[Lvas] Well we had a peudo party anyway

[John Boron]

"The Dentist" (sounds like the guy in Marathon Man) is Ron Levandoski

JB
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Douglas Phillipson" <douglas at intermind.net>
To: <lvas at lvlug.org>
Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 9:29 AM
Subject: [Lvas] Well we had a peudo party anyway


> 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
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