Charlottesville
Astronomical Society
January meeting
1/3/2006
McCormick Observatory
Attendance: ~35
Speaker: Roland Beard
Topic: Video Astronomy for Live Observing
A solution for aperture fever, old eyes, group observing, and sketching
Club Business
• 34 paid active members
• DUES ARE NOW DUE !!!
• Checking account: $2181.92
• See Larry Saunders for information on discounted subscriptions to Astronomy and Sky and Telescope
• 4 Club Scopes available for use by members (dob, refractor w/ Ha, SC, and PST CaK – See Rich for information
Council meeting
Sunday, January 21 at McCormick, Members are welcome to attend.
Club Observing
- members and guests only -
Friday, January 19th, 7:00PM at Preddy
Creek Observatory
Our January club observing session will be at Ed Walendowski's
observatory in Northern Albemarle county
Friday, February 16th, 7:00PM at North Garden
Our February club observing session will be at Susan's farm in Southern
Albemarle county.
- Sessions swap to Saturday in case of bad weather -
Club Outreach
January Display at Northside Library
Tonight’s Class for new telescope owners - Had about a dozen scopes brought by eager new scope owners.
Group Nights in January - See Larry Saunders
Friday, January 12
Friday, January 26
March 23 - Ivy Creek - Moon and Planets
Upcoming Speakers
February – Al Wootten, NRAO
Director of the ALMA project
Web Site of the
Month
Door Prize
Mike Rodymeyer won the Door prize, an Ottwell astro calendar
These calendars were bought at a club discount and sold to members this past fall. Below is a web-site for this informative calendar.
http://www.universalworkshop.com/pages/AC.htm
Main Presentation
Speaker: Roland Beard
Topic: Video Astronomy for Live Observing
A solution for aperture fever, old eyes, group observing, and sketching
Why We Went There.
• Wanted to see more but not buy a scope
• Wanted to see together
• Wanted our guests to see more easily
• Did NOT want to process images
• Did NOT want to spend big bucks
• Wanted a user-friendly solution
• Required portability
The Foundation
• Scope minimum—a steady scope
• Better Scope—Go-to or Push-to Capability
• Someone who has been there
• Some money (initial cost and time for use)
My rule of thumb: $ = 2 Naglers or Less
My use rule: 3-5 years of consistent use
50% of observing @ 2x per month
General rule of
thumb that Company-7 gave him is that if you don’t use your scope, then it is a
waste. So have to use it at least a
couple of times per month.
Our History
• Good base equipment (2004)
• Public sessions were a challenge but a part of life (1/2 of observing with groups)
• Astro groups – wonderful source of info
• Found excited users getting results
•
Purchased a Stella CAM EX (2004). In
several months, they were only observing with the Stella CAM.
• Observing habits changed quickly
(saw more and better with lower quality skies)
2005 Events
• Ivy Creek Observing with C-5i
• Besieged with groups
• Our time together
– Increased
– Saw more
– Did it easier
–
Technology Was Advancing
(2004-2005)
• StellaCAM II and MallinCam Pro Dob
• Passionate Believers in Both
• Peltier Cooler work (MC) and Rumors of Stella CAM III
• Our EX and other gear:
– Good but wanted more focus precision
– Wanted a few less hot pixels
– Our EQ platform made the 12.5” a target scope
– More aperture was too heavy or big & less portable
– Wanted to go a bit deeper in the sky….with ease
Then He started to
look at other cameras, but was not sure he wanted to spend a lot of money.
2004-2005 various
owners were fussing back and forth to each other between the StellaCAM II and the MallinCAM
Pro Dob.
The Stella CAM II
was a rumor and the peltier cool was not working well
on the other.
Wanted better focus,
less hot pixels, etc.
Then He started to
look at other cameras, but was not sure he wanted to spend a lot of money.
The MallinCam acts like an
8mm eyepiece with a 50 degree apparent FOV.
Thus the camera is equivalent to a high power eyepiece.
Large DSOs exceed the FOV of the camera.
More Research and a Decision
• The Louisiana Connection
• The Tasmanian Connection
• The Tenor of the Yahoo Groups
• Decision for the Pro Dob with radiant cooling
BUT
DEE QUEEN wants color!!
Late 2006: MallinCAM Color Hyper
The MallinCam is a video
observational system.
The eyepiece is replaced by a video
imaging device.
You no longer look through the eyepiece.
The astronomical target is shown “live” on a monitor.
Camera Comes with:
• Video CCD camera and regulated power supply
• Composite video/power cable with adapters
• Lens cap and 1 1/4” adapter
• Allen wrench for adjusting the focal ratio on SCTs
• Wired hand controllers on some cameras
Specifications:
Video CCD cameras
like the MallinCamTM PRO employ the following:
Extremely low Lux CCD sensors - 0.00001 Lux @ f/2.0 and 0.000007 Lux @
f/0.8
High Signal-to-Noise (S/N) Ratio – 110 dB (SENS OFF and 85 dB (SENS ON)
Image Frame Integration
How does the Human Eye compare?
0.001 Lux
for those with excellent night vision
S/N Ratio of 5 dB
Storage Time – 0.2 seconds (also known as integration time
Camera Controls:
The rear of the
camera showing the OSD adjusting buttons, the BNC and S-VHS Video Outputs and
the Power Connection
Holding down the center button of the OSD brings up
the camera’s menu on the monitor.
What is Frame Integration?
The “shutter” remains open for 2.1
seconds (maximum).
Video data is accumulated and dumped into memory.
The information is digitized and sent to the video section to be seen on the
monitor. The image remains on the
monitor while a new set of data is processed.
This is repeated as long as the camera is ON.
The shutter speed may be adjusted.
THE MENU
TITLE A description of up to 12 characters can be
displayed on the screen – such as “DSRSG 2004”.
SENSE UP This shows the number of frames being
integrated – up to 128X on the MallinCam. 128X = 2.1
second exposure
ALC/ELC Short for “Automatic Level Control” and “Electronic Level Control”
The
camera’s “shutter speed”
Manual
and Preset Functions
DSOs -
ALC/MAX
Moon
and Planets - ALC/MIN
BLC Short for “Backlight
Compensation”
This
makes bright objects less prominent in an image
This helps you to see the background in an image
AGC “Automatic
Gain Control”.
Augments the final gain of the amplifier so faint objects can be seen.
Moon and Planets – OFF
DSOs - MANU - Middle to
Full
W/B Not
a PRO (B&W camera) function
Only for the Color camera Adjusts the color spectrum
of the video output
Two
presets (3200K and 5600K)
Manual
Red and Blue adjustments
ZOOM Up to 2x zooming to assist in focusing
EXIT Save changes made to the camera’s setting
If all settings
have been properly made, there should be an image on the monitor.
The quality of the image on the monitor will depend upon the type and quality
of the monitor used.
High resolution monitors provide the best image.
Camera resolution is 600 lines, so an 800 line monitor is best.
Showed screen
captures.
Competing Products
• STELLA CAM III, B&W, “unlimited integration time”, no cooler, good sensitivity, cooler will probably be developed
• MallinCAM Hyper B&W/Color, 6 and 12 s integration times, good menu flexibility, integrated cooler, good tech support, friendly but rabid supporters J and
COLOR, COLOR, COLOR (dee queen’s wish)
What is Our Bottom Line
• EP use is secondary but important
• Color is wonderful; B&W still has its place
• Extended integration used ½ the time
• Essential for our groups
• Essential for studying/studying objects
• Definitely worth the cost for 3-5 yrs use
• Technology will advance again
• No other good solution for lesser skies
Helpful Links &
Sources
• Adirondeck Video Astronomy (SC products) http://www.astrovid.com/
• MallinCam http://mallincam.tripod.com/
• Jack Huerkamp’s Site http://www.waningmoonii.com/index.htm
• VideoAstro Group http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/videoastro/
The help from people is very good!
Roland showed use
one of his sketches.
Linda stated that the black and white gives lots of detail. The color hides some of the detail with the brightness, but you do see some the real color of object.
Stella CAM EX is
around $695
Stella Cam is around
$900
Mallin CAM color around $1200.
High resolution
monitor with loop through capability, or by an external device that allows you
to use a computer monitor.
Roland then demoed
the MalinCam color on M42 and later on the moon in
the dog house.
You may also want to read Roland’s Review on Cloudy Nights.
http://www.cloudynights.com/item.php?item_id=1553