Viewing live pictures from telescope to Ipad/Laptop

[Sandancer10]

Hi, can anyone tell me the setup that I need to transmit a live feed from my telescope. I have researched Skyfi and Skysafari,but I am unsure at to whether I also need a camera or does everything come through the Skyfi?

Does Skysafari show live pictures or is it just an atlas of the sky? Or is there any other way of connecting my Goto telescope to preferably my Ipad or second choice Laptop (to show what the telescope is seeing without having to look through the eyepiece). 

[Carl Reade]

Visit Video astronomy under science.

Cheers Carl

[Clockwork_Orange]

Hi Sanddancer and Welcome to SGL

Sky Safari is only for scope control, It does show you a planetarium view of the night sky on either your Iphone/Ipad/Android device and gives a considerable amount of information on whatever object you happen to select, as far as the wifi link transmitting a video feed, sorry no it does not have that function.

You would need an adapted web cam to start with and an eyepiece adapter to enable it to be fitted to your scope, you would then be able to connect this to your laptop via a USB cable to display the telescope view, the skysafari would then be able to move the scope for you, There are a number of off the shelf web cams that can be modified to fit into a telescope or you can purchase one made specially for that task if you dont fancy a bit of DIY. Have a look at Astronomy Shed on youtube, I'm sure he has a video of how to modify a web cam on there. This will enable you to make a decision as to whether you feel it is something you would be able to do yourself or go the other route and purchase a ready done one.

I must warn you the views will not be that spectacular, as detailed images from a web cam require multiple frames to be stacked one on top of each other using a stacking software program such a Registax, which is free to download by the way.

Have a look at the imaging section of this forum youll pick up a lot more info there.

John