is the slickest Windows machine they have
ever used, whether booted natively in Windows or running Windows under
Parallels virtualization.

- Other: If you haven't seen the Tak FSQ106 "New Q" it is amazing for its
short tube -- just the thing for a small zerbatory like mine. The William
Optics 110 is a handsome 'scope, and quite a performer (so I'm told; I
haven't used one at night) at a reasonable price.

- One you won't believe: The maker of one of the high-end CCD astro cameras
believes that they days of the CCD are numbered; in less than 10 years the
CMOS chip will have been refined to the point that it can supplant the CCD
in pro imaging, he said He is already examining some new-generation CMOS
chips -- none are quite as good as equivalent CCD's yet, but he compared a
highly regarded CCD chip for which /he/ pays $3500 to a CMOS chip with the
same resolution and pretty fair performance in other areas that sells for
$35. The handwriting is on the wall, he argues.

If you haven't been to NEAF, you really ought to try to make it one year.
It's the second largest show of its kind; the largest, in Japan, features
rock bands and other attractions that are unrelated to astronomy,
Practically every large player is here, and many much smaller players, as
well.

Davoud, reporting dead tired from Rockland Community College, Suffern, NY.
(Saved about $165K today by not buying all the neat toys I desperately
wanted to buy.)

*****

Disclaimer for Colorado residents only:

None of the above remarks about the Mac OS applies in Colorado, where Mac
users are switching to Windows in droves -- right Chris? ;--) At each NEAIC
session in the main auditorium at Rockland Community College's gorgeous new
Technology Center the Mac folks sat down and did their thing on the wireless
network, while the Windows crowd gathered in clusters to brainstorm how to
get connected. Someone would shout "I got in!" and a cluster would rush to
that person to see how they did it. "Dammit! It was working a minute ago!"
I'm sorry, Chris, but I swear this God's own Truth and it was hilarious --
to Maccies. "You're in? How'd you do it?" "I don't know. This is a Mac; I
just opened it and it connected." "Yeah, but how did you set it up
originally?" "I didn't. I just arrived I've never been here before." "Well,
what are your settings?" "I don't know; I don't look at my settings." "Hey,
is that a Verizon Express Card?" "Yeah. The college network is bogged down
and I'm trying to send some full-res photos to my wife." "So there's Mac
software for that thing. Is it better than the Windows software? I can't get
mine to work." "Uh, well, yes, Verizon does supply Mac software for the
Express Card, but I don't know whether it works or not because drivers for
cards like this are built into the Mac OS so I didn't need to install the
Verizon software." "No software at all? Then how do you configure it?" "You
don't. You plug it in and a "Connect" button appears and you click it and it
connects. But I do have the Windows software installed on the Windows side
of this Mac and I got it to work OK after a couple of calls to Verizon
support." "That Mac can emulate Windows!?" "No, it boots Windows natively."
Jaw drops, and so on. Sorry, Chris, mea culpa, and all of that, flame me to
Hell, do your best and your worst. But to see all of the stereotyped
contrasts between the two platforms live, all the reasons we switched to
Macs, played out over and over again, during a two-day imaging conference
was just too much.

On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 04:36:59 GMT, Davoud wrote:

- Software Bisque expects to release the next version of TheSky for Linux,
Mac OS, and Windows /without/ /telescope/ /control/ within the next couple
of months. They are still working on drivers for the myriad of mount
protocols. The are in a long term program to re-write all of their software
for Linus, Mac OS, and Windows. The Windows software is not a mere update of
TheSky 6; this software is being re-written from scratch.

I like V6 ok, but frankly, it wasn't much of a change from V5. I
probably won't adopt the newer version. Bisque software is just not
engineered very well, it doesn't take good advantage of ASCOM, and I
don't see that changing. Too bad.


- One you won't believe: The maker of one of the high-end CCD astro cameras
believes that they days of the CCD are numbered; in less than 10 years the
CMOS chip will have been refined to the point that it can supplant the CCD
in pro imaging, he said He is already examining some new-generation CMOS
chips -- none are quite as good as equivalent CCD's yet, but he compared a
highly regarded CCD chip for which /he/ pays $3500 to a CMOS chip with the
same resolution and pretty fair performance in other areas that sells for
$35. The handwriting is on the wall, he argues.

I think he's probably right. There's no fundamental reason CMOS can't
perform as well (it usually requires more power, but that's not a
problem for astro cameras). It will require that the chip manufacturers
produce B&W versions, though, which most don't right now with their
products intended for consumer cameras. I've used some new CMOS sensors
in high end guiders with very good results. The non space-qualified
versions of the same devices are very inexpensive.


None of the above remarks about the Mac OS applies in Colorado, where Mac
users are switching to Windows in droves -- right Chris? ;--)

I don't believe I've ever said that, only that I helped a couple of
companies upgrade from Mac to Windows platforms (and both are still very
happy with their choice). I don't personally know anybody who has
downgraded to a Mac, but certainly there is a good indication that
Apple's market share is currently growing. Just another sign of the
dumbing down of America.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

"Davoud" wrote
.......
- At the Northeast Astro Imaging Conference SBIG President Alan Holmes
said
that they are working on a new type of retro-reflecting autoguider.......

I did not attend the imaging conference, but on Sunday at NEAF Alan did
mention this unit, without all of the tech details that you provided. The
other thing he assured me of was that my old AO-7 *will* work with my
STL-1301E's smaller chip, despite claims to the contrary on the SBIG
website. That advise really relates to the AO-7's mirror size and the bigger
11k chip. He said that it should work fine and that if there's a software
problem with doing it he'll re-write their software for me so that it will
work. He advised not buying their new AO unit and just using the AO-7. My
only concern now is using a safety strap with the STL at 90 degrees hanging
off the AO-7.

George N