Enjoy her before she's changed forever!

[matt]

Well... here's a pic of my trusty 9.25 before she undergoes a radical overhaul:lol:

I'm heading down the active cooling path pioneered by Bird, Dave Pretorius, Paul Haese etc

I'm lucky enough to have Bird working on the project with me. We're going to install a temp sensing system which will work in conjunction with a peltier cooled Lymax cooler which Paul is helping me with.

I'm nervous, but also pretty excited about what this will produce.

Then it's a case of throwing all my gear into the car to head for better seeing at Bird's place at Murrumbateman or Frank (Spearo's) over at Braidwood-Bungendore, or anywhere else where the seeing gets to be better than the 4/10 which is mostly what I get at my place.

[Dennis]

"Break a leg" as they say on Broadway...look forward to the improved system.

Cheers

Dennis

[matt]

Thanks Dennis.

Let's hope a leg is all that gets broken!!!:lol: Maybe not.

I'm hoping this will really make a difference to my imaging, especially in Canberra where the 'scope (mirror) struggles so badly to stay in touch with ambient.

The temp differential here is just so huge you need active cooling to stand a chance.

[wavelandscott]

Best of luck with the transformation and modification!

I applaud all of you brave souls who are willing (and able) to
"cut into" their gear and improve it...

[bloodhound31]

Matt, Im in Canberra too mate. Wouldn't mind meeting you guys one of these days.

Baz.:D

[matt]

No problem, Baz.

I'm sure we can organise a get together of the IIS Canberra Connection:)

[bloodhound31]

I am waiting for the next clear night to take the Celestron up to stromlo. That could be a good venue....

Baz.:D

[matt]

I've never actually hauled my gear up there.

Could be worth a try.

[bloodhound31]

My email is on my site mate. Or PM me.

http://members.iinet.net.au/~armstead

Baz:D

[Ric]

Hi Matt, thats a lovely looking scope you have there and well set up to.
I'm sure that all the improvements you have planned will go smoothly.

Cheers

[Outbackmanyep]

CELESTRON USERS UNITE!!!!

Thats a great piece of gear Matt, i just got a LPI (yeah...i know...Meade) off a member of our club who sold it to me, and been slowly learning the ins and outs of digital imaging! Would like to hear how your new set-up progresses...
I love my Celestron but one of these days im gonna have to get a set-up like yours....how does the EQ6 mount go? works well does it??

Cheers!

[Ric]

Hey OBMY, I've just placed an order for a LPI as well and hopefully learn to take planetary images as good as Matt, Mike, David and the other guru's in this forum. I definitely in the best place to learn as well.
I'm split down the middle between Celestron and Meade, I love my LX200R but I still have a loyalty to my first real scope the Celestron C8 which is a great visual performer. I want to get an EQ mount for it one day but I'm not sure which one will suit the OTA.

Cheers

[matt]

Ric

Get yourself a ToUcam.

We're talking CCD Vs CMOS chip.

No contest...as much as I'm sure the LPI is a fine little cam:)

And the C8 will be fine atop an EQ5, but an EQ6 will give you more room for growth

[Ric]

Hi Matt, thanks for the advice on the mount.
With the ToUcam how are they different from the LPI, I am very much the layman in this area so I am not sure of the software needed and other such finer points.
I have only ordered the LPI at the moment but not paid for it as it will not arrive for another 3 or 4 weeks

Cheers

[matt]

Ric

The major difference between the ToUcam and the LPI is the ToUcam uses a CCD sensor while the LPI has a CMOS sensor.

The CMOS used in webcams (which is a cheaper and inferior version to the CMOS used in conventional digital cameras) is about half as sensitive as the ToUcam's CCD sensor.

I'm also not sure you get as much control flexibility with the LPI.

However, you can still achieve acceptable pics from it.

You'll just find yourself looking for something better pretty quickly. It just depends what your expectations are and what you want to achieve?

Plenty of guys buy them and sell them in a fairly short space of time.

[Ric]

Thanks Matt for the advice, I shall definitely do some serious research over the weekend.

All the best

[Outbackmanyep]

Hey guys!
Well im only a novice in this field too, but 100 bucks for 2nd hand LPI imager was well within my budget so eventually i'll move up when i can save more money!
The one thing that frustrates me is that the LPI Window is not exactly the same as the one in the PDF manual....so things are a little different....also it looks like i have to buy a cd rom to update the Autostar planetarium.
I imaged Saturn the other night, although not as crisp as i would like, so i decided to check my collimation on the C8, and it was slightly out but i think i nailed it last night realigning it....i'm 99% sure its all collimated perfectly so i just have to get back out there and do more imaging.
Its quite easy to take pics with it but as far as image processing goes i'll have to talk to someone who has dealt with Photoshop 7......

Cheers!

[ving]

lpi owner here... you wont get as good images from an lpi as teh toucam pro, that said if you can pick one up really cheap then its a good start but you will probably want to move up.

[Outbackmanyep]

if i can spare a few more yellow notes Vingy i'll do just that! :)
I guess i'll just make do until then!

Cheers!

[davidpretorius]

good luck matt, john's and mike aluminium and perspex arrived today for their trip down this path