I believe Paul Valleli of the Boston ATMoBs brought one (or a similar
instrument) down to AA last year and was doing some measurements.
If he returns again this year (he usually is at AA), then you could
ask him how well it works and what he measured at Seagrave.
Bob
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Hendrickson" <jim@...>
wrote:
>
> Does anyone have one of these?
>
> http://unihedron.com/projects/darksky/
>
> I'd be interested in seeing how the sky at Seagrave compares to
> various other areas around RI, or other sites as posted by the users
> in the CN forums:
>
http://www.cloudynights.com/ubbthreads/showflat.php/Cat/0/Board/telesc
opes/Number/1316025/page/0/view/collapsed/sb/5/o/all/fpart/1
>
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Hendrickson" <jim@...>
wrote:
>
> --- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "T Haley" <thaley1968@>
wrote:
> >
> > Hello Group, after some thought and conversations with some other
> > members, I would like to propose a members observing night, once
a
> > month. It would probably need to be a Friday night. It would also
need
> > to be anounced the week of the observing session in order to know
the
> > weather. Any thoughts or ideas are welcome and needed.
> >
> > Clear Skies
> >
> >
> > Tracey
> >
>
> I'd be interested in members observing nights as well, but I'm
> concerned that if we set a specific date and limit it to once a
month,
> we'll hardly ever find good weather on the date we set, so it may be
> more productive to have rain dates for observing.
>
> For example, set a Friday, but if the weather looks to be
unfavorable
> we could schedule the Thursday, or Sunday, or the next Friday. We
> generally don't get good forecasts until within 2 days, so perhaps
> even having unscheduled, impromptu sessions could be an optoin. If
> anyone plans to go they can send out a message to anyone interested.
>
> I also like the idea of "bring your own scope" nights.
===============================================================
>
These are long overdue, and I believe, MOST welcomed ideas. More
commaradie' will add greater closeness and cooperation and good for
the organization..Count me in!
Roger
Hi Jim, let us know how you made out. I couldn't come tonight because
my kids had soccer try outs and I need to be in work early tomorrow in
MA.
Hope you had fun
Tracey
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Jim Hendrickson" <jim@...>
wrote:
>
> Its bring your own scope night.
>
One of the Boston ATMoB members posted this article about a German
amateur building a 42" Dob. Quite an impressive scope, but moving it
around and operating it seems like a chore to me, but perhaps not for a
very, very enthusiastic amateur. Take a look here:
http://www.cruxis.com/scope/scope1070.htm
B. N.
Below is a quote from the exoplanet TransitSearch mailing list to its
members. The Tim Ferris movie seems to be one of the best promotions
of amateur astronomy for a long time.
"For most of the U.S., the air date is this Wednesday, September
19th. To find the PBS station in your area and to confirm the time
and date, see http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/airdates.html."
Check it out.
B. N.
******************************************************************
Dear Transitsearch Members,
This coming Wednesday evening (September 19) PBS will broadcast
nationwide in the U.S. a documentary about amateur astronomy which
also features a segment on exoplanet transits. Since over a million
viewers routinely tune in to such prime-time PBS shows, this may be
one of the largest audiences to hear about transits of exoplanets.
Tim Ferris is a prolific science writer who has had several books on
the New York Times best seller list, and was nominated for a Pulitzer
Prize. He too is an amateur astronomer, and he wrote a book about
the hobby titled "Seeing in the Dark." As he has done with many of
his previous works, he has turned that book into a film.
About a year ago Tim and his production crew filmed a segment in our
back yard. Also there was Dr. Debra Fischer of San Francisco State
University, an outstanding astrophysicist known for her work on
exoplanets.
Amazingly, all of that footage did not wind up on the cutting room
floor (or whatever the digital equivalent is), and there is footage
of me commenting on exoplanets, working in my back yard observatory,
and Dr. Fischer being interviewed in our living room. Fortunately
none of our teenager's laundry nor any dead mice left by our cats can
be seen in the background.
There are several other amateur astronomers appearing in the film who
are familiar to man of us in the community, including Michael
Koppelman, Rob Gendler and Stephen James O'Meara.
I attended a screening of the film and it is a beautiful piece of
work. Tim has managed to capture whatever it is that drives us to
look at the skies and in many cases share our interest with the
public. If you have not read his book, please do. The documentary
revolves around Tim's own experiences growing up in Florida in
the '60's with additional segments about other amateur astronomers.
Far from being a technical work, the documentary is very artistic
with elaborate special effects that will be even more incredible in
the hi-def broadcast version on PBS. Tim's own son plays him as a
teenager, and Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame plays the
soundtrack. The documentary includes an interview with an ex-pro
football player, footage of classic '50's cars, and a very compelling
narration by Tim himself, somehow all tied around amateur astronomy.
My overall impression is that Tim has made the best recruiting tool
for amateur astronomy since the dawn of the space age hooked the baby
boomers on the hobby.
Rather than just develop a website solely to promote the film, Tim
has put together a site that has some of the richest astronomy
content I have seen, aimed at educators and families as well. The
website for the film can be found at
http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/.
The section of the website that addresses exoplanets and transits is
http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/astronomy-topics/extrasolar-
planets.html.
For most of the U.S., the air date is this Wednesday, September
19th. To find the PBS station in your area and to confirm the time
and date, see http://www.pbs.org/seeinginthedark/airdates.html.
Hopefully this film will boost interest in amateur astronomy,
exoplanet observing, and dark sky preservation.
Best Regards,
Ron Bissinger
At 5:14am on Sunday morning I took this image of M42/43 after going
crazy trying to image Mars. The seeing was aweful and very turbulent.
I finally gave up and got out my Canon Rebel DSLR and took this 30
second image of M-42 through my Celestron 80mm ED refractor, mounted
piggyback on my 8"LX200 SCT. As you can see Winter is on it's way!
Clear Skies
Tracey
The image of M33 was taken with a Meade DSI Pro II and the
Astro Tech 6. It was piggybacked on my 8”LX200GPS.
The image is a simple RGB without a luminance layer.
Captured and processed with the supplied Meade software.
A slight sharpening in wavelets (found in the shareware Registax) .
Exposures were approximately> R= 15x2min G= 20x2min B=20x2min.
Infrared was blocked for all channels. Total exposure time was just under 2
hours.
I see the image you have of Orion. Around the same time you
were doing Orion, I was aimed just above at the Horse Head.
It was only a couple 2 min. luminance exposures but it let me
see what the field of view is going to be. It will be another
month before I will be able to have several hours of dark time
to shoot it in color but it looks real promising.
I’ll post that luminance layer as well.
Now that I’m thinking of it, the other night Jim had mentioned M45.
I couldn’t resist so I made my first attempt of a wide field mosaic
of M45. I’ll post that one as well.
Bob Forgiel
---- T Haley <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> Hi Bob, you posted a beautiful image of M33! Please let us know how you
> took the image?
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Tracey
>
Wow,
It did not take kindly to any punctuation when I replied via email.
Maybe I should have written it from the Yahoo page.
Let me try those characters again from here.
( 8" I'm I'll couldn't )
Bob F.
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, <bforgiel@...> wrote:
>
> The image of M33 was taken with a Meade DSI Pro II and the
> Astro Tech 6. It was piggybacked on my 8”LX200GPS.
> The image is a simple RGB without a luminance layer.
> Captured and processed with the supplied Meade software.
> A slight sharpening in wavelets (found in the shareware Registax) .
> Exposures were approximately> R= 15x2min G= 20x2min B=20x2min.
> Infrared was blocked for all channels. Total exposure time was just
under 2 hours.
>
> I see the image you have of Orion. Around the same time you
> were doing Orion, I was aimed just above at the Horse Head.
> It was only a couple 2 min. luminance exposures but it let me
> see what the field of view is going to be. It will be another
> month before I will be able to have several hours of dark time
> to shoot it in color but it looks real promising.
> I’ll post that luminance layer as well.
>
> Now that I’m thinking of it, the other night Jim had mentioned
M45.
> I couldn’t resist so I made my first attempt of a wide field
mosaic
> of M45. I’ll post that one as well.
>
> Bob Forgiel
>
>
>
> ---- T Haley <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> > Hi Bob, you posted a beautiful image of M33! Please let us know
how you
> > took the image?
> >
> > Clear Skies
> >
> > Tracey
> >
>
Hi Bob, I love your images! You do some great work. Would you be
interested in helping John Kocher and myself with an Imaging workshop
in November? The workshop would be rather informal and would be more
of a friendly how too class. I will be talking about imaging with my
DBK21AF0.4 Firewire Camera, and John and you can talk about the DSI.
You can also get some imaging time on one of the large SCT's. Let me
know what you think.
Jim Henrickson would like us to submit our images to him for the club
website as well. He needs images for the site and Newsletter.
Keep up the good work!
Clear Skies
Tracey
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Forgiel" <bforgiel@...>
wrote:
>
> Wow,
> It did not take kindly to any punctuation when I replied via email.
> Maybe I should have written it from the Yahoo page.
>
> Let me try those characters again from here.
> ( 8" I'm I'll couldn't )
> Bob F.
>
> --- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, <bforgiel@> wrote:
> >
> > The image of M33 was taken with a Meade DSI Pro II and the
> > Astro Tech 6. It was piggybacked on my 8”LX200GPS.
> > The image is a simple RGB without a luminance layer.
> > Captured and processed with the supplied Meade software.
> > A slight sharpening in wavelets (found in the shareware
Registax) .
> > Exposures were approximately> R= 15x2min G= 20x2min B=20x2min.
> > Infrared was blocked for all channels. Total exposure time was
just
> under 2 hours.
> >
> > I see the image you have of Orion. Around the same time you
> > were doing Orion, I was aimed just above at the Horse Head.
> > It was only a couple 2 min. luminance exposures but it let me
> > see what the field of view is going to be. It will be another
> > month before I will be able to have several hours of dark time
> > to shoot it in color but it looks real promising.
> > I’ll post that luminance layer as well.
> >
> > Now that I’m thinking of it, the other night Jim had mentioned
> M45.
> > I couldn’t resist so I made my first attempt of a wide field
> mosaic
> > of M45. I’ll post that one as well.
> >
> > Bob Forgiel
> >
> >
> >
> > ---- T Haley <thaley1968@> wrote:
> > > Hi Bob, you posted a beautiful image of M33! Please let us know
> how you
> > > took the image?
> > >
> > > Clear Skies
> > >
> > > Tracey
> > >
> >
>
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "T Haley" <thaley1968@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Jim, let us know how you made out. I couldn't come tonight because
> my kids had soccer try outs and I need to be in work early tomorrow in
> MA.
>
> Hope you had fun
>
> Tracey
>
Tracey,
It went very well. It started out looking like a regular Saturday
night, in terms of member turnout. By the end it was just me and Tony
left, and we packed it in at about 2am. If it wasn't a weeknight
there's no doubt I would have stayed longer.
We started out by observing some of our summer favorites, then moved
on to some showcase double stars, carbon stars, and star clusters.
I'm really amazed at the colors of stars in these 5" scopes.
I'm hoping that we can make regular events of members' star parties
like this.
Jim
The workshop shouldn’t be a problem.
I don't foresee much happening in November.
Bob F.
---- T Haley <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> Hi Bob, I love your images! You do some great work. Would you be
> interested in helping John Kocher and myself with an Imaging workshop
> in November? The workshop would be rather informal and would be more
> of a friendly how too class. I will be talking about imaging with my
> DBK21AF0.4 Firewire Camera, and John and you can talk about the DSI.
> You can also get some imaging time on one of the large SCT's. Let me
> know what you think.
> Jim Henrickson would like us to submit our images to him for the club
> website as well. He needs images for the site and Newsletter.
>
> Keep up the good work!
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Tracey
>
>
> --- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Forgiel" <bforgiel@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > Wow,
> > It did not take kindly to any punctuation when I replied via email.
> > Maybe I should have written it from the Yahoo page.
> >
> > Let me try those characters again from here.
> > ( 8" I'm I'll couldn't )
> > Bob F.
> >
> > --- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, <bforgiel@> wrote:
> > >
> > > The image of M33 was taken with a Meade DSI Pro II and the
> > > Astro Tech 6. It was piggybacked on my 8âLX200GPS.
> > > The image is a simple RGB without a luminance layer.
> > > Captured and processed with the supplied Meade software.
> > > A slight sharpening in wavelets (found in the shareware
> Registax) .
> > > Exposures were approximately> R= 15x2min G= 20x2min B=20x2min.
> > > Infrared was blocked for all channels. Total exposure time was
> just
> > under 2 hours.
> > >
> > > I see the image you have of Orion. Around the same time you
> > > were doing Orion, I was aimed just above at the Horse Head.
> > > It was only a couple 2 min. luminance exposures but it let me
> > > see what the field of view is going to be. It will be another
> > > month before I will be able to have several hours of dark time
> > > to shoot it in color but it looks real promising.
> > > Iâll post that luminance layer as well.
> > >
> > > Now that Iâm thinking of it, the other night Jim had mentioned
> > M45.
> > > I couldnât resist so I made my first attempt of a wide field
> > mosaic
> > > of M45. Iâll post that one as well.
> > >
> > > Bob Forgiel
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ---- T Haley <thaley1968@> wrote:
> > > > Hi Bob, you posted a beautiful image of M33! Please let us know
> > how you
> > > > took the image?
> > > >
> > > > Clear Skies
> > > >
> > > > Tracey
> > > >
> > >
> >
>
>
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "T Haley" <thaley1968@...> wrote:
>
> Hi Bob, you posted a beautiful image of M33! Please let us know how you
> took the image?
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Tracey
>
That is a great image. You can see quite a bit of the spiral
structure and lots of HII regions.
Well Jim, there is a story behind this M33 photo.
If you recall, during the members observing night I didn't stay long because the
previous night left me functioning on only a few hours sleep. Before I left I
did mentioned that I would post the image of M33 from the previous night.
Upon arriving home, expecting some pillow-hugging time, one of my birds choked
on a piece of shell from a sunflower seed. So much for him. After the commotion
I was up so I went back to M33 and did the image that's posted. (now that I'm
thinking back maybe M63 The Sunflower Galaxy would have been more fitting)
What caught my eye was in the upper middle right of the M33 photo, next to the
brighter star, there is a very small blue fuzz ball. Slightly below that there's
sort of a blue trailer coming downward. I thought that feature seemed slightly
unique. I sort of want to go back to that particular spot and do it again but
with the 8" SMT at a much higher magnification instead of the little 66mm
aperture.
You mentioned that you might want a photo for the news letter. Just let me know
what photos and I'll forward the originals.
Bob Forgiel
---- Jim Hendrickson <jim@...> wrote:
> --- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "T Haley" <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> >
>
> That is a great image. You can see quite a bit of the spiral
> structure and lots of HII regions.
>
>
>
I just ordered a fairly large Maksutov Cassegrain to piggyback on my
LX200. I also emailed the manufacturer of the ADM mini dovetail because
I still have not found a set of their rings larger than 150mm that will
fit their bar. The end of the OTA is 155mm in diameter so I need a ring
around 160mm. I asked High Point Scientific last Friday and they were
to call me back but never did. Assuming I never hear back from either,
does anyone have any suggestions? Worst case scenario would be to
remove the dovetail shoe from the 90mm rings and mount it on a
different manufacturers ring but I'm open to any suggestions other than
duct tape.
Bob Forgiel
Hi Bob, parallax makes many different sized rings, but they are not
cheap! http://www.parallaxinstruments.com/ring.htm
Try Orion for a cheaper set or Scopestuff.com. I will keep un eye out
on ebay and astromart.
Clear Skies
Tracey
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Forgiel" <bforgiel@...>
wrote:
>
> I just ordered a fairly large Maksutov Cassegrain to piggyback on
my
> LX200. I also emailed the manufacturer of the ADM mini dovetail
because
> I still have not found a set of their rings larger than 150mm that
will
> fit their bar. The end of the OTA is 155mm in diameter so I need a
ring
> around 160mm. I asked High Point Scientific last Friday and they
were
> to call me back but never did. Assuming I never hear back from
either,
> does anyone have any suggestions? Worst case scenario would be to
> remove the dovetail shoe from the 90mm rings and mount it on a
> different manufacturers ring but I'm open to any suggestions other
than
> duct tape.
>
> Bob Forgiel
>
Hello Group, I would like to thank everyone who helped out the past few
Sundays at the observatory. The work completed has made a great
improvment on the grounds and equipment. It is through the help of our
members that makes upkeep at the observatory bearable. I truely
appreciate all you help and detication!
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I just received a response from ADM.
They can supply a custom 170mm ring set by the weekend.
"yahoo" no pun intended..
---- T Haley <thaley1968@...> wrote:
> Hi Bob, parallax makes many different sized rings, but they are not
> cheap! http://www.parallaxinstruments.com/ring.htm
> Try Orion for a cheaper set or Scopestuff.com. I will keep un eye out
> on ebay and astromart.
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Tracey
>
> --- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, "Bob Forgiel" <bforgiel@...>
> wrote:
> >
> > I just ordered a fairly large Maksutov Cassegrain to piggyback on
> my
> > LX200. I also emailed the manufacturer of the ADM mini dovetail
> because
> > I still have not found a set of their rings larger than 150mm that
> will
> > fit their bar. The end of the OTA is 155mm in diameter so I need a
> ring
> > around 160mm. I asked High Point Scientific last Friday and they
> were
> > to call me back but never did. Assuming I never hear back from
> either,
> > does anyone have any suggestions? Worst case scenario would be to
> > remove the dovetail shoe from the 90mm rings and mount it on a
> > different manufacturers ring but I'm open to any suggestions other
> than
> > duct tape.
> >
> > Bob Forgiel
> >
>
>
For any inquiring minds that want to know
Very shortly Meade will be releasing the new DSI 3 CCD cameras.
The resolution of 1360x1024 will be doubled compared to the DSI 2.
Roomer has it that they will probably be around 1300.. (ouch)
A new Envisage software will also be released for download that will
cover all their cameras.
Bob Forgiel
Hi Bob
I don't know what thinking about this camera.
For a close price you can get the new Canon 40D digital camera with
a bigger sensor and a very low noise and a direct view feature. (Very usefull
for astronomy)
You can read a first review from a friend of mine.
http://astrosurf.com/buil/eos40d/test.htm
Clear Skies
Laurent
---- Bob Forgiel <bforgiel@...> wrote:
> For any inquiring minds that want to know
> Very shortly Meade will be releasing the new DSI 3 CCD cameras.
> The resolution of 1360x1024 will be doubled compared to the DSI 2.
> Roomer has it that they will probably be around 1300.. (ouch)
> A new Envisage software will also be released for download that will
> cover all their cameras.
>
> Bob Forgiel
>
>
Imaging Source has 1280 X 960 cameras for $870.00. Not quite the
resolution of the upcoming Meade but it seems like a good price. I am
looking for a place to get started. The software that comes with the
Meade seems well integrated and easy to use. The software that comes
with the Imaging Source cameras is propriatary but has good reviews.
It seems that it will be a tough choice. Any suggestions for a novice
will be appreciated.
Byron
I’ll just give a long-winded general reply to cover both comments.
I guess it’s a mater of preference because DSLR is very different from a CCD.
It’s a totally different technology and more like comparing apples and
oranges. You first need to decide what you want to use it for. Is it something
you also want to use for terrestrial? There has been a lot of discussion in the
Yahoo groups about the two. The DSLR can easily be used for terrestrial or
celestial but the CCD is designed specifically for celestial. DSLR will give a
high resolution and spectacular wide views but small faint DSO’s are a
different story. The CCD handles the noise way better and is better suited for
the fainter objects and long exposures. Thus being the reason you see the large
format CCD’s used for research.
Here is a quote form Chuck Reese whom is one of the many top astro imagers:
“I have a modified 300D. I haven't used it in almost a year. Why?
- I find the 16-bit depth to be a huge advantage.
- I find focusing the 300D to be a huge pain.
- I find the noise of the 300D to be problematic.
- I find the lack of cooling for the 300D problematic.
- I find the post-processing of RAW frames painful & time consuming.
- I find DSLR Shutter to be painful to use.
- I find the inability to do line filter imaging restrictive.
- I find the use of any filters (LPS, etc.) to be expensive & kludgy.
Of course this list is my personal experience, and the camera is
the "oldest" of the DSLR's generally still in use. The 40D may be
much better at some of these things (noise, bit depth, focusing,
etc.), and many of these "issues" may be of little or no concern to
you. I will say, I *do* like the large chip - there is just no substitute
for size on certain objects. And those small pixels really do produce
some nice, tight stars. And if you want to print color enlargements
to hang on the wall, more pixels is definitely (way) more better.”
(end quote)
What I personally like about the Meade camera (mainly the Pro II) is that I
don’t deal with manually subtracting the dark frames. I shoot darks while
I’m sleeping and the software labels them, stores them and then according to
temp selects and applies the appropriate one automatically during capture. It
watches the CCD temp so even if the temp slowly changes through the night it all
happens correctly and automatically. When focusing you have a live window that
you can zoom in and get the sharpest focus possible. I usually focus at
250-300x. Their capture and planetarium software talks to my mount for guiding
and goto. The software will align, stack, rotate stack or with the Drizzle
feature it will move the scope during capture for making a mosaic. It will
recognize multiple cameras and supports guiding. Their software also includes
image processing software that supports the fits file format but doesn’t
support applying a luminescent layer. It’s strictly RGB images but all the
different software (capture, planetarium, image processing) is a nice addition
to the package.
Now, with all that said I personally wouldn’t run out and buy the new DSI 3
until it has developed some form of track record but the moral of this long
winded story is that it’s a matter of what you want to do.
Bob Forgiel
---- deneb09@... wrote:
> Hi Bob
>
> I don't know what thinking about this camera.
> For a close price you can get the new Canon 40D digital camera with
> a bigger sensor and a very low noise and a direct view feature. (Very usefull
for astronomy)
> You can read a first review from a friend of mine.
> http://astrosurf.com/buil/eos40d/test.htm
>
> Clear Skies
>
> Laurent
>
> ---- Bob Forgiel <bforgiel@...> wrote:
> > For any inquiring minds that want to know
> > Very shortly Meade will be releasing the new DSI 3 CCD cameras.
> > The resolution of 1360x1024 will be doubled compared to the DSI 2.
> > Roomer has it that they will probably be around 1300.. (ouch)
> > A new Envisage software will also be released for download that will
> > cover all their cameras.
> >
> > Bob Forgiel
> >
> >
>
I have two sections of 16" Sonotube to give away free. One is just
over 40" long and the other just over 71" long.
I do not have the means to drop them off or meet somewhere, so pickup
is the only option (RI zip 02864).
If no one here needs them, then I will post them on Astromart.
-Chris
Hi Bob,
It was just to give different choices.
The new 40D from Canon is really a big step for astronomy like Christian
Buil says.
This guy knows what he is talking about. He works at the French Space
Center
in optic department. He does great job on spectroscopy for amateur.
Regarding the old 300D it's true that it's a little noisy. But great
pictures have been
took with it. You don't need a computer to use it. And i like this. With
little practice
it's not so difficult to perform good focus. I took my least NGC7000
with it and the result
is really nice. I will post it soon in file section of our group.
Clear skies
Laurent
> I’ll just give a long-winded general reply to cover both comments.
> I guess it’s a mater of preference because DSLR is very different from
> a CCD. It’s a totally different technology and more like comparing
> apples and oranges. You first need to decide what you want to use it
> for. Is it something you also want to use for terrestrial? There has
> been a lot of discussion in the Yahoo groups about the two. The DSLR
> can easily be used for terrestrial or celestial but the CCD is
> designed specifically for celestial. DSLR will give a high resolution
> and spectacular wide views but small faint DSO’s are a different
> story. The CCD handles the noise way better and is better suited for
> the fainter objects and long exposures. Thus being the reason you see
> the large format CCD’s used for research.
>
> Here is a quote form Chuck Reese whom is one of the many top astro
> imagers:
> “I have a modified 300D. I haven't used it in almost a year. Why?
> - I find the 16-bit depth to be a huge advantage.
> - I find focusing the 300D to be a huge pain.
> - I find the noise of the 300D to be problematic.
> - I find the lack of cooling for the 300D problematic.
> - I find the post-processing of RAW frames painful & time consuming.
> - I find DSLR Shutter to be painful to use.
> - I find the inability to do line filter imaging restrictive.
> - I find the use of any filters (LPS, etc.) to be expensive & kludgy.
> Of course this list is my personal experience, and the camera is
> the "oldest" of the DSLR's generally still in use. The 40D may be
> much better at some of these things (noise, bit depth, focusing,
> etc.), and many of these "issues" may be of little or no concern to
> you. I will say, I *do* like the large chip - there is just no substitute
> for size on certain objects. And those small pixels really do produce
> some nice, tight stars. And if you want to print color enlargements
> to hang on the wall, more pixels is definitely (way) more better.”
> (end quote)
>
> What I personally like about the Meade camera (mainly the Pro II) is
> that I don’t deal with manually subtracting the dark frames. I shoot
> darks while I’m sleeping and the software labels them, stores them and
> then according to temp selects and applies the appropriate one
> automatically during capture. It watches the CCD temp so even if the
> temp slowly changes through the night it all happens correctly and
> automatically. When focusing you have a live window that you can zoom
> in and get the sharpest focus possible. I usually focus at 250-300x.
> Their capture and planetarium software talks to my mount for guiding
> and goto. The software will align, stack, rotate stack or with the
> Drizzle feature it will move the scope during capture for making a
> mosaic. It will recognize multiple cameras and supports guiding. Their
> software also includes image processing software that supports the
> fits file format but doesn’t support applying a luminescent layer.
> It’s strictly RGB images but all the different software (capture,
> planetarium, image processing) is a nice addition to the package.
>
> Now, with all that said I personally wouldn’t run out and buy the new
> DSI 3 until it has developed some form of track record but the moral
> of this long winded story is that it’s a matter of what you want to do.
>
> Bob Forgiel
>
> ---- deneb09@... <mailto:deneb09%40cox.net> wrote:
> > Hi Bob
> >
> > I don't know what thinking about this camera.
> > For a close price you can get the new Canon 40D digital camera with
> > a bigger sensor and a very low noise and a direct view feature.
> (Very usefull for astronomy)
> > You can read a first review from a friend of mine.
> > http://astrosurf.com/buil/eos40d/test.htm
> <http://astrosurf.com/buil/eos40d/test.htm>
> >
> > Clear Skies
> >
> > Laurent
> >
> > ---- Bob Forgiel <bforgiel@... <mailto:bforgiel%40cox.net>> wrote:
> > > For any inquiring minds that want to know
> > > Very shortly Meade will be releasing the new DSI 3 CCD cameras.
> > > The resolution of 1360x1024 will be doubled compared to the DSI 2.
> > > Roomer has it that they will probably be around 1300.. (ouch)
> > > A new Envisage software will also be released for download that will
> > > cover all their cameras.
> > >
> > > Bob Forgiel
> > >
> > >
> >
>
>
Yes, don't get me wrong, there are some big advantages to DSLR.
This year I went to the NEAF and was looking at some Canon cameras.
At some point I might actually get one but I pretty much run remotely. I step
outside only to turn on a switch and change a filter. What can I say, I'm
lazy...
I also figured out why some of the punctuation gets distorted in my earlier
post. Instead of trying to type in the little window I typed it in word and
pasted the text. Can't do that....
---- Laurent <deneb09@...> wrote:
> Hi Bob,
>
> It was just to give different choices.
> The new 40D from Canon is really a big step for astronomy like Christian
> Buil says.
> This guy knows what he is talking about. He works at the French Space
> Center
> in optic department. He does great job on spectroscopy for amateur.
> Regarding the old 300D it's true that it's a little noisy. But great
> pictures have been
> took with it. You don't need a computer to use it. And i like this. With
> little practice
> it's not so difficult to perform good focus. I took my least NGC7000
> with it and the result
> is really nice. I will post it soon in file section of our group.
>
> Clear skies
>
> Laurent
>
Hi guys,
I added a picture of NGC7000 took with a Canon 300D DSLR (Files section)
This camera has its original filter replaced by the Baader Filter.
This filter permit to reach the red H-Alpha wave length.
The lense is a vintage mamiya 135mm 2.8
The picture is the result of 60 added 2min exposure time picture.
I didn't remove dark frame so some hot pixels are visible.
The software used for processing is Iris.
Clear Skies
Laurent
Hi All, all right who's going to be the first to buy one of these new
cameras? I'd like to see some pictures and reviews before considering
such a purchase. It looks nice though!
Clear Skies
Tracey
--- In skyscrapers_rias@yahoogroups.com, skyscraper75 <no_reply@...>
wrote:
>
> http://www.optcorp.com/productList.aspx?uid=&pg=0&kw=DSI%20III&st=2
>
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