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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 4, 2014 6:09:48 GMT
Of the choices in this Poll, which one most influenced your decision to buy a video camera for Video Astronomy? Choose one. Thank you for your participation You may ONLY select ONE answer.
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Post by davy on Dec 4, 2014 7:40:32 GMT
I never knew it could be done.started doing astrophotography but was fed up standing out in the cold waiting on long exposure images..checking they were ok or redoing settings, was taking too long to get an image. .poor weather ment I needed to get faster results and doing it remote was more appealing
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 4, 2014 9:04:29 GMT
I'm in a bit of a quandry myself. I'm not sure wether to put 'Forum' or 'NSN' as my vote. I first read about Video Astronomy in Forums but didn't really understand it or how it could work, so I went to the suggested Night Skies Network and saw it in action and knew straight away that is what I wanted to do. It was a magical answer to being fed up for years with Astrophotography, waiting ages for long exposures, saving images, stacking, processing, all for 1 pretty picture from a whole nights imaging and hours of processing. Then having to post it in a forum to share it with the world and end up only getting 5 or 6 posts saying "nice image". There had to be something more exciting. Yep, Video Instantly shared with the whole world, see objects in seconds, and interact with the viewers instead of getting a few 'nice' posts buried in a Forum. So I suppose my own selection would be NSN as it is where I saw it in action and knew I had to get a camera!!! The forum didn't show me much, but made me look at NSN. OK, I'll select NSN. That's what grabbed me.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 4, 2014 9:33:11 GMT
Hi,
As a scientific/medical imaging specialist and a lifelong astronomer/astrophotographer, back in the late 1980's I saw the video camera as another tool that had various applications in astronomy. I was already experimenting with carrying video gear and a home built Tx & Rx for aerial video in a 12 foot wingspan R/C aircraft. I still have some very early 1980's bits from a Sony open Reel 1/4" B&W video system, plus another early Sony 3/4" Umatic recorder with a colour tube camera we used in theatre during eye surgery.
I was using still frames in colour printed from a Sony V200 Video 8 for inclusion in a printed magazine I created for the Jaguar Car club in Tasmania, plus the Astronomical Society of Tasmania's 'Bulletin'.
Visiting a friend one day, it was a clear night with a half Moon so we set it up and I did some afocal lunar imaging through his 10" Newtonian, and created a little movie of our own lunar landing and dubbed a sound track on with the 'The Eagle Has Landed".
It was so popular it became an obvious way to share astronomy with me outdoors and visitors inside watching what I was seeing on a big TV in comfort using both eyes.
Next step was to modify a little board camera (new technology at the time, as a finder using a Lumicon 80mm finder scope. Many more mods to existing scientific cameras followed year by year, which continues to this day.
My first commercial astro camera was an Astrovid 2000, which I still have, plus nearly every other one that came out after that
I was always interested in obtaining still frames from video even before then, so was perhaps a leader in this field with my Sony video printer, available before PC image capture, but I could do this with a ZX Spectrum computer and an Amiga computer, long before it was possible with a PC. picasaweb.google.com/109921669020426367250/VideoAstronomy1988Present?authuser=0&feat=directlink
Back in those days the Internet was new, so there were no video forums, NSN etc. or means of sharing as we do today and what I did share was via dial up modem where a 1 meg image file was a huge!
Clear skies... Shevill
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Dec 4, 2014 21:21:25 GMT
I had a several year lull in my astronomy hobby. When my son expressed interest, I originally thought that I would just do visible with him and finally try imaging. I have always been intimidated by imaging. I had been aware of video astronomy for several years, but did not really investigate it seriously.
Then, about a year ago, I read a little on CN. I also asked about using video on a long focal length reflector for planetary, and I was laughed out the thread on CN.
Then I started seeing Ken's and Chris's image posts on CN. I mention them over others that posted images because they were so colorful and crisper. That led me to logging into Night Skies Network and when I started watching broadcasts, I knew I needed to have a camera or three.
So I voted for NSN.
Still haven't started imaging, haha!
--Rick
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 0:11:27 GMT
I blame Davy, Karl and Carl from SGL days. I was pretty wrapped up in solar imaging and astro imaging at the time, and was generally reading about cameras and ended up in the video forum. I read lots of posts about video astronomy etc, and ended up watching on NSN. Seeing what was possible with a video camera compared with visual astronomy from light polluted gardens I was soon hooked. Spent a fortune but never looked back.
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Post by scopesnc on Dec 5, 2014 12:07:06 GMT
A long long time ago in a Galaxy somewhere near by, I was influenced by a force called Sky Channels. A live streaming web site for what was then unheard of ( Video Astronomy) . Now it did not have many members. Only about 10 or 15 of us. Yet that live streaming site sold me on video astronomy and I bought my first camera because of it. It was the first TAG site built . A site where they build a normal web site and tag your streaming account from another streaming site to that site making it appear to come from their site. It works. A guy name Lars from Denmark( I think ) built it. He had these strange long nights part of the year and then no nights for the other part of the year. That site lasted about a year before it died away. Then came Sparkast a Lyco's site a few of us used. They had the best streaming software I have ever seen, even to this day. It allowed the viewer to adjust the image not just the broadcaster. It had more image adjustment options than you could ever want. There were a few of us on line that last night when it went of air and it was a sad day for all of us who used it.
All this of course led some guy to build Night Skies Network. After all one must share their skies with others. Right ?
:> he he he
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 5, 2014 13:39:56 GMT
. . . All this of course led some guy to build Night Skies Network. After all one must share their skies with others. Right ? :> he he he And a big thanks to Jim. that 'some guy', whoever he was
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Dec 5, 2014 16:49:26 GMT
Definitely a big thanks goes to that fella', where ever he may be.
I certainly wish I could have been present in those early days. I just hope that I can contribute and help grow the field. I'm not the most knowledgeable astronomer nor electrical engineer, but I gots skillz, as the kids today say.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 17:13:44 GMT
voted other... its a little of everything.. but health was 1st on list...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2014 20:18:49 GMT
I have been interested in astronomy since I was very young. I got my first telescope when I was ten. Astronomy was what it was with an eyepiece. I was never satisfied with what I could see with my eye simply because I new there was much more out there that was invisible to me. Back then there was little else to chose from. I first got involved with microprocessors in the 80's. Machine language programming and digital circuitry based around the Motorola 6800 microprocessor. To me computers and astronomy were made for each other. I wrote a planetarium program that ran on the old IBM 8086 PC's. According to the experts of the day that was impossible. It was back then when someone realized memory chips were photosensitive. That was the beginning of the CCD. I actually considered building a circuit that would use a memory chip as an "Astro Camera" but I could only view the image buy printing it out in ASCII. Not quite up to today's standard. We were also looking at stepper motors for driving telescope mounts and computer control of an observatory. Needless to say our ideas were a few years ahead of what hardware was capable of accomplishing with somewhat less that a small country's economic budget. My first attempt at video astronomy was with one of the original Sony consumer grade video recorders. The camera was huge. Two hands and a shoulder required to operate it. Another idea slightly ahead of it's time but it lit up the way to better things to come. I new I would eventually have a setup like the one I now have, if I lived long enough. It only took thirty years. Over the next thirty years I expect to have the equivalent of a Hubble in my back yard. Go ahead and laugh, just remember I got the last laugh in a few times already.
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Post by scopesnc on Dec 5, 2014 22:23:08 GMT
Definitely a big thanks goes to that fella', where ever he may be. I certainly wish I could have been present in those early days. I just hope that I can contribute and help grow the field. I'm not the most knowledgeable astronomer nor electrical engineer, but I gots skillz, as the kids today say. Rick If you are sharing your skies you are making a big contribution my friend. Much more than most of the astronomers out there. Your teaching with live interactive media. You may not know your teaching someone all the time , but you are. As a broadcaster you are also a teacher. Most folks just don't see that part of it. Your not hidden away waiting on a long exposure and your not at an eyepiece alone in the dark or with just a few folks who may or may not care about what your looking at. Nothing wrong with any of that of course to each his own and more power to them . No, you have people who want to know and see what your looking at and how your doing that. They have tuned in to watch you for that very reason most times. So yep you got skils my man, some you didn't know you had is my guess. That's my 0.01 % worth. :>)
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2014 16:53:17 GMT
. . . All this of course led some guy to build Night Skies Network. After all one must share their skies with others. Right ? :> he he he And a big thanks to Jim. that 'some guy', whoever he was Jim I do remember those days with Sky Channels & Sparkast a Lyco's site. Those times watching and broadcasting were sure a lot of fun and jumped kick the idea of broadcasting and watching live video astronomy shows from all over the world. The best thing that happened to video astronomy was to start a site dedicated to astronomy public sharing and thanks to you we are very fortunate to have Night Skies Network. I started in this hobby 7 years ago after spending over 10 years doing astrophotography both CCD and film. I can assure you all that if I was starting out now, I would say that NSN would have drawn me to this hobby more then any other way. I really enjoy the public outreach and interaction that NSN provides and without NSN it just would not be the same for me.
Chris A Astrogate
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Post by Deleted on Dec 7, 2014 9:17:45 GMT
There is a bloke who lives about an hour up the road near Ballarat who seemed to know what he was talking about. He posted a Youtube video using a Sammy a couple of years ago and I thought this video astronomy is the way to go. I ended up buying a gstar ex and later a mallincam Xtreme. At that stage there was a lot of argy bargy going on between Mallincam and Astro video systems but a particular post on Cloudy Nights detailing this blokes experience with mallincam sealed it for me. As it turns out I have ordered an Astro video system APU-1 as well but so far have been waiting for 6 months. I have been a bit of a silent member but I read all the posts and will add my 2 bobs worth when I think I have something to say. One of these days/nights I will turn up at a Snake Valley dark sky night with a telescope and video camera looking for a few tips but from what I can gather that would make just 2 of us with video cameras. A colleague of mine in Bendigo has just ordered an APU-1 system and was told it will be there before Christmas. If it arrives that will make just 2 of us around these parts with Video Astronomy cameras .That will be the blind leading the blind...( as well, I will be wondering ...hey,where's mine?) Anyway I learn a lot from you guys so keep up the good work. Paul
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Post by Dragon Man on Dec 7, 2014 10:31:47 GMT
There is a bloke who lives about an hour up the road near Ballarat who seemed to know what he was talking about. He posted a Youtube video using a Sammy a couple of years ago and I thought this video astronomy is the way to go. I ended up buying a gstar ex and later a mallincam Xtreme. At that stage there was a lot of argy bargy going on between Mallincam and Astro video systems but a particular post on Cloudy Nights detailing this blokes experience with mallincam sealed it for me. As it turns out I have ordered an Astro video system APU-1 as well but so far have been waiting for 6 months. I have been a bit of a silent member but I read all the posts and will add my 2 bobs worth when I think I have something to say. One of these days/nights I will turn up at a Snake Valley dark sky night with a telescope and video camera looking for a few tips but from what I can gather that would make just 2 of us with video cameras. A colleague of mine in Bendigo has just ordered an APU-1 system and was told it will be there before Christmas. If it arrives that will make just 2 of us around these parts with Video Astronomy cameras .That will be the blind leading the blind...( as well, I will be wondering ...hey,where's mine?) Anyway I learn a lot from you guys so keep up the good work. Paul Gee Paul, I wonder who that bloke near Ballarat was Mate, feel welcome to bring yourself and your Bendigo friend down, throw up a tent and stay a night or two (or longer). That'll be 3 of us in one spot doing Video
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willw
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oxford ,miss,usa
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Post by willw on Dec 7, 2014 18:56:25 GMT
Hi What got me into video astronomy.I was reading on C N. Until then i didn't know any thing about it,but im learning.will w
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2014 6:15:25 GMT
iPhone ate my original post I think. I had known about video from star parties, but at the time my goal was visual. Later, my observing time went away because of various reasons. I missed observing, and through CN, discovered NSN.
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Post by Rick in NWArk on Dec 9, 2014 19:55:15 GMT
Definitely a big thanks goes to that fella', where ever he may be. I certainly wish I could have been present in those early days. I just hope that I can contribute and help grow the field. I'm not the most knowledgeable astronomer nor electrical engineer, but I gots skillz, as the kids today say. Rick If you are sharing your skies you are making a big contribution my friend. Much more than most of the astronomers out there. Your teaching with live interactive media. You may not know your teaching someone all the time , but you are. As a broadcaster you are also a teacher. Most folks just don't see that part of it. Your not hidden away waiting on a long exposure and your not at an eyepiece alone in the dark or with just a few folks who may or may not care about what your looking at. Nothing wrong with any of that of course to each his own and more power to them . No, you have people who want to know and see what your looking at and how your doing that. They have tuned in to watch you for that very reason most times. So yep you got skils my man, some you didn't know you had is my guess. That's my 0.01 % worth. :>) Thank you for that response, Jim, it can be easy to forget that focus during a broadcast versus a "technical workbench" focus. The latter is also educational, but not astronomy-educational. --Rick
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