What about staying in the warm

[Astro-Bob.]

So armed with a fully computerised mount linked to the computer indoors, is there a reasonably priced camera that anyone can recommend that would give real time views? Or is that in the realms of really high budget stuff?

[Demonperformer]

I've got one of these. I found it a bit fiddly setting it up, and it seems to insist on using the same USB port, otherwise it tries to resetup the drivers. Otherwise, it produces some reasonable views.

HTH

Oh, and you will need one of the USB adapters near the bottom of the page, unless you computer accepts Composite or S-vid inputs. Alternatively, plug it into the telly.

[Frank the Troll]

Depends on what you want to do

Just viewing, then try looking out for a webcam

I'm sure you will get more replies shortly.

[mike.brightmore]

You might wish to have a look at the video astronomy section in this site below. Something like a Watec 120N or Minitron video camera will feed live views to a remote TV monitor. Details of such a set-up are in the link in my signature.

[Astro-Bob.]

Thanks guys, I did read the video section before I posted, trouble is weeding the wheat from the chaff. People keep refering to models and numbers but having only just started in this venture it's meaningless to me, also everyone talks of the philips web cam and then I find it's no longer available.

Yes all I want to do is view in real time, not take pictures. I mentioned in my hello message in the welcome thread that I had major surgery for cancer, well I'm not very mobile now, I will be able to set the scope up and do the cal. out in the yard, but I doubt I could stay humped over it for hours,

I thought eventually I would run some usb leads from it into the house so I can sit at the computer and have a look around the skies. I rialise it will never be as good as looking through the EP

[Demonperformer]

One of the advantages of the mintron I have linked to above is the possibility of stacking the results on the fly by up to 128x; enabling you to see things several magnitudes fainter than you would get with a standard webcam.

[Astro-Bob.]

Some excellent pictures there Demon and a wonderful set up you have.

What exactly does that mean, stacking the pictures? is that done automatically by the camera software? does it delay the image? or make it jittery? I know nothing about cameras mate, and I don't think I really need to, I just want to connect it to the scope load the software into the PC and it works. I bet that's too much to ask in the 21st century

[Peter Drew]

Bob. No need for computers or laptops if you use something like the Mintron or Watec integrating video cameras. All you need is the scope, camera and TV monitor. The cameras are plug in and play, that's it!. The cameras themselves stack the images 128 - 256 depending on which model. These composed images can be transported to a PC for further enhancing but the basic image of DSO's are better than you will ever see through just the scope.

[Astro-Bob.]

Thanks Peter, I was planning to control the movement of the scope with the computer and have the camera feeding my HD tv. I live in a little village out in the sticks and I have a nice big workshop at the end of my garden, I was thinking about making a motorised hatch in the workshop roof to expose the scope and controlling it via pc and viewing via camera and staying in the warm How long do you think the cables could be before the image would degrade? mind you I guess with a usb converter and if required a usb booster it shouldn't be a problem

Just reading your blog, very nice mate, wish I wasn't so far away.

[Demonperformer]

The mintron runs at a basic 50fps, but you can set it to collect upto 128 of them (2.5 seconds worth) and once that is completed it sends that image to the computer/TV. The image then updates every time it completes this collection process. So I guess the answer to your question is that they are 'jittery', but not distractingly so. Particularly as the tracking has to be good enough to stay on target for 2.5 seconds without trailing, and so you don't get a lot of movement between the images either. There are cameras which will collect even more, but they tend to be a bit more expensive.

HTH

[Astro-Bob.]

The mintron runs at a basic 50fps, but you can set it to collect upto 128 of them (2.5 seconds worth) and once that is completed it sends that image to the computer/TV. The image then updates every time it completes this collection process. So I guess the answer to your question is that they are 'jittery', but not distractingly so. Particularly as the tracking has to be good enough to stay on target for 2.5 seconds without trailing, and so you don't get a lot of movement between the images either. There are cameras which will collect even more, but they tend to be a bit more expensive.

HTH

Understood Demon thanks mate, I guess the stacking is so fast you don't really notice it, those Mintron cameras look really good and the price is not that bad considering it's a 0.5 inch CCD

Do we know if the mount on the 8SE is good enough or will it streak?

[Demonperformer]

I was certainly able to use it successfully with a 6SE, but have not yet tried it on the 8SE, which is the same mount but (obviously) bigger and heavier scope. I would be quite disappointed if it doesn't work, although you have to be prepared for the odd frame to show trailing - but this is common to all alt-az mounts.

[Macavity]

Indeed, Alt-Az mounts don't move in a "constant" way. But, as noted above, streaking on individual frames is minimal. Moreover, even over a 20min period, software like Registax can, even further, stack the internally integrated frames (from an AVI) to yield passable images of very faint DSOs. Programs like "Deep Sky Stacker" claim to remove any frame rotation too.

Camera Cable lengths don't seem to be a problem. I found that these THIN (flexible) cables were a tad better than some of the "Ebay" ones... i.e. Better quality BNC sockets? I've only tried the 5m version, but I even (passively) split the video output between a monitor and PC capture dongle, without problem. In their role as security camera cables, far longer lengths are supported.

5 Meter Video and Power Extension Cable for CCTV with BNC Connectors

Ultimately, to do everything from indoors, you might eventually ponder how you're going to implement the other CONTROL aspects of the system. But, remote access to a PC, mount controls, electric focuser etc. should all be do-able (I reckon). Maybe even wirelessly...

[Astro-Bob.]

Thanks guys, good info and much appreciated.