[Lvas] Well we had a peudo party anyway

[Douglas Phillipson]

Well as John Boron, Joe and "The Dentist" (sorry, I forgot his name) 
found out last night, they should have read their email prior to coming 
over.  If we are going to use this new mailing list as a quick 
communication tool, you have to read your email more often.  I almost 
wasn't here when they came over.  But I hadn't left yet so even though 
it was cloudy we discussed the Mallincam and its features and setup 
configuration.  Right now I really want to use the Mallincam strictly as 
a "Visual" tool to see full color and structure in astronomical objects. 
  The Dentist was talking as though he wanted to use it for CCD Imaging. 
  Well you can do that but I'm not sure it is the optimal CCD device for 
that purpose.

Well today I'm going to try to figure out if my Meade LX200GPS has the 
"Smart Mount" option.  This is a software option that allows you to 
refine the scopes pointing accuracy by centering and "syncing"
  objects. Supposedly it makes your scope more accurate as your 
observing session goes on.  One problem I have with the Mallincam is the 
pointing accuracy of the Meade.  It's pretty accurate and I can usually 
nail an object in the field of view with a 11mm Nagler, which with my 
scope's 2500mm focal length is about 227 power, but with the CCD you 
have to get the object EXACTLY in the center of the field of view to see 
it on the screen.  The Mallincam has a focal reducer (FR) which 
increases its FOV but it's still challenging to do a "goto" and find the 
object on the screen with the CCD inserted in the telescope.  Then of 
course some objects are larger than others and I find myself finding an 
objet visually with an eyepiece (EP), centering it then substituting the 
Mallincam, refocusing the scope for the CCD, looking at the object with 
the FR in and if the object is too small I have to pop the CCD out and 
remove the FR, reinsert the CCD, refocus without the FR and then view 
the object.  It can be somewhat of a hassle.  Of course the final visual 
result is somewhat stunning so it's worth the effort for me.  But at a 
public star party, which is what I really bought it for so that people 
can just look at the screen, I would probably have to rehearse all the 
objects ahead of time so as to not waste a great deal of time fumbling 
around with focusing.  Focusing with the CCD in is somewhat challenging 
as you have to wait several seconds for the CCD to capture for each 
focus adjustment.  The Dentist clued me in to somethng that should help 
though, the Hartman Mask.  I found an article here about it: 
http://rao.150m.com/Focusaid.html.   It should speed my focusing up 
considerably.

Well have I wasted enough of your time in this email???  I'll give you 
the results of my hunt for the "Smart mount" technology later...

Regards

Doug P