Accessible Telescope

[JOC]

Having had my own telescope to play with for a few days the problem I see is that the location of the eyepiece attached to the telescope varies depending on where the telescope is pointing.  Now the level of accessibility reqd.  i.e. the exact nature of the impairment isn't alluded to in the thread only that there are problems in viewing an eyepiece.  If a Goto unit can be used by the impaired user then control of the telescope can be attained - mine comes on a short cable, and I imagine a longer one could be fashioned by someone with a bit of electronic know-how.  The problem stated is one of viewing the eyepiece.  From what I have read so far it is possible to hold up a point and shoot camera to the Eyepiece and take a snapshot of what is there.  My own telescope takes a DSLR camera.  Now here is the leap (the idea)..........(with ingenuity, which I don't posses) could an inexpensive webcam be set up at the eyepiece with images viewed on a computer screen?  If so a telescope like our one or any system with a goto unit might be usefully adapted to provide an accessible system.

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just an ideas person, I've no idea what is actually possible (and have only peered through my own system a few times), but I wanted to contribute as it is an interesting problem.  I guess it would be easier to think of a solution if we knew more about what isn't possible......

[noah4x4]

22 minutes ago, JOC said:

Having had my own telescope to play with for a few days the problem I see is that the location of the eyepiece attached to the telescope varies depending on where the telescope is pointing.  Now the level of accessibility reqd.  i.e. the exact nature of the impairment isn't alluded to in the thread only that there are problems in viewing an eyepiece.  If a Goto unit can be used by the impaired user then control of the telescope can be attained - mine comes on a short cable, and I imagine a longer one could be fashioned by someone with a bit of electronic know-how.  The problem stated is one of viewing the eyepiece.  From what I have read so far it is possible to hold up a point and shoot camera to the Eyepiece and take a snapshot of what is there.  My own telescope takes a DSLR camera.  Now here is the leap (the idea)..........(with ingenuity, which I don't posses) could an inexpensive webcam be set up at the eyepiece with images viewed on a computer screen?  If so a telescope like our one or any system with a goto unit might be usefully adapted to provide an accessible system.

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just an ideas person, I've no idea what is actually possible (and have only peered through my own system a few times), but I wanted to contribute as it is an interesting problem.  I guess it would be easier to think of a solution if we knew more about what isn't possible......

The Web camera (or similar) concept is  what has been explored above. But consider what a routine camera sees at night without "flash". Take a look at night time CCTV without the benefit of infrared or illumination. There are web cameras that can deliver excellent daylight images to a computer screen, but one might easily pay £3,000 or more for one to deliver close to the type of night time images that might be expected via (say) TV; hence merely mirroring what  ones eyes might see via a telescope eyepiece. Even £250 specialist CCD or CMOS astronomy web camera often produce limited images unless seeing conditions are perfect (rare) . My £259 Neximage Burst will produce good "live" images of the Moon and decent "stills" of the more photogenic planets like Jupiter if its multiple video 'frames' are aligned and stacked. But the unprocessed "live" images are often just unsatisfactory fuzz balls. But a few decent ideas have now emerged that go some way to assisting.  

[JOC]

noah4x4 Ah, OK I don't know enough about such things and hadn't considered the lack of light aspect.  I forgot that a camera sometimes struggles to see what our eyes do.  I do hope you can all find the OP a solution as it seems on the face of it to be a hobby well suited to someone of more limited mobility, but with more problems to solve than I had first envisaged.  

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 30/12/2016 at 17:11, Stu said:

This website is also good for live broadcasts by astronomers using live video type cameras.

https://www.nightskiesnetwork.com/

Thanks for the link Stu. I used to watch that channel a lot, but lost the bookmark and couldnt remember it.

[MattJenko]

http://live.slooh.com/

This is worth a look too, as you can control your own and also watch observing sessions from dark skies as webcasts as well. Basically like having an experienced astronomer controlling your scope for you.

I have used iTelescope.net and would not suggest it be used for any kind of remote video astronomy equivalent.

 

[Stormbringer]

If the OP has a digital slr there may be remote shooting software that came with the camera ( i know Canon have EOS utilities that allows you to use live view and view it on a laptop/pc via usb cable ) that way it could cut the cost down a good bit and allow for a better scope / mount for the money he has avialable . Of course he could be limited by length of usb cable  but it may be possible to get a really long cable

Just a thouight

[LukeSkywatcher]

28 minutes ago, Stormbringer said:

If the OP has a digital slr there may be remote shooting software that came with the camera ( i know Canon have EOS utilities that allows you to use live view and view it on a laptop/pc via usb cable ) that way it could cut the cost down a good bit and allow for a better scope / mount for the money he has avialable . Of course he could be limited by length of usb cable  but it may be possible to get a really long cable

Just a thouight

That's just reminded me of a bit of free software i messed about with along with my Canon 450D (which has live view, but no video recording option):

https://sourceforge.net/projects/eos-movrec/

 

[Stormbringer]

 

8 minutes ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

That's just reminded me of a bit of free software i messed about with along with my Canon 450D (which has live view, but no video recording option):

https://sourceforge.net/projects/eos-movrec/

 

not sure if i can do video with my 500D remotely using EOS utilities but was thinking more of using the camera as the EP and view it live on the computer

almost forgot you can also remotely take pictures with it and if set on M and using bulb  ( Canon ) as shutter speed you can remotely take long exposures press shutter button with mouse and a timer starts then when time you want you press button again and it stops exposure and you can view picture on comp 

[LukeSkywatcher]

1 hour ago, Stormbringer said:

 

not sure if i can do video with my 500D remotely using EOS utilities but was thinking more of using the camera as the EP and view it live on the computer

almost forgot you can also remotely take pictures with it and if set on M and using bulb  ( Canon ) as shutter speed you can remotely take long exposures press shutter button with mouse and a timer starts then when time you want you press button again and it stops exposure and you can view picture on comp 

The whole point of the OP is that his son would like to see live images on a screen in his bedroom (or another room maybe). Remotely/actively  taking still images (however cheaply or expensively done).........isnt the desired outcome. If it was the case....buy books (i dont mean that as it may sound) . 

This is more about giving his son the ability of looking at live images (via a remote set-up) and actively being involved in astronomy. Its honestly one for the imagers here on SGL and good suggestions so far. 

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 02/01/2017 at 16:19, John 1969jo said:

Guys,

Thank you all very much for your replies and suggestions. All very helpful to me as I haven't got a clue about this :-).

My son asked for a microscope a few years ago and this is when we discovered he couldn't look through the eyepiece to see any images. I then got him a USB microscope where the image went straight to his PC screen. This is what got me thinking about the same idea for a telescope but I now understand that this is a whole different ball game all together!

I have had a reply from Martin from First Light Optics on it and he basically said the same as you guys, not easy or inexpensive!

We also went along to a local (ish) shop in Glasgow for some advice but the shop owner wasn't too sure about it. We did however notice that the eyepieces on the telescopes were larger than on a microscope so not sure if this may help my son looking through them.

I have also found out that there is an astronomy club in Glasgow and it looks like they do the occasional 'open' night where we could maybe go along and try a few set up telescopes. The next one is in February so hopefully I can get my son along to that.

I'll work through all your advice and reply's in the meantime and hopefully find something that works for him.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Thank you all again,

John

Ive just seen this. Microscopes are great fun and educational. I bought myself one back in March 2016 because i wasnt getting any use from my telescopes (stupid clouds and bad health). I toyed with the idea of a USB microscope which i could connect to my computer and view specimens and even take images of. I decided against for no real particular reason.

 

 

[Stormbringer]

yes i know but live view is just that you see what camera sees  so use remote live view and its like a video cam / web cam except it doesnt take a picture till you press the shutter but you still see what its pointing at and its still live images 

posted same time as Lukes post

[LukeSkywatcher]

On 03/01/2017 at 19:16, JOC said:

Having had my own telescope to play with for a few days the problem I see is that the location of the eyepiece attached to the telescope varies depending on where the telescope is pointing.  Now the level of accessibility reqd.  i.e. the exact nature of the impairment isn't alluded to in the thread only that there are problems in viewing an eyepiece.  If a Goto unit can be used by the impaired user then control of the telescope can be attained - mine comes on a short cable, and I imagine a longer one could be fashioned by someone with a bit of electronic know-how.  The problem stated is one of viewing the eyepiece.  From what I have read so far it is possible to hold up a point and shoot camera to the Eyepiece and take a snapshot of what is there.  My own telescope takes a DSLR camera.  Now here is the leap (the idea)..........(with ingenuity, which I don't posses) could an inexpensive webcam be set up at the eyepiece with images viewed on a computer screen?  If so a telescope like our one or any system with a goto unit might be usefully adapted to provide an accessible system.

Don't shoot the messenger, I'm just an ideas person, I've no idea what is actually possible (and have only peered through my own system a few times), but I wanted to contribute as it is an interesting problem.  I guess it would be easier to think of a solution if we knew more about what isn't possible......

I had no idea that you already had a scope (and a Go-To none the less). That is 2/3 of the war already won. For your son to join in, you would be looking at something similar to this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Celestron-93712-NexImage-CCD-Camera/dp/B0002X5Q72/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1483562638&sr=8-3&keywords=celestron+neximage+5

And a long(er) extending USB cable (you can buy extended USB cables for a few quid.......i'm pretty sure i have a 15ft long USB cable somewhere which cost maybe 20 quid) . This type of solution would be the cheapest and easiest solution. 

[JOC]

LukeSkywatcher I am not the OP ;-)

[LukeSkywatcher]

3 minutes ago, JOC said:

LukeSkywatcher I am not the OP ;-)

Apologies. My computer is doing some very strange things tonight. I think it has the same strain of man-flu as i do.

[RobertI]

I would definitely recommend signing up to other people's live video astronomy broadcasts. I spent some enjoyable hours on the last two evenings watching live broadcasts and participating in live chat. The live experience is fantastic and it's actually quite addicitve.

The main sites I know of are:

Www.nightskiesnetwork.com

www.nightskiesnetwork.ca

http://www.videoastronomylive.co.uk

it's free to sign up and you get email alerts whenever someone is planning a broadcast. At the appointed time just click on the link and start watching and participating. Some broadcasts get recorded for later watching.

I know of one regular observer who broadcasts with a 14" scope from the visitor centre at the Mauna Kea observatory up at 9000 feet in Hawaii. He gets some nice views!

[noah4x4]

Old topic this, but I think I might have found a solution.

I have just hooked up a Nikon D5200 camera to my scope. But any DSLR camera with a live view monitor should do. Then in manual mode, connect it to Digicamcontrol, which is free to download from www Digicamcontrol.com.

I am now looking at live video on my computer screen. How good this will be in a night sky is debatable. But it is crystal clear in daytime and worth a try by the OP. At the very least he should be able to take a longer exposure/high ISO image and show this to his son even if the live images he sees before that are limited. But the on-screen results are vastly superior to my Nexstar Burst, but then my Nikon camera is 24m pixels.

BTW , was purchased "used" from Camera Jungle (Jessops) for just £250. It's successor is double that new. Was described as in 'mint' condition and it duly was, and delivered next day.