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Meade Deep Sky Imager with Dobsonian
I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a
scope? Cheers, Alan Shank |
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"Alan Shank" wrote in message news I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. |
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On Thu, 10 Mar 2005 11:35:39 GMT, "George"
wrote: "Alan Shank" wrote in message news I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. Thanks. I realized they would have to be short exposures. Cheers, Alan Shank |
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"Alan Shank" wrote
"Alan Shank" wrote in message ... I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. Thanks. I realized they would have to be short exposures. Alan, If you put the Dob on a tracking platform you could probably get 30 to 60 second exposures and combine them. If you had an alt-az drive you could take short exposures in at least parts of the sky. There is software that will combine rotated images. I've seen hour long exposures from a guy with an Obsession 25" using a StellarCat alt-az drive and the new camera rotator made by Opt-Tec. His camera is an SBIG and he also uses the AO-7 unit. The StellarCat drive will take control inputs and will also control the field de-rotator. The main problem the guy had was keeping collimation after putting all of that heavy camera stuff on the scope. I would bet that the truss-type Dobs will have to be strengthened for imaging, but that would not be a big deal. George Normandin |
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On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 04:51:48 GMT, "George Normandin"
wrote: Alan, If you put the Dob on a tracking platform you could probably get 30 to 60 second exposures and combine them. If you had an alt-az drive you could take short exposures in at least parts of the sky. There is software that will combine rotated images. Yes, but I really don't want to get into that type of expense. I used to have a Meade 2080 SCT with a drive, but sold it when I moved to Oregon. When I moved back here (20 miles from Sacramento, out in Yolo county farm country), I decided to go for aperture and stick to visual observing. When I read about the DSI, I just thought it might be an easy, relatively inexpensive way to get my "feet wet." I still haven't decided whether to go for it, but thanks for the input; I appreciate it. Cheers, Alan Shank |
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"George" wrote in message news:fiWXd.52174$Ze3.19575@attbi_s51... "Alan Shank" wrote in message news I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. If that is all you are planning to do then you would save money and get better results using a webcam (Though you will have trouble getting the best results with an undriven scope, as once you are at high enough magnification to give you the best resolution, you will find it difficult to keep the target in the frame, tracking manually.) Robin -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Robin Leadbeater 54.75N 3.24W http://www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.uk/astro.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Robin Robin |
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"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message
... "George" wrote in message news:fiWXd.52174$Ze3.19575@attbi_s51... "Alan Shank" wrote in message news I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. If that is all you are planning to do then you would save money and get better results using a webcam (Though you will have trouble getting the best results with an undriven scope, as once you are at high enough magnification to give you the best resolution, you will find it difficult to keep the target in the frame, tracking manually.) Robin While I have personal reasons why I advise anyone not to support Meade, objectively I thought they were offering a webcam plus software package that was priced about the same as if you had to go out there and get it all yourself, and worked well as a package, probably because they didn't invent most of it. But if you can get the right webcam at a discount price that combination is hard to beat price-wise. -- Sincerely, --- Dave ---------------------------------------------------------------------- It don't mean a thing unless it has that certain "je ne sais quoi" Duke Ellington ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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"David Nakamoto" wrote in message news:TvpZd.4827$wL6.1329@trnddc03... "Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message ... "George" wrote in message news:fiWXd.52174$Ze3.19575@attbi_s51... "Alan Shank" wrote in message news I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. If that is all you are planning to do then you would save money and get better results using a webcam (Though you will have trouble getting the best results with an undriven scope, as once you are at high enough magnification to give you the best resolution, you will find it difficult to keep the target in the frame, tracking manually.) Robin While I have personal reasons why I advise anyone not to support Meade, objectively I thought they were offering a webcam plus software package that was priced about the same as if you had to go out there and get it all yourself, and worked well as a package, probably because they didn't invent most of it. But if you can get the right webcam at a discount price that combination is hard to beat price-wise. Hi David, The DSI is not actually based on a modified webcam, but is a camera designed from the ground up for deep sky imaging. (How well it works in that application I will leave others to judge) It is not however optimised for planetary work and is at a disadvantage compared with the webcam for this application. Here in the UK at least, the best webcam for the application (a Toucam Pro II ) plus adapter and IR blocking filter can be bought for less than £100 (some excellent capture and processing software is available fee on the web) compared with £250 for the DSI. I expect the price comparison is closer in the US though due to Meade's pricing policy in Europe. Robin |
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"Alan Shank" wrote
If you put the Dob on a tracking platform you could probably get 30 to 60 second exposures and combine them. If you had an alt-az drive you could take short exposures in at least parts of the sky. There is software that will combine rotated images. Yes, but I really don't want to get into that type of expense. I used to have a Meade 2080 SCT with a drive, but sold it when I moved to Oregon. When I moved back here (20 miles from Sacramento, out in Yolo county farm country), I decided to go for aperture and stick to visual observing. When I read about the DSI, I just thought it might be an easy, relatively inexpensive way to get my "feet wet." I still haven't decided whether to go for it, but thanks for the input; I appreciate it. Alan, As others have said you might want to try an inexpensive web-cam. Another idea might be one of the video cameras sold by Adirondack Video Astronomy. You can image or just use it as a 'real time' viewer with your Dob. I've used a regular SBIG CCD for 'group viewing' with a driving scope and I've read that some folks really like the video cameras for Dob 'group viewing'. They will easily show more than you can see with the eye. BTW from what I've seen the StellarCat GoTo drive for Dob's is the way to go for any type of observing. I certainly plan on adding one of these systems onto my Obsession 20. George Normandin |
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"Robin Leadbeater" wrote in message ... "George" wrote in message news:fiWXd.52174$Ze3.19575@attbi_s51... "Alan Shank" wrote in message news I have a Discovery 14" Dobsonian. Can you use the Meade DSI on such a scope? Cheers, Alan Shank Yes. That is, as long as you aren't expecting to take long exposures (you'd need to guide the scope to do that anyway. But for solar, planetary and lunar work, yes you could use this camera with your scope. If that is all you are planning to do then you would save money and get better results using a webcam (Though you will have trouble getting the best results with an undriven scope, as once you are at high enough magnification to give you the best resolution, you will find it difficult to keep the target in the frame, tracking manually.) Robin -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Robin Leadbeater 54.75N 3.24W http://www.leadbeaterhome.fsnet.co.uk/astro.htm ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- - Robin Robin I agree, which is why I have a german equatorial drive. |
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