Posted inAstronomy CCD Cameras & Autoguiders

StarlightXpress MX7C to MX716 Conversion


Shortly after I bought my MX7C I read that the hardware in the MX5C and MX516 were the same, and all that needed to be substituted was the CCD chip. I contacted Terry Platt of StarlightXpress and asked if this was the same for the MX7C line of cameras. Happily he confirmed that this was the correct, and I put in an order for a Sony ICX249AL CCD chip directly to StarlightXpress.

Now why bother with a mono chip? Why the heck did I buy a color camera in the 1st place? Well, the convenience of 1 shot color is still a huge plus for me but the possibility of having a mono chip capable of taking more sensitive luminance images to combine with the color data was intriguing. Not having to buy another camera to be able to do this was what sold me on the idea…

Posted inAstronomy CCD Cameras & Autoguiders

Cookbook Autoguider

This is page will hopefully help some out there build the CCD Cookbook based autoguider circuit and provide some background on how to connect one to an LX50.

April 13, 2003, update: Due to, among other things, time constraints and a brand-spanking-new MX7C, this autoguider is pretty much an abandoned project. Which isn’t to say that I won’t give folks a hand if they need it. I have some goodies that may be of help or at least a starting point for this project.

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Posted inAstronomy CCD Cameras & Autoguiders

Centering the CB245 CCD chip

The very first thing I noticed after the first night imaging with my CB245 was how badly I had centered the CCD and the cold finger. Objects I wanted to image were not only completely out of the FOV of my illuminated 9mm reticle, but also almost out of the FOV on my 26mm Plössl! Finding my targets was just a ludicrous waste of time.

After asking around on the CCD list and realizing that nobody had any tips on an easy way to do this, I decided to start rubbing my 2 remaining neurons together to see if I could maybe get a spark.

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Posted inAstronomy CCD Cameras & Autoguiders

CCD CookBook CB245

First of all, my electronics knowledge is little or none. Sure I’ve had to learn a bit in the process of putting this thing together but I still consider myself a complete newbie when it comes to reading a wiring diagram or even figuring out how to wire 2 transformers together. If you fit this description this is not exactly an easy project but if you are patient and are willing to learn, adapt, and implement modifications to suit your needs it is an immensely enjoyable and ‘doable’ project.

Berry, Kanto, and Munger have put together an incredibly simplified, and unbelievably robust project. My list of mistakes in building this have been long and severe, but somehow its kept on ticking, and it is finally ready to take some pics. This thing surviving my building it is an achievement in itself! 😉

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Posted inAstronomy Astrophotography

Lunar Eclipse – Portugal January, 2000

I seriously started to doubt my sanity when the alarm clock went off at 2:45am. I found myself pulling on layer after layer of clothing before dragging my tired carcass outside to join the telescope in the crystal clear 4ºC January weather. The moon looks like countless other full moons I’ve seen before. Maybe a little brighter than usual, but maybe that’s just my imagination.

I was starting to doubt that I’d got the right day, when the show finally started. “Looks like somebody’s taken a bite out of the moon”, I said and smiled to myself. Time to get to those pictures! In between pictures I took occasional looks through my binoculars, but what really fascinated me was the environment. The crisp shadows were slowly dissolving, and the stars were beginning to show! A few times I couldn’t help removing the camera and looking at M42, or a cluster or two. Don’t get much chance for that during a full moon!

Turtle! 22/01/2000

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