80mm Scope + LPI Imager

[Anubis]

Hi,

I got a few pounds for my birthday yesterday, and I was thinking of buying a Meade LPI (linky) to use along with my Meade ETX80 GoTo. The scope is on an alt-azimuth mount and I know this doesn't make it great for astrophotography, but it is what I have for the foreseeable future.

Would I get any sort of reasonable image, or am I just wasting my money?

Images of the Moon and Saturn, and the constelations would be all I'd be looking to photograph for now.

Cheers,

Anubis

[Psychobilly]

Hi Anubis,

The meade LPI uses a fairly small sensor (same size as some webcams) and would give a fairly smal FOV.

There are advantages and disadvantages in going for the LPI - the LPI is part way to being a modded webcam in that it can give longer exposures than un-modded webcams but it doesnt really do the higher framerates that you can get with webcams. Another advantage is it will fit straight in the scoep without any extras and you get envisage with it which is an OK piece of software...

I would also look a a webcam - Phiolips SPC900 if you can find one as this is a "stable" for astro work. It can be modded for longer exposures and theres plenty of software out there to use with it. You would also need a 1.25" nosepiece adaptor for the webcam to use it with the scope and ideally a UV/IR cut filter as well.

Billy...

I have just checked and you won't quite get the full disc of the moon in the frame with the ETX80 and the LPI or Webcam it just about fits across the width but you chop off top and bottom..

[iancandler]

I would look for a second hand QHY5 if you can with their larger sensor (1.3mp) they have a larger field of view that allows you to shoot short AVI's of the moon and planets. They will off course drift across the screen but if you keep the exposure short (say 100-200 frames at a time) you can still stack them in Registax using a two point alignment (minimum) to take care of any rotation.

They can also be experimented with for longer exposure when you get an EQ mount and of course later if you carry on upgrading can be used as a guide cam for a larget set up.

[Anubis]

Thanks for the replies.

I'll have a look for the QHY5 and if I can get it for around £76 (which the LPI costs) I may go for that!