wheelchairs and astronomy

[Brian W (Brian)]

Hi all, here's my situation; for the last 30 years or so I have been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. As luck would have it, it has not gotten too bad. However I am getting closer to a wheelchair and that's a fact.

One of the things that telescope manufacturers have not considered is 'how do we make our equipment user friendly for physically challenged people.

Currently my wife and I own an 8" LightBridge and one of the reasons we bought it was that from a sitting position it is possible for 1 person to collimate it just by shifting a little bit. Another reason was that while sitting I can reach the ep.

Now comes the hard and undoubtedly expensive problem. Eventually I may need a fully robotic telescope. By fully robotic I mean 'goto' and a close to real time video feed to my computer.

Any suggestions as to how this can be done with an 8" LightBridge will certainly be appreciated.

A final problem is that we live in the Philippines and shipping stuff in is expensive and building from scratch can be tricky.
Brian

[gary]

Hi Brian,

Mabuhay!

Hopefully there will be some forum members who will be able to
put forward some good recommendations.

In our dialog yesterday, I don't think the possibility of real-time video was raised.
Cameras such as these are increasingly popular -
http://mallincam.tripod.com/

Perhaps something like this camera, which is available "off the shelf", might
be interesting for you to consider as part of your system.

Best Regards

Gary

[Dennis]

Hi Brian

So sorry to hear of your health troubles and although I don’t have any ideas right now, I would just like to say hello and send you my best wishes.

I do hope that you are able to continue with your journey in astronomy. The exploration of our universe from our back gardens is an uplifting experience which I trust will serve you well in the testing times that may lie ahead.

Cheers

Dennis

[Blue Skies (Jacquie)]

For a realtime video camera, a gstar video camera is a good option. We bought one for the club and we've been amazed with what we can do with it. Even experienced observers have gone "wow!" I think the mallincam is a similar product, and Astrovid might do a similar product as well. They have optional computer interface so you could control it all from in front of a laptop.

I should add we currently have a member in a wheelchair but he has a lot of mobility, but he often can't get up the eyepiece. Having the video going at lunar section lets him join in with everyone when we go cruising over the moon to see what is on show each month. It also lets the rest of us see exactly what we are talking about! We always have a laugh about the time I was describing 'cat scratches' and another was saying 'eyelashes' yet were both talking about the same thing! Having the video saves all that frustration and time and we get so much more done. We don't know what we ever did without it.

[jjjnettie (Jeanette)]

Hi Brian,
The Ioptron Cube, with the Ioptron 80mm refractor is a very cost effective GOTO set up.
Pair it up the Gstar-Ex camera and you will be getting live viewing through your computer or television that is more than comparable to what you can see through the eyepiece of a 10" Newtonion.
This is the same setup I've been using for the past year and I've been very happy with it. In fact I sold my 10" because I just wasn't using it any more.
Another advantage with using the Cube is that it's very lightweight. It can be easily picked up with only one hand. Though pier mounted, you wouldn't have the legs of the tripod jutting out.

[Wavytone]

I understand your predicament quite well as my best friend - also a very keen observer - has been confined to an electric wheelchair for many years now, with muscular dystrophy.

Some years ago I made something quite different to what you suggest. I had a 4" Meade SCT tube assembly lying around and I made a very small isostatic altaz mount for that out of bicycle front wheel bearings and a couple of shelf brackets bought from Ikea for a few dollars. This was then mounted on a lightweight cantilever frame which had two pins that plugged into either side of the back of the wheelchair, at about shoulder height. This held the telescope directly in front of the observer, and the cantilever meant you could lower it to the point the scope was in your lap, or raise it as much as you liked to get a comfortable height for the eyepiece.

At the back of the cantilever was a counterweight to balance the weight of the scope. The result was surprisingly easy to use as the whole thing was nicely balanced - almost no force to move it, yet the scope stayed right where you put it. Also I made an accessory rack that sat on the arm of the wheelchair for eyepieces and a red torch etc.

The nicest part is that being on the wheelchair he could push the scope up out of the way, drive round the observing field for a bit, then pull it back down to have a look anytime, and nothing on the ground to bang into.

I don't have any photos of it but I could sketch it for you; if you can wait a couple of weeks I'll visit him and get some shots for you. It was an interesting exercise and at the time I felt it would be possible to mount an 8" SCT this way. A short refractor (say a 100mm f/7) would also be easy.

One problem you will face is that in a wheelchair your ability to lift things is very limited. You will depend on others to assemble a dob, or anything else that big, and this is going to limit your observing unless you have a permanent observatory to house it too. With a smaller scope cantilevered on the wheelchair my friend was able to assemble it himself - he could observe anytime he wanted - as he still lives on his own.

[Karls48 (Karl)]

Hi Brian. I have to concur with jjjnettie. GStar CCD camera would be your best bet. This camera gives you almost live views (2.5 second delay) on your computer monitor and allows you to see stars about three magnitude fainter then you would see by using eyepiece. GStar is re-baggage Mintron security camera. Mallicam and Astrovid are same camera heavily modified and lot more expensive.
After work accident I have great difficulty to bend and spending all night peering to the eyepiece is impossible for me. And my eyesight is also failing. I use following setup to do my observing and to take images.
Mount - HEQ5Pro
Telescope – Skywatcher 120 X 600 refractor
Camera – GStar
Six years old Toshiba laptop with AverTV Cardbus Plus video capture card.
Old car battery that was not good enough to crank the engine but its OK to run the scope and camera whole night.
I also use smaller cheap guide scope and QGuider camera for guiding, but it is not necessary for observing.
Whole setup is on permanent pier in my backyard and after observing session I just cover the mount and scope with garbage bag and two plastic trampolines and that’s it. About once week I uncover the scope and leave it for half a day in sunshine so mould does not form on the lenses (hopefully). To start observing I just uncover the scope, plug in the power, computer and camera, do one star alignment, connect to SkyMap planetarium program and from then on I control the scope with computer. Slewing to different objects will almost always put object in cameras FOV.
I have 8”LX90 and although I love views from it I use it very seldom because hassle of setting it up.
Have look on http://www.myastroshop.com.au and feel free to contact me if you need more info.
Regards
Karl

[g__day (Matthew)]

Isn't there a dob design that put the eyepiece and focuser near the pivot point - so no matter what your elevation you are practically always at the same height?

I think an observatory in NSW uses this design for wheel chair confined viewers?

[Brian W (Brian)]

Hi all, thank you for your time and replies. I shall be looking into all of your suggestions. Gary was right there are good ideas and people in this group. However I must admit that I am still hoping to find ways to do it with our 8" LB. Simply because (1) it is already here and paid for (2) last night I was able to see the Witches Head in the Cygnus Loop without a filter which to me indicates that it is a pretty fair scope.
Brian