Considering dabbling with video astronomy

[Dave In Vermont]

Altair have sent a email out saying they will be closed till Wednesday due to the show and i think some of the others are doing the same.

I keep receiving this same email - up to 10X a day. I have directed anything from them to land in my 'spam' folder.

See the Camel? See the straw? Well.....

Dave

[Bobby1970]

I called Altair Astro today before ordering. Was assure the items were in stock and would be shipped tomorrow. 

Ordered a GP cam and the focal reducer.

I expect a big box of clouds will come with it free of charge too. ;-)

[Spacedout]

That's great Bobby I'm pleased you got it sorted and I look forward to seeing how you get on with it 

[nytecam]

I WANT IT NOW ! Isn't the internet world wonderful but it's a scientific fact that you're doomed to cloudcover for a fortnight or more on any purchase related to astronomy :-) :-) :-)

[Bobby1970]

I have also just ordered a star adventurer tracking mount for my DSLR, so expect double the amount of clouds now, sorry. ;-)

[Bobby1970]

Altair GP cam arrived today. Looks to be well made. Installed the software on my Mac (in the windows partition) and had a quick play to make sure the camera powered up etc. 

All seems well, just need some clear nights and to be rid of this man flu i have at the moment. 

[Dave In Vermont]

I have also just ordered a star adventurer tracking mount for my DSLR, so expect double the amount of clouds now, sorry. ;-)

The only astro-related item I have on order is a very nice lensatic-compass for some work in positioning markers. So I figured that this won't cause clouds to appear. But then it occured to me - clouds won't make a difference in terms of magnetic-accuracy, right? But what else could the Weather-Gods unleash.....?

Uh oh! I think the Earth is about to flip it's magnetic-field!

Anyone know where I can get a chart of what the magnetic-declination will be when South goes North?

Doomed,

Dave

[Bobby1970]

Since i got the cam i have had one go with it, last friday night. clouded out since. lol

I don't think i did very well with it tbh and need to get out more with it once the conditions allow.

I have got a 4mm C mount lens, i assume this can be attached to the altair gp cam???

Can it then be used for "wide field" stuff ??? Using the same altair/sharpcap software ???

[JamesF]

A C-mount lens should come to focus with the camera as I understand it, and it should work just the same with the software.

James

[Bobby1970]

A C-mount lens should come to focus with the camera as I understand it, and it should work just the same with the software.

James

Yes, it does seem to come to focus ok, i tried it in my living room lol. 

If i want to use just the camera and the lens for video astronomy, can i still take multiple wide field images with it and stack them?

I have hear about using lenses such as this for meteor watching/imaging also??

Finally, how can i attach just the camera and its lens to my mount/mounts ???

Cheers

[JamesF]

you can stack images taken with a C-mount lens, yes, and you can use it for all-sky imaging and trying to catch meteors.  Gina had quite a long thread about that not so long ago.

As to putting the camera directly on the mount, I'm not sure I'm afraid.  Some cameras some with a standard tripod screw fitting, but not these as far as I'm aware.  Short of making a bespoke mount (which is what I'd do) I can't think of any other options at the moment.

James

[Bobby1970]

It looks as though the cam may fit a finder scope bracket so that could be a starting point. Although some clear skies would be the best thing sometime soon.

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

[johnno]

If your going to use it as a all sky cam, and if you've got a camera tripod you could try something like this a quick solution