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Geek Culture / Computerized Telescope in action

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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 3rd Jun 2013 03:00 Edited at: 3rd Jun 2013 12:14
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This is a video showing my new Meade ETX-LS Telescope. It's an inheritance from my great uncle roy who sadly passed away at the beginning of the year.

Upon receiving it, I tried updating the onboard firmware and ended up bricking the handset. So for the moment I'm using it manually.

It's a 6 inch mirror scope, and the optics are amazing. It really reveals everything I can't see in so much detail.

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Libervurto
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Posted: 3rd Jun 2013 03:40
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I look forward to the pictures!

The difficulty in learning is not acquiring new knowledge but relinquishing the old.
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 6th Jun 2013 00:57 Edited at: 6th Jun 2013 00:58
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This is the vega star taken from the onboard alignment camera.

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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 6th Jun 2013 01:09 Edited at: 6th Jun 2013 01:10
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This is a photo of Saturn through the finder camera, I wish you could see this through the eyepiece, I can actually see the rings.

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CoffeeGrunt
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Posted: 6th Jun 2013 01:41
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I've always wanted one of these. Living in a small town in Norfolk means there's plenty of fields to escape light pollution in.

Keep an eye out for comets as well, right?
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 6th Jun 2013 20:34
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Pincho Paxton
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Posted: 6th Jun 2013 23:55
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Wow.. Jupiter has fenceposts!!! J/k

I like telescopes. Maybe Jessops has a load to get rid of.

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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 18:49
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Hi guys, here's the first video I've ever taken with this telescope. This is planet Saturn.

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KeithC
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 18:53
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Wow; I had no idea you could get that kind of magnification on a home device like that.

-Keith

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The Zoq2
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 18:54
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That's pretty cool, is it supposed to be that shaky though?
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 19:31 Edited at: 9th Jun 2013 19:32
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@ TheZoq2

I don't have proper video capture equipment yet so I was literally holding the smart phone up to the eyepiece. Once I get a proper astro cam and a DLSR hook up I'll be able to capture some steady footage.

@ KeithC

That magnification is still pretty low for this telescope. I was using a 26mm eyepiece and a x3 barlow. With the eyepiece alone I get 58x magnification, and with a x3 barlow I should be getting around 175x which is what you see in the zoomed out video.

I'm hoping to get a 6.4mm lens soon that should get me about 238x which is already larger without the barlow. With the barlow I should get up to 715x magnification making this object almost three times bigger.

The maximum possible magnfication as far as I'm aware for this particular telescope is 1905x with a x5 barlow, and a 4mm eyepiece. That's potentially enough not only to fill the eyepiece with Saturn but also view it's moons.

This is a 6 inch telescope with a focal length of 1524 mm and an aperture size of 152.2 mm

I suspect the biggest challenge if I ever get maximum magnification possible will be centring and tracking objects.
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The Zoq2
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 19:38 Edited at: 9th Jun 2013 20:02
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Quote: "I don't have proper video capture equipment yet so I was literally holding the smart phone up to the eyepiece. Once I get a proper astro cam and a DLSR hook up I'll be able to capture some steady footage."


Oh that makes sense. I was just confused since your previous video didn't have the green text
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 20:21
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I understand. I added the text myself in the video editor.
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mr Handy
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 21:33
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Quote: "This is planet Saturn."

*stunned*

«Just because you’re unique, doesn’t mean you’re useful»
«If you contributed to the reason for locking, you may now find yourself on moderation, or in extreme cases in the grave»
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Benjamin
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 21:54
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That's cool! Since it's computerized, would it be possible to track objects that are orbiting us, such as the ISS? Might be a pain trying to get the settings right since there's only a couple of minutes window every ~90mins, but it'd be awesome.

"Sideboobs are awesome. Getting punched in the face is not." - Jerico2Day on violence and nudity
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 22:17 Edited at: 9th Jun 2013 22:18
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I'm going to try tracking the ISS. The issue is, that it's unbelievably fast next to planets and stars. I've tried tracking a couple of satellites but they seem to move faster than the onboard computer can deal with.

I've also seen a couple of nebular and globular clusters. At the moment they look like smudges on the view finder so I need to rig up some kind of long exposure system.
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Libervurto
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Posted: 9th Jun 2013 22:41
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It DOES have ears!

The difficulty in learning is not acquiring new knowledge but relinquishing the old.
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Nickydude
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Posted: 10th Jun 2013 14:11
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That's awesome! I think I'll dig my old telescope out again now.

I reject your reality and substitute my own...
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bitJericho
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Posted: 13th Jun 2013 01:01 Edited at: 13th Jun 2013 01:01
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Even the crappiest telescopes we have today are better than the ones used to initially map the heavens!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martian_canal

Happy observing!

Visit my blog http://www.canales.me.
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 20th Jul 2013 13:39
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Hey guys, the Moon finally came up last night! Whoooo!

The second video for my astronomy youtube channel Daniels Night Sky.

I also bought iMovie for my new iPad Mini and threw together a pointless trailer for amusements sake more than anything else. Being able to quickly hack together videos and upload them on youtube while out with the telescope is pretty cool.



And for those of you who want to ignore my bit of fun here's the full video. There's some really fine detail there, even if my clumsy photography isn't all that great.

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Libervurto
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Posted: 20th Jul 2013 17:03
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You could possible clamp the ipad to the ipiece so it doesn't ishake? That or weld them together with pure gold.
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Daniel TGC
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Posted: 20th Jul 2013 18:34
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I looked, couldn't find one for an iPad Mini, which isn't all that surprising it's still a pretty new device.

I've got my eye on a proper space imager for around £200 it's just going to be a few months until I can afford it. Until then it's the best I can do.
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