ORION StarShoot™ CCD Color

[GrampianStars]

http://www.telescope.com/images/us//local/products/family_detail/A52065dt.jpg
New CCD from Orion to put Meade out of business ? ?
ORION STAR-SHOOT CCD (http://www.telescope.com/shopping/product/detailmain.jsp?itemID=130820&itemType=PRODUCT&iMainCat=6&iSubCat=29&iProductID=130820&relateInfo=1&add=yes&RS=1&keyword=52065#tabLink)
US $399 " The included MaxIm DL Essentials Edition software provides real-time focusing assistance, But the feature that puts the StarShoot a giant leap ahead in performance is thermoelectric cooling" :thumbsup:

[[1ponders]]

That's get the undecideds squirming :) For all those who were tempted to try their hand but kept talking themselves out of it.

Do you know anything about the MaxIm DL Essentials Robert?

[Stu]

Oooohhhh!
Ahhhh!

Were's my credit card....
Oh yeh my wifes got it. Bugger.

[ballaratdragons]

Good, get her to buy it for you Stu! :P

[iceman]

I read in the Bintel newsletter that they'll be selling them for approx AU$599.

I guess it's competition for the Meade DSI.. I wonder what it'll be like as a planetary imager though, as it's USB 2 it might have good framerates possible.

Though the pixel size is large isn't it? Meaning a smaller image scale.

[Robby]

Pixel size 6.50um
Chip size 6mm x 5mm 752x582 effective.

Looks very promising. Pixel size about right I think. Not too big or too small. Almost identical to the pixel size for the 300D (6.4um), but slightly bigger than the Toucam (5.6).
I would imagine it would be a much better deep sky camera than a planetary/lunar one.
Heres the CCD chip data sheet for the Orion CCD chip for those with a nose for the tech guff. http://products.sel.sony.com/semi/PDF/ICX259AK.pdf
Cheers

[bird]

The specs look very promising - I'd love to see a comparison with the ToUCam.

Edit: Shoulda been more specific, I mean it looks good as a planetary camera. Not sure
how it would go as a deep-sky camera :confuse3:
Bird

[Striker]

Looks like a great camera to start with.....

But if your looking for something more suited to larger focal lengths then you need a bigger chip....1/3 is too small with low rezolution of 400K....unless you want it for just planets.

Good for something like an ED80 or even a guide camera.....now I'm thinking.

Looks like a fun camera either way and well priced.