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Crazy idea?


Tweedledee

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I've just bought some new bits to try a little project.


 


Someone may tell me that it is a crazy idea and won't work, especially since I know nothing of AP, but it could be useful and interesting.


 


The Baader Witty adjustable piggy back camera/finder holder...


 


Witty.jpg


 


Plus my Stellacam 3 deep sky video camera...


Stellacam3.jpg


 


With this 75mm F1.6 c-mount lens I am taking delivery of shortly...


cmount75mmf1.6.JPG


 


And this 7" Monitor which arrived yesterday...


Monitor7%22.jpg


 


Might just make a nice finder for the dob, hopefully with its sensitivity providing deep views approaching this, but certainly with the same field of view...


Stellacamfinderview.jpg


 


I have bracketry to mount the monitor either on the upper tube assembly near the camera or elsewhere, and the whole camera/finder setup is still relatively lightweight and won't cause balance problems with the rebalancing mods I have now done on the dob, to cater for my new 1.4 kilogram eyepiece. The system will work via a netbook which will probably be running Stellarium at the same time, hopefully in sync with the intelliscope location software built into the dob.


 


Damian (Boletus) will kindly be using his knowledge, experience and probably a few Neurofen working through the software/communication aspects of this project - Sorry Damian. :)


 


Phil Dyers Mintron video website is quoting up to 14th magnitude with small, similarly fast lenses, so hopefully this method should make it easier to flush out and locate faint fuzzies. I may stick a small cross hair, circle or other marking at the centre of the monitor for exact centering, and the monitors menu system provides software control to switch the image both vertically and horizontally, so I can achieve a correct image whatever the initial orientation of the system.


 


Any suggestions, criticisms or comments welcome, since I am in uncharted territory, and may even have it all wrong  :screwloose:  :) .


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Yep it should work Pete, I used my Mintron in a similar manner as a finder sometime back and found it worked ok but was a faff to set up everytime, i found I was swapping the cam into the scope after a short while.

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Guest Tweedledum

ooooohhhh Poooo*****hhh. :screwloose:


 


More project creep and on my birthday too....It will work, very fortunately no more cables down the conduit..... I'll have the connectors for the control box in this week!


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Yep it should work Pete, I used my Mintron in a similar manner as a finder sometime back and found it worked ok but was a faff to set up everytime, i found I was swapping the cam into the scope after a short while.

 

Cheers Phil,

I'm attempting to address the "faff" aspect at the design stage of all the dob mods, trying to make everything as easy to set up and ergonomic as possible. Will do a separate thread on that soon. Damian is working hard containing all the electrics (netbook, Stellacam, dew control etc.) in a very neat and convenient, self contained, quick to setup, anti-trip wiring loom and distribution box - I don't like cables :o . But he keeps saying I'm causing project creep throwing in different ideas and moving the goal posts :) . I'm figuring that a bit more work at the modding stage will pay dividends when the scope is in use. But we'll see.

 

Enjoy your birthday Damian :thumbsup: .

 

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If this dob modding is good enough, it might tempt some miscreants back from the dark side and get them to open their pupils a bit wider  :nonono:  :facepalm:  .


 


I have every respect for them really, it's just that I can't do AP :unsure: .


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Guest peepshow

 

 

 it's just that I can't do AP :unsure: .

Not a soul could do AP when they were born. :)

 

The learning curve starts with a big fat wallet and ends with a skinny one. :D

Edited by peepshow
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Not a soul could do AP when they were born. :)

 

The learning curve starts with a big fat wallet and ends with a skinny one. :D

The thickness of my wallet is measured in microns now, without buying AP tackle. :o

Edited by Tweedledee
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The thickness of my wallet is measured in microns now, without buying AP tackle. :o

Microns, lucky you, I measure mine in Planck lengths.

Can't wait to see it in action though, looks great.

:)

Edited by Daz Type-R
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Microns, lucky you, I measure mine in Planck lengths.

Can't wait to see it in action though, looks great.

:)

You are right thanks Darren, my wallet does look great, but you're not likely to see it in action again for a while :)

Sounds like the slightest fluctuation of a virtual particle might liquidate both our wallets to quantum soup very shortly. I think Mr. Nagler and Co. have a lot to answer for :)

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Thats 10 to the -20 times the diameter of a proton!, Can I borrow your ruler :2thumbsup:

My ruler becomes a bit uncertain measuring those sizes :)

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That monitor will need a deep red filter over it to prevent your eyes becoming

un-dark adapted.

I'm not sure that will be necessary Richard, unless it is showing something really bright, but I have plenty of red filter material if I need it.

Just like normal visual observing, if you are seeking out that faint galaxy with averted vision, you don't want to look at Jupiter immediately before it.

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  • 6 months later...

I think most of us are feeling the pinch financially but I haven't made a major purchase for 10 years: my PST.


 


As for crazy ideas, yes, we must continue to try them out. I'm rather reluctant to commit a lot of money to something that might work. Over the years, many "crazy ideas" are now mainstream imaging techniques. Think about the use of webcams, which I'm wondering might die out with later versions of Windows for which there aren't any drivers or could eventually become obsolete because of cheaper alternatives designed by astronomers for astronomers. Having said that, webcamming will always occupy an important slot in astronomical history.


 


A non-astronomical example is the Pakistani corner shop. Although they are extinct round here, they have led to supermakets opening late and stocking food from the Indian sub-continent.


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