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Meade Deep Sky Imager with Dobsonian



 
 
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  #1  
Old March 10th 05, 05:45 AM
Alan Shank
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Default 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
  #2  
Old March 10th 05, 12:35 PM
George
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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.


  #3  
Old March 10th 05, 05:42 PM
Alan Shank
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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

  #4  
Old March 13th 05, 05:51 AM
George Normandin
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Default

"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


  #5  
Old March 13th 05, 08:56 PM
Alan Shank
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Default

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
  #6  
Old March 14th 05, 11:27 PM
Robin Leadbeater
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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


  #7  
Old March 15th 05, 12:55 AM
David Nakamoto
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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
----------------------------------------------------------------------


  #8  
Old March 15th 05, 02:22 AM
Robin Leadbeater
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Posts: n/a
Default


"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


  #9  
Old March 15th 05, 02:47 AM
George Normandin
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Posts: n/a
Default

"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


  #10  
Old March 15th 05, 04:37 AM
George
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default


"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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