I have a dream..., live observing from my lounge

[astropolak (Joe)]

Hi

Getting a bit lazy..., I have this nagging dream that it should be possible to view through my scope whilst I seat comfortably in my lounge. All in high resolution and in colour, I define high resolution as 1920x1080 minimum.
I have a telescope that I control from my Ipad, if I can only stream the output of the (camera????) in some convenient way - lets say a DLNA server service or something like that.
I would also expect the sensitivity of such would be way better than my eye perhaps taking advantage of its ability to "integrate" or improve image through snapping the images over few second interval (do not know the exact name of this process).
Please note that I am taking about a Live View here, unprocessed data or processed in flight. I am not interested in intercepting or storing such data..., for now anyway.

Is this only a dream or is it possible today ?

[rustigsmed (Russell)]

first one some real examples then the second video some more info, not sure about wireless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRzKt6axBkY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGDNYYKYKFE

[glend (Glen)]

Certainly is possble today. There is a whole sub-forum on Cloudy Nights dedicated to electronic assisted astronomy, video observing, etc. The Mallicam LN300 (pal version) sems very popular.

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Joe,

A sticky on just this, has recently been started here on IIS:

Video Astronomy - sticky link.

The thread is just in its infancy, yet is growing fast with contributions.

Curiously, while Australia has some of the most high profile practitioners of VA in the whole world, its over all popularity is limited here in Oz. In Europe and the US is popular as access to dark skies is more difficult for a lot of people, and VA can punch through the light pollution of urban skies.

The quality of cameras for VA have leaped well beyond the CCTV cameras from three years ago, so too have the hardware connections and software for computers. Some people do not have the time to dedicate to astrophotography. They have a scope, they cannot get to a dark site, and even if they do they don't want AP, and if they are under urban skies, they still want to see something, and see it NOW. VA is the solution.

Put it this way, I've been able to see the Horse Head nebula live on a monitor with a C8 from my home in Sydney, even without having totally tamed my camera. Just a 17 second net exposure, and then move onto something else. Today's new cameras will allow for an even smaller aperture to do the same, with a clearer image too. Just a modest scope, VA camera and portable DVD player as a monitor. No computers anywhere to be seen, unless you are sitting in your lounge room controlling the scope,

I love doing outreach evenings, and I use VA along with visual scopes to compliment the observing experience. Novice eyes just don't stand a chance to see what we are privileged to see under dark skies. Yet folks would like to see a colourful nebula, or the spirals of a galaxy through a scope. They ain't gonna get this through a visual scope, but they can with VA. I also use this to make people aware of the problem that light pollution is. It is sad to hear that there are some cities in the world today where no stars can be seen due to the light pollution.

[astropolak (Joe)]

Thank you for your responses..., The Mallincam does look interesting.
Need to investigate it further....

The objective of this initial work would be a proof of concept with a Linux driven minicomputer equipped with WiFi acting as a media server for Kodi clients...

Would like to start with a cheaper camera to prove this can work..., and I know nothing about USB cameras.

RGDS Joe

[Kunama]

Whilst I wish you success Joe, in establishing your 'armchair obsy' , the idea goes against everything that I enjoy about astronomy....

being outdoors...
getting away from computer screens,
the distant photons actually striking my eyeball
the peaceful solitude of me, my scope & I

I will however, be interested to see what you come up with.... I too have been looking into the Mallincam as a means to convey to others what is out there..

[RB (Andrew)]

Originally Posted by astropolak

Thank you for your responses...

The objective of this initial work would be a proof of concept
RGDS Joe

Joe I know you too well, you won't be happy unless you're actually using a real eyepiece, allowing you to complain about the quality of that eyepiece.



Hope you're well mate, see you at the PC soon, I hope.

RB

[redbeard (Damien)]

Hi Joe,

This should work:

On my rig, I can see the footage from the camera mounted on the telescope on the laptop screen, either it's a video camera with its own software or it's a canon 450d with the live view from its software also being displayed on the laptop screen. Run Team viewer on the laptop and connect to it from inside your lounge on another pc hooked up to your HD monitor.

Just a thought and very simple to do. You could make the image on the laptop full screen.

There are all kinds of IP cameras where you could stream but they are expensive options and I don't know of any that are suited to astronomy. They may be out there.

You will always be at the mercy of the software used for displaying the camera. For example if you used the mallincam, you would need the capture card and software for the laptop and if it is capable of capturing HD and displaying it, then when team viewing into it, should give good results. By the way TeamView is remote software which is free.

Cheers,

Damien.

[astropolak (Joe)]

Thank you again for your comments.

The "armchair observing" will never replace the real thing for me. I have invested a lot of money and time to get my observing rig in shape and I will not forgo that for simple pleasures like video astronomy.
But.., there are times when the weather is not so good and I am outside of my house and all I can realistically observe is the planets and double stars and I want more....
Besides all that - I like new bit of new kit, I have keen technical bias on the things I do with telescopes.

And of course the fact that the Pony Club is disintegrating and no one shows any interest any more (with the exception of Allan perhaps). If I want to keep up the interest in astronomy I need to re-invent myself.

RGDS Joe

[mental4astro (Alexander)]

Originally Posted by redbeard

You will always be at the mercy of the software used for displaying the camera. For example if you used the mallincam, you would need the capture card and software for the laptop and if it is capable of capturing HD and displaying it, then when team viewing into it, should give good results. By the way TeamView is remote software which is free.

Damien,

You don't be at the mercy of software - video cameras, like the Mallincams and the LN300, can just be plugged into a TV or monitor. No software needed, no video capture device. IF you want to record a session, and do post-processing, then a computer is needed. Some Mallincam cameras don't even need a capture device as they have a USB port in them.

I plug my camera straight into a DVD monitor. For me a computer adds a level of complication I don't want.

Keep in mind too if you need a capture device, not all are created equal. There are many cheap capture devices, including forgeries of an excellent product formerly called EasyCap, that just don't do good job. The forgery situation has got so bad for the EasyCap company, they've changed their product name to EzCap, and the packaging too to a box, and NO ebay sales - Only through their website. Anything with 'EasyCap' or 'EzCap' on ebay is a forgery and don't work like the Real McCoy. I have an inexpensive capture device, and it give terrible results on a computer - I'm now considering either an EzCap unit or a Mallincam one.

Software does play its role too, and there are some excellent free and pay-for programs, some of which are video astronomy purpose made.