Darkfighter

Wow, that is sensitive, I had no idea that was possible to go that low, the other items listed do appear to be similar to my device but that lux level is incredible, thank you for pointing that out Stu, time now to examine lux levels on other devices.

Difficult to cross reference your outlined numbers above and the way they are expressed in terms of cctv low light capability Stu, here is a screen cap of my devices capabilities, it means it can resolve full colour in total darkness for a still image, any movement when in slow shutter mode will obviously incur blur, for black and white it is much more sensitive but less fun when looking for objects in the sky, I guess one evening I am going to have to sit at my pc and see if it is possible to introduce the cameras live output/recordings into some other software, currently I just view on a WiFi tablet using the devices Android app for basic zoom, focus and my mobile for accessing the devices lan Web page where technical adjustments are available

Thanks Stu, I may well do that, I'm also now wandering what a new up to date PTZ will be capable off, I actually need someone to tell me what sensor size would be best, there is alot of reading and explaining on the net about sensor sizes, lens length and so on but il be honest it kinda looses me, there are some crossover details that are similar between stellar photography and video stellar photography, f stops, lens lengths, maybe what I have is all that's needed taking into consideration what is realistically achievable, I'm so on my own here doing this its hard to know

A picture of my equipment with the observatory roof closed, due to the non approved upside down useage of the device, the shroud that protects the camera acts as a rain catcher, not good so when not on night time duties I activate the roof closure system

Zoom on my cam is 15x optical 240 digital so I have no issues with finding items, my problems come from sensor size I think, although I'm new to paying attention to these things, a better sensor would help resolve images better, I actually wanted to see the galaxy as others have shown in relative detail Just checked and sensor size is 1/2.8" progressive scan cmos

Interesting... thank you, I apologise for being clueless at present, well tonight I did my best to resolve some sort of details from M101 pin wheel Galaxy, with everything set to the most sensitive the best I could get was a ... smudge at best, my camera is around 3 to 4 yes old so is behind the curve a bit, I popped this short video on utube and if you squint and have faith it is there... just

Thank you Astro noodles, not having any experience with telescopes is this object resolvable to you guys ?

Does anyone know of any software that has the ability to tie into the output of a poe cctv ptz camera, it would be great for software to detect my sky fov and control my poe ptz camera The camera has IEEE 802.1x with Eap-md5 protocol and onvif access if required

Just wondering if one of you chaps might be able to help me ID an object right next to Asellus Secundus please, I have included 2 screen shots, one from Skysafari and one from my PTZ cam which I use to gaze with, I cannot resolve details but am able to drag in low light dots, I spotted a feint object right where the last ' s' is written for the word Secundus, just interested really as it was right on the edge of what I am able to resolve

Yup, that's Hikvision John, they manufacture mainly pro CCTV although they do make a consumer product as well Upturned though, a decent PTZ makes for a good starter place, especially if it's free 😀

Yes it is, it is a poe network camera, if you click the device type in my top post , underlined, it will take you to the devices spec page, I have it on my home network, I use various wifi tablets to view the cameras output and from there stream to a TV, the streaming is not ideal bit for me as a beginner it suits, I hope my addictive tech nature does not grab hold... for my wife's sanity

I do seem to be able to resolve light from distant objects but to be expected they move across the screen pretty quickly, I have also got skysafari maxed on all magnitudes but can see more light from DSOs than is available in the app, obviously with the Ltd tech I have sharp resolution of anything is impossible but I can see the light and this to me is fascinating

Hello all, I am a proper bewbie at astronomy and I don't like the cold, I have forever been interested in the skys above, recently I had the good fortune to be asked to remove a Hikvision ds-2de4215iw-de ( click able link ) a nice addition to my small garden to watch dogs and wildlife, I soon realised that if I fix the camera upside down I get a free telescope, at the moment I am fighting the star location game using Skysafari, I appreciate it is not even slightly etiquette to sit indoors and watch the sky from a TV but I am really enjoying picking out constellations, monitoring myriads of satellites and cursing the fact the andromida Galaxy is too low in the sky to see it at the mo