Meade ETX-90EC project





Here is a picture of the current setup, as of the making of this page. It consists of a Irez firewire webcam that has been modified as seen here. With the modifications, the cam sits in the eyepiece holder at prime focus.




For reference, here is the previous setup, using a universal camera mount (tripod screw) made by Harry of Siebert Optics This setup allows a person to do eyepiece (EP) projection, which means that the image is actually taken through the EP, whereas prime focus means that the camera has become the EP, and sits in its place.




This is a picture of my Dell laptop, and the various connections that are necessary to do CCD imaging using firewire. I chose a firewire cam after talking with my friend Mike a bit about webcams, and found that firewire will do 30fps at 640x480. I proceeded to go to the local computer store, and pic up the Irez firewire cam. In order to be able to operate the cam on the laptop (I wanted it portable), I needed to get a firewire PCMCIA card for the laptop, and a power supply for the card. In order for the card to supply power through the firewire cable, an external power source is needed. The socket in the laptop provides no where near enough voltage or current for the firewire accessories.
The connections, clockwise from bottom left are the firewire cable to the camera, the power supply lead into the firewire pcmcia card, the laptop power supply, and a serial cable from the laptop to control the telescope.



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