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Old 02-04-2018, 01:27 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Video astronomy!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwoo91jeO94
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcvmMhlBO24

Never really paid much attention to video astronomy, but now that the faster CMOS cameras are available, it's amazing what can be achieved.

Outreach events come to mind.
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Old 02-04-2018, 01:31 PM
04Stefan07 (Stefan)
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Pretty cool. Very interesting indeed.
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Old 02-04-2018, 01:56 PM
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AstroJunk (Jonathan)
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I find AV cameras are best for outreach. I have a Pico projector that casts a very low luminosity image and works perfectly without wrecking night vision!

Great fun
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Old 02-04-2018, 02:09 PM
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Lognic04 (Logan)
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Amazing cameras can be so sensitive! Awesome!
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Old 02-04-2018, 09:08 PM
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Ken, your 183 at high gain should be pretty effective with live stack and short exposures. Hard to tell where the blurred line separates this from video astronomy
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Old 03-04-2018, 05:59 PM
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OzEclipse (Joe Cali)
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Ken,
If you want an AV camera of the type Jonathan mentioned, there is a very reasonably priced camera made by Run Cam that can be ordered straight from manufacturer.
https://shop.runcam.com/runcam-night-eagle-2-pro/

This camera is quite sensitive, probably able to detect 12th magnitude stars in an 8" scope at 25fps.

Dave Gault in the Blue Mountains makes a customised version of a Watec Camera called the TacosBD. It's the result of a collaboration between 4 occultation observers who have written software, firmware and designed a micro controller to allow USB control of the camera. I have one of these. It will integrate up to 256 frames. At 5 integrations, 5 fps, it records stars of at least magnitude 14.2 through my 8" cassegrain. I have yet to test the limits at the full 256 frame integrations (~1 frame per 5s) but it should get me somewhere close to mag 16. For occultation timing, you need to stay at 5fps or faster to get the requisite timing/astrometric accuracy. But for video astronomy, the longer integrations could be used.

These cameras cost about $550 for the Watec 910BD camera and then $280 for the custom parts, laser cut enclosure, connectors and microcontroller and Dave's custom build.

Details are available here : -
http://www.kuriwaobservatory.com/TACOS_BD-System.html

Joe
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Old 03-04-2018, 06:03 PM
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Merlin66 (Ken)
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Joe,
I understand......
I use hoping to at least trial the ASI 183 rather than invest in some special cameras.
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Old 04-04-2018, 04:52 PM
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I reckon an uncooled 224mc is still one of the best video astro cameras around - live stacking really short subs at high gain.

That pico projector is great Jonathan!
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Old 06-04-2018, 10:01 AM
chromus (Phil)
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I have the Altair version of the 183C (uncooled), I can use it for DSO and have very successfully. (See my first light thread)

The lunar and planetary frame rates are also fantastic. The major thing that often holds this new generation of cameras back is the USB3 cable length and chipset of the computer they are connected to.

My camera was supplied with a 1M very high quality USB3 cable, it struggled when I had to use and extension to allow for safe slewing of my scope.

I solved this by getting a Micro PC to mount on the dovetail. I can now capture at 4000FPS quite stably with a 30cm USB3 cable.

The frame rates can be so high that you can use a static tripod for Lunar and then stack the frames even with the offset and get remarkable definition.
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