(meteorobs) Geminids from Greece

[stange]

J.D. might want to consider another thing..... He can do what I did (long 
ago when starting out on my own).....Mounting his camera on a TV rotator!. 
"A Science First here". :-)

That then allowed me to aim the camera indoors where it is warm anytime I 
wanted to change its direction. Worked GREAT too inside a water tight PVC 
housing with a glass window and some dessicant bags. Looked like weird 
outside the house tho'. Had to drill holes in home eaves for power cord and 
video cord to come in.

YCSentinel


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chris Peterson" <clp at alumni.caltech.edu>
To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
Sent: 2008/12/15 15:22
Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Geminids from Greece


> I'd strongly advise against using a reflector. Good CS-mount fisheye 
> lenses
> are quite inexpensive, and have huge advantages. In particular, it is 
> nearly
> impossible to accurately determine the position of a meteor in the sky 
> with
> a reflector, because they don't have well controlled surfaces. That's not 
> a
> problem with a lens, which can be astrometrically calibrated. If you plan 
> on
> doing multistation work, with the intent of recovering meteorites or
> recovering orbits, convex mirror systems really make things difficult.
>
> Chris
>
> *****************************************
> Chris L Peterson
> Cloudbait Observatory
> http://www.cloudbait.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "stange" <stange34 at sbcglobal.net>
> To: "Global Meteor Observing Forum" <meteorobs at meteorobs.org>
> Sent: Monday, December 15, 2008 11:48 AM
> Subject: Re: (meteorobs) Geminids from Greece
>
>
>> Hello J.D.
>>
>> Sounds like you purchased a JBD CB-23803(S?) 1/3" CCD B/W camera with
>> 0.003
>> Lux rating. Using the camera with the zoom lens will confine the field of
>> view(FOV) into a rectangular shape. Lowering the zoom to 3.0 will give 
>> the
>> widest FOV but still rectangular because of the CCD substrate shape.
>>
>> An "ALL-SKY" option for the future would be to use a highly polished
>> "moon"
>> hub-cap from a car, or better yet, a hemispherical mirror dome(the bigger
>> the better), with the camera mounted downward over it. Similar
>> construciton
>> to what I have illustrated at:
>> http://www.geocities.com/stange34@sbcglobal.net/IR_Experiment.html or the
>> earlier design used by Chris at Cloudbait Observatory.
>>
>> If you do go in this "ALL-SKY" mirror direction, the height of the camera
>> over the mirror for imaging the entire perimeter of the mirror, will be
>> determined by the amount of zoom.
>>
>> The higher the magnification, the higher will the camera need to be over
>> the
>> mirror to get the entire image of the mirror circle which contains a 360
>> degree all-sky view.
>>
>> Most folks try to use around a 4mm adjustment which will keep the camera
>> lower but at the expense of slightly larger central obstruction which is
>> the
>> image of the camera in the mirror itself.
>>
>> Using inexpensive ($40 U.S.) programs like Handyavi will give you
>> satisfaction in captures.
>>
>> Try the program for free at their website download to see if your
>> composite
>> capture card can work with that program. You may have to experiment a
>> little
>> with comuter settings and Handyavi settings. Generally if Windows XP can
>> see
>> the mirror image, so will Handyavi.
>>
>> Good Luck, YCSentinel.
>
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