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Jupiter (clearer) Nov 5th 2023 w/Mewlon 180c

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Posts Made By: Joe Baldwin

March 8, 2005 10:16 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

What telescope or telescopes / mount to get?

Posted By Joe Baldwin

I think the CM1100 would be a very sweet setup for astrophotography and planetary imaging. The CI-700 is a solid platform for an 11" and you get a slightly more rigid setup than the CGE 11. Plus, you can take the extra $900 and find a good used SBIG ST7. The down side is that the CI-700 and the C11 are commitments. While portable, they are a chore to set up, align and tear down if you don't have a permanent place to observe. The same is true for the CGE 11.

April 6, 2005 05:35 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

ST4 power question

Posted By Joe Baldwin

Be careful with the cheap inverter approach. Those things typically generate huge amounts of electronic noise and may not be a good idea for a sensitive electronic device. It probably won't cause any permanent harm but could contaminate the image

April 6, 2005 09:01 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter and Io with a 6" refractor

Posted By Joe Baldwin

Very nice! Natural color and not oversharpened. Keep'm coming

April 11, 2005 06:02 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Possible CCD cleaner?

Posted By Joe Baldwin

Paul,
The Lens Pen has been around for a while. I've used it for lenses, correctors and eyepieces and it really does seem to work for small "smudges" It requires a good bit of pressure to get the pen to pick up the dirt/oil so I don't know if it would be good for the CCD to push that hard. Digital SLR users are faced with the same problem here is one of their(overpriced IMO) approaches:

http://www.visibledust.com/

It looks like fancy KimWipe with a wooden stick but it is supposed to work.

April 21, 2005 01:31 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Is this as good as it gets?

Posted By Joe Baldwin

You may want to bump up the focal length to around 5-6 meters, then set gain and shutter speed settings to give brightness levels nearer full scale.

April 22, 2005 08:16 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Baader IR filter

Posted By Joe Baldwin

If you have a refractor, yes. For reflectors and SCT's I've yet to see an advantage. Just another optical surface in the way.

April 27, 2005 05:37 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

Jupiter from France

Posted By Joe Baldwin

c'est très bon

April 30, 2005 03:17 PM Forum: Equipment Talk

Celestron CI700 mount modification

Posted By Joe Baldwin

Tom,

There is a CI-700 yahoo group. Post a message there and you should get some great feedback. Check out the files section for some .pdf files about all things CI-700

May 13, 2005 01:00 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

My First Image- What's the Yellow spot

Posted By Joe Baldwin

Alex,
I think by adding a barlow and increasing magnification you can solve the exposure problem and increase the resolution as well.
Hang in there and keep trying and sharing your results

June 15, 2005 01:35 PM Forum: CCD Imaging and Processing/Solar System

ToUcam question

Posted By Joe Baldwin

John,

I suspect that the power supplied to the camera by the USB port is extremely noisy and creates periodic patterns like you've illustrated. Try reducing the frame rate or using another computer to see if that helps. I reduced the level somewhat on my camera by adding a 0.1 uf bypass capacitor across the USB power pin and ground. In my case, I had a strong "herringbone" pattern at high gain settings and this helped.