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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body bgcolor=white lang=EN-CA link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>Hi Andy,<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I will discuss this at our next board meeting in July.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>I have met quite a few people who do public outreach and use a Mallincam Video camera for the very reasons you presented. A Mallincam is a specially modified video surveillance camera that is designed to pick-up those faint fuzzies by \u201cstacking\u201d video frames into a single stationary image. Each incoming video frame makes the displayed image better and better as more frames are \u201cstacked\u201d. I was very impressed! I have also seen it done with conventional webcams, but as Shawn explained, the image is less than satisfactory.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>This would definitely need to be an acquisition with a dedicated fundraising effort (approx $ 2,000). In addition to the Mallincam, there would also need to be a display screen and a power source to run it all.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>- Camera: $ 1,200 +<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>- LCD Monitor $ 350<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'>- Power Supply (Deep Cycle Marine battery), Inverter, and good battery charger: $ 350<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'> Gary Bennett<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> astronomers-bounces@hamiltonrasc.ca [mailto:astronomers-bounces@hamiltonrasc.ca] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Shawn Preston<br><b>Sent:</b> June-20-12 2:00 PM<br><b>To:</b> astronomers@hamiltonrasc.ca<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: RASC Hamilton telescope camera at observatory?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>As someone who uses a video camera for part of his astrophotography endeavors, I'll chime in here. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>To view the brighter objects like the sun, moon, mars, Jupiter and saturn, you can make due with a reasonably modest video camera. In fact, many just used modified webcams. The challenge though is that due to atmospheric turbulence, they image at the eyepiece is often better than that at the monitor of the camera. To really see the plants well you need to capture video and process the frames in between the atmospheric turbulence... It can't really be done real-time. At being said, it's probably better to see a blurry planet than no planet at all!<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>For deeper sky objects like nebulae and galaxies you need a much more advanced video camera that generally runs about $1500. A few other odds and ends are needed to make it work well, but you can get good results in near real-time. <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Shawn <o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><br>Shawn Preston<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.skyminer.ca">www.skyminer.ca</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><br>On Jun 20, 2012, at 1:26 PM, "Andrew Bienhaus" <<a href="mailto:andrew@bienhaus.org">andrew@bienhaus.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>Hey guys,</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>Newbie here, on behalf of 1st Binbrook Scout Group. (a new member) ;-)</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>Our experience at the Conservation area, was a great one, and we look forward to a visit to the observatory.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>But, one thing is evident, and that is that trying to get 30 kids past one eyepiece, is problematic. ;-)</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>I know there are cameras you can mount to eyepieces, and we do have an older data projector as well as monitors out the wazoo.</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>But what sort of expense and options are we talking about, to mount a digital feed onto the telescope?</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>and, is this something the club has ever considered raising funds to purchase for installation there?</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>thanks!</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>Andy</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue'>1st Binbrook</span><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></blockquote><blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>_______________________________________________<br>astronomers mailing list<br><a href="mailto:astronomers@hamiltonrasc.ca">astronomers@hamiltonrasc.ca</a><br><a href="http://hamiltonrasc.ca/mailman/listinfo/astronomers_hamiltonrasc.ca">http://hamiltonrasc.ca/mailman/listinfo/astronomers_hamiltonrasc.ca</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></blockquote></div></body></html>