Meade Deep Sky Imager II

[bobneil]

Hi, I have a Meade ETX 125 telescope and am considering buying the Meade Deep Sky Imager II. Initially I would like to take images of the Moon, Saturn and Jupiter. Is this a good purchase or do I need a bigger telescope to get worthwhile results?

[peter_4059 (Peter)]

I bought one a month ago and have been quite impressed with it although for these targets you can probably get away with a cheaper webcam based imager (eg a Toucam, LPI or Neximage). I started with a Neximage and have had a lot of fun with this but it's maximum exposure is less than a second so it won't pick up faint objects.

I reckon these objects will be bright enough to get a good result in a small scope. The DSI can do longer exposures so is good for fainter objects although it has settings for planets in the capture software but I haven't tried it for this purpose yet.

A lot of people don't like the DSI and the software does take a bit of getting used to - you'll find lots of posts in this forum on it!

Peter

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Bob.

If you want to image Solar System objects, I wouldn't recommend any of the DSI's. I'd definitely recommend the ToUcam 900nc as a starting point for webcam based imaging of solar system objects.

It's the best budget webcam on the market for that type of work, is very easy to use and can get very good results. There's also a tonne of information here on IceInSpace if you search old threads, about how to use them, processing images with them, etc.

You don't need a bigger telescope, yet. The ETX125 will deliver pretty good results on those objects. The main hassle will be the very long focal ratio for the smallish aperture. They're f/15 or something aren't they? When you put a 2x or 3x barlow in, there's really not a lot of light coming in for the focal length so you'll need to use longer exposures and a higher gain to brighten the image enough during capture.

It's a great way to learn the art though, and with practise you'll get good results. THEN you can upgrade to a 12" newt on an EQ6 or a C11 or something similar

btw to IceInSpace!

[bobneil]

Thanks for your responses. Something for me to think about.