Live eyepiece feed to screen help

[Stevie816]

Hello everyone

I am basically a deep sky viewer but I am wondering if I can put the view from the eyepiece onto a laptop screen, So my less mobile friend can see what I see. There are so many hardware and software options I really don't know what is possible and what I can acheive.

I don't really want to get involved in processing but just have a Live Feed, Will I be dissapointed or delighted ?

Steve

[Demonperformer]

Electronic eyepiece or any camera that will display what it is seeing (webcam, videocam [eg mintron, watec] or use a DSLR and display the result of a 20/30 second shot ...

Plenty of options, depending on how deep your pocket is and how ingenious you want to be.

HTH

[Catanonia]

Get a webcam with a 1.25 nosepiece.

Stuff it into the eyepiece and volia

You might need to fashion some method of attaching the webcam to the eyepiece, tape, old eyepiece cover etc. Depends on the type of eyepiece you have.

The beauty is you can do longer exposures to show more than the naked eye.

[Stevie816]

Hi Catanonia

Thanks for such a succint reply (i'm supprised it's so easy)

Can you recommend a webcab ?

I particularly want to show DSO's

Regards

Steve

[Catanonia]

Hi Catanonia

Thanks for such a succint reply (i'm supprised it's so easy)

Can you recommend a webcab ?

I particularly want to show DSO's

Regards

Steve

Any webcam will do if you can take the lens off and thread on a 1.25 nosepiece. check FLO for the nosepieces or best still call them.

[Macavity]

As DP suggests, it depends on how long you want to wait for the image. If you are looking for a real-time image (on a stand-alone LCD screen or via software preview), some CMOS cameras, with a quoted sensitivity of a few lux, would only be able to render the moon, brighter stars and planets. To get an "instant" image of DSOs would require a more sensitive chip. Devices such as the Watec, Minitron etc., have a chip sensitivity of e.g. 0.00002 lux. A factor of around ~100,000 times greater! But these do then allow direct, interactive viewing of mag +12 objects (DSOs) and (theoretical!) limits of mag +17 with typical fast(er) astronomical scopes...

[Earl]

You will need a very good cam to try and see DSO's in real-time and even then the results in real time will not look brilliant.

[West End Wendy]

Realistically if you want to see any but the very brightest DSOs in real time you'll need a video camera with the ability to do frame-integration (the equivalent of a long exposure).

That means Watec, or Mintron or possibly the Samsung SDC435. The Watec is great and the views are impressive but it's pricey. The Samsung looks to be the budget option but I don't personally have any experience of it (I think it needs some mods to make it useable for astronomy).

Tim

[Catanonia]

I think you guys are taking this too far. He looks through the eyepiece at DSO's therefore not an imager.

Using a webcam will do the same job with the ability to use slightly longer exposures to give what the eye sees on a laptop screen.

[West End Wendy]

I think you guys are taking this too far. He looks through the eyepiece at DSO's therefore not an imager.

Using a webcam will do the same job with the ability to use slightly longer exposures to give what the eye sees on a laptop screen.

Fair point.