ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH MEADE LUNAR PLANETARY IMAGER Last updated: 30 September 2004

This page documents the Meade Lunar Planetary Imager comments, tips, and photos. Contributions welcome. I have posted a review of using the Autostar Suite and LPI on the Macintosh. In order to showcase the LPI you may occasionally see images taken with other telescopes on this page.

Subject:	Autostar Suite LPI problem
Sent:	Wednesday, September 29, 2004 06:20:19
From:	Menefee, Scott (Scott_Menefee@baylor.edu)
I got an LXD75 N-6 yesterday that came with the Autostar Suite, and
shortly thereafter ran across your web site, from which I am already
benefiting considerably.

I have yet to get the LPI to work at all.  My computer recognizes the
hardware, the red light comes on the LPI, and I get no error messages at
all, but I never get anything on the live view but a black screen (and
yes, the lens cap is off).  If you have any ideas or suggestions, given
your familiarity and expertise with the product, I would greatly
appreciate it.

Thanks,
Scott 

And:

It's a 1.6g cpu with a gig of ram. 

Subject:	Meade LPI: Small Telescopes
Sent:	Thursday, September 23, 2004 05:41:55
From:	Graham, John L (Graham@udri.udayton.edu)
We've had great weather here for almost a week and I was ready for a
break from dragging out my homebuilt 16.5", so last night I got out one
of my little 60mm f/12 refractors. The Moon looked great and I was
curious to see how well the Meade LPI would work with it. The attached
picture is a composite of three images (one each for the poles and the
equatorial region of the Moon) taken with the LPI at the prime focus.
Each source image was an average of 50 frames with medium edge
sharpening real-time using the LPI software. I've also been getting some
great pictures through a microscope using the LPI, but I figure that's
for another forum.

Have a great day, 

-John

Subject:	LPI freezes when stop button pressed
Sent:	Sunday, September 19, 2004 22:59:52
From:	Gerald Sargent (sargentg@bigpond.net.au)
Using LPI on a Toshiba 4280 with 500MHz CPU and 256K of RAMand 40G HD.
It seems to record images (onto HD), and to present them as images in
some undetermined mode.

However there are no boxes appearing in the bottom left recording
progress, and when the STOP buttom is pressed the computer freezes and
one has then to reboot the system. I have much other software (Sky6,
MiraPro, DeskTop Universe etc) on this Laptop and have not experienced
any hassels with any of these. I am aware that others find the LPI
useful, and have seen it used on other Laptops. This problem occurs when
nothing else is being run on the computer, which uses a fully updated
Win98SE o/s with ie ver 6 and Direct X (latest version).

Any advice gratefully received 

And:

Many thanks, very difficult to get answers re LPI from anywhere, thanks
Gerald.

Subject:	Meade LPI: Saturn
Sent:	Monday, September 13, 2004 07:40:52
From:	Graham, John L (Graham@udri.udayton.edu)
I was dying of curiosity as to how well the LPI would work with Saturn
using my little 5.1" f/8 Meade DS-2130 and I had an opportunity this
past Saturday morning (September 11, 2004). As the attached photo shows
it worked pretty well. This image is a composite of 5 source images
combined using Registax. The source images themselves were each about 60
frames averaged live using the LPI software. Not bad for a small
Newtonian telescope.

-John

Subject:	LPI Images
Sent:	Monday, September 6, 2004 08:53:01
From:	Richard Shoesmith (r_shoesmith@madasafish.com)
Please find attached two images obtained using the LPI with ETX105. The
moon image is a composite of two, stitched together using PaintShop Pro.
All the images were obtained using the Moon setting for the LPI, dark
spot auto-tracking and align & combine. Each is a combination of 25
images.


 



One question. I read on your site that the latest firmware release for
the #497 will swap between sidereal and lunar tracking. Does the same
thing happen if using the Autostar Suite to control the scope?

Best wishes,

Richard Shoesmith

Orkney, UK

Subject:	LPI Alive & Well!
Sent:	Thursday, August 26, 2004 03:30:02
From:	Steven S. Miller (steven.s.miller@worldnet.att.net)
Turns out my Meade LPI is alive and well after all.  The problem was
indeed my old Compaq 333 mhz laptop.  Got a new Toshiba 2.8 ghz notebook
a couple of weeks ago (Best Buy had a sweetheart deal: computer
w/256ram, 60G hd+extra memory, bag & printer for $699 after rebates)!

At any rate, the LPI sprang to life after I hooked it up to the new
system!  My first test image of a bird feeder in my backyard was less
than spectacular, but at least the darn thing is working now!  I still
have a major bone to pick with Meade for not stating the system
requirements (including cpu speed!) in any of their ads (or on the
Autosuite box itself) and for what is got to be the worst written (or to
be more precise, re-written) software/product manual I've ever seen....

Did you see the ad in the October issue of Sky & Tel for Meade's new
Deep Sky Imager?  Though I've distained CCD cameras in the past I've got
to admit it looks pretty cool.  I noticed no system requirements were
mentioned (again!) though...

Thanks for the help!

Scott Miller

And:

From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
The DSI can make use of USB 2.0, which raises its frames-per-second to
the PC to 5 per second.  I could -swear- i've seen a "requirements"
somewhere... and they were the same as the LPI's (which would be
inadequate if said slow processor had USB 2.0, too) My -memory- says:
500 MHz 128 MB. (my laptop is 450 Celeron) What graphics chipset you
have will also have an impact. Looking in the LPI Manual i see: Wind
98se, 64 MB ram, 100 MB disk. No statement on speed.

The LPI app probably cares more about RAM then speed, but that's a
guess.

have fun
--dick

Subject:	Re: Any Meade Autostar LPI cooling projects?
Sent:	Sunday, August 15, 2004 16:17:06
From:	Ms Sandra Jas (sandy.alex@bigpond.com)
Thank you interest.
I have posted  (and will update) photos of the parts astronomydaily.com. 
Given comments re difficulties associated with fixing heat sinks to
web cams it seems LPI,s chip exposure begs a go.
Alex Evans

Subject:	Meade and LPI
Sent:	Wednesday, August 11, 2004 09:48:44
From:	Colin Jackson. (ceejays@eurobell.co.uk)
Having just bought a Meade 125 along with the Autostar Suite I am
getting poor pictures thro the LPI. They take ages to focus in fact the
auto focus does not produce a picture without manual focus and then the
picture is constantly waving.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Kind regards,
 
CeeJay

Subject:	Any Meade Autostar LPI cooling projects?
Sent:	Monday, August 9, 2004 01:59:00
From:	Ms Sandra Jas (sandy.alex@bigpond.com)
May I congratulate you on your excellent site(s) it is by far the best
site I have visited in my limited net access starting 3 mths ago. I have
a 150mmlxd55 and an LPI.

Has anyone tried fitting a cooling device to the LPI. Inspection shows a
heat sink will fix direct to the chip. I am about to try something (
Place a copper block with cold air pumped via 12vlt tyre pump from small
ice box) and wondered if its been done.

Keep up your good work it is truely admirable.
Regards Alex Evans (approx 29 deg E x 152 deg )
Australia

Subject:	etx 90 new owner
Sent:	Thursday, July 29, 2004 23:47:43
From:	Rymbald2@aol.com (Rymbald2@aol.com)
I am the new owner of an ETX 90 EC. I have purchased Autostar suite as I
am keen to record what I observe. I have taken some shots of sections of
the moon (which I am very proud of), however I would like to take a full
shot of the moon. Is there a way that I can do this, there may be
something Im missing. Unfortunately I am not very good at photography at
all but as I say I like to record the sights I see in regard to my
stargazing.
Ray Baldock
South East England UK.  

And:

Thank you so much for replying. This really ia all new to me, although I
have owned a telescope for many years it wasnt until I purchased my ETX
90 that things really happened.

I am using a 26mm eye piece (supplied with ETX 90) and the LPI camera as
supplied with the Autostar suite. I have taken what I think are some
good shots of parts of the moon (others may think different) I have
never really been anything of a photographer at all but so desire to
record the sights I see in the sky. I appologise if I sound a little
thick on this subject. Thank you very much for a wonderful site and
thank you so much for your help, it is greatly appreciated

And:

Ok thank you very much you have answered my question, I need a focal
reducer.
Cheers
Ray Baldock

Subject:	re:  Re: LPI DOA?!
Sent:	Wednesday, July 28, 2004 20:58:14
From:	Richard Seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
For what it's worth, my LPI performs quite happily
(imaging, autoguiding, general kicking around)
on an old HP Omnibook XE2 laptop:
  450 MHz Celeron, 128MB, 30 gig disk.  
Windows 98se.

And there's still enough processing power left over to
run PortMon when i wish to capture the datastream to/from the Autostar.

The one concession i -do- have to make is that i turn off my 
McAfee anti-virus software during LPI imaging.
But i don't expect a virus to enter through the camera.

have fun
--dick

Subject:	Re: LPI DOA?!
Sent:	Sunday, July 25, 2004 22:20:50
From:	Steven Miller (steven.s.miller@worldnet.att.net)
Thanks, Mike!

Well, I guess there's no need to return the LPI to Meade then! 
Actually, the guest speaker at the July 10th Riverside Astronomical
Scoiety meeting, in talking about using web cams for astrophotography,
mentioned that the LPI required a muscle laptop to run properly. 
Unfortunately, I had already ordered the Autostar Suite a couple of days
before!  Knowing this may not have affected my decision to order it
though since, as I said, I was (and still am) primarily interested in
the Autostar Suite planetarium software rather than the LPI. 
Personally, I think Meade should have offered the two separately with
the LPI as an add on module or a stand-alone product!

What gets me is the way that Meade apparently  has had no problem with
intentionally failing to make the computer requirements for the LPI 
known to customers (no one can tell me they weren't aware of the
considerable computer requirements for the LPI).  Actually, none of
Meade's ads in Astronomy or Sky and Telescope since the Autostar Suite
came out have mentioned ANY system requirements of any kind!  Nor is any
mentioned on the packaging itself.  The first mention of any computer
requirements at all that I saw was on the quick start installation sheet
enclosed inside the box!  It's obvious now that these apply ONLY to the
planetarium software!  To add insult to injury, Meade didn't even bother
to re-write the AstroFinder/Epoch 2000 users manual the Autostar Suite
was obviously derived from!  It mentions features that no longer exist
and doesn't mention some new features that do while being riddled with
typos and grammical errors.  All Meade did was to change the title page
and add some information about the new Autostar features of the software
while changing little, if anything, else.  The on-line help is better,
but not by much as it mentions at least one non-existant feature and
contains a few spelling/grammer errors!  It at least describs the tool
and status bars which aren't mentioned at all in the users manual!

To say that I'm rather peeved with Meade at this point would qualify as
the understatement of the century!  In fact, the words
"misrepresentation", "fraud", and "class action lawsuit" have been
bouncing around in my head the last few days.  At the very least, I'm
going to be firing off a very strongly worded letter to Meade this week!

Scott Miller

Subject:	LPI DOA?!
Sent:	Sunday, July 25, 2004 00:39:57
From:	Steven Miller (steven.s.miller@worldnet.att.net)
It's been quite awhile since I last communicated with you (got a LX-90
and haven't used my ETX-90EC much since)!  I have a problem:  I got
Meade's Autostar Suite/LPI imager a little over a week  ago.  The
Autostar suite software (which I was primarily interested in) runs fine
on my antiquated Compaq 1245 laptop (333 mhz), but the LPI camera
appears to be DOA.  When I put it on either my ETX-90 or LX-90, focus on
a bird feeder in my backyard, and startup the LPI Imager software, all I
get is a black "Live" frame (yes, the "Live" box is checked)!  The
yellow triangles in the Magic Eyes focus box are usually absent.  The
LPI software appears to be rather touchy locking up my laptop if I go
messing around with the varous buttons or settings.

I got a 10 foot USB 2.0 cable with gold plated connectors hoping the
supplied 5 foot cable (Meade must think that amatuer astronomers have
their laptops surgerically attached to their hips!) was bad, but it
wasn't.  I got the same black "Live" frame with it as I did with the
original USB cable.

While the behavior of the LPI software is probably due to the sluggish
speed of my 333 mhz laptop, shouldn't I still get an image from the LPI?
 The Meade Customer Support rep I spoke to on Thursday thought so and I
hope he's right.  While I really don't have all that much interest in
taking images of the Moon, planets, etc. at the moment I was hoping to
use it for autoguiding.  I'm packing the LPI and the installation CD off
to Meade (the Meade rep told me to return both) Monday but I thought I'd
check with you in the meantime in the hope that you might know of a way
to revive the LPI!

Scott Miller

P.S.  Are there any LX-90 dedicated web sites around?

Subject:	Meade Help......
Sent:	Saturday, July 24, 2004 18:53:18
From:	Ardimas@aol.com (Ardimas@aol.com)
Hi, I'm very confused about the Meade LPI.  I have an LX90 and am very
interested in using an LPI as an autoguider.  If one were to use a
guidescope and connect the LPI to that and then use it as a cheap
autoguider, then could I take afocal or even prime focus long exposure
photographs?  Does the LPI guider actually work and would I need a wedge
and would the scope need to be polar aligned or not?  Thanks for any
help

Subject:	Meade LPI: Deepsky
Sent:	Friday, July 16, 2004 09:09:09
From:	Graham, John L (Graham@udri.udayton.edu)
With Jupiter slipping into the west and the Moon hiding near the Sun
I've been tinkering with using the Meade LPI for deepsky photography. So
far the best combination of parts I've used is the LPI mounted on a 4.5"
f/4 Newtonian and my Meade DS-2130's mount. The RFT is a good compromise
between light grasp and focal length, and the Meade's GoTo mount makes
pointing and tracking relatively easy, though field rotation is a bit of
a problem. Getting good results is a challenge, but with enough
tinkering it is showing promise. At the telescope I use dark frame
subtraction, 8 second exposures, and set the histogram to 0-32 or 0-64
depending on what the image looks like on the screen. Averaging 10
frames seems to be adequate for most objects and is short enough field
rotation is not a problem. I haven't tinkered with the offset yet and
have left it at about 45. Post-processing includes modifying the
histogram to suppress the remaining thermal noise, despeckling, and
tweaking the gamma to bring out the fainter stars. Diffuse objects like
globular clusters can be seen on the computer, but are tough to get a
good image as they tend to fade off into the thermal noise. Stellar
objects like double stars and open clusters do much better. Short
exposures (2-4 seconds) with a more normal histogram (0-200) show their
color well, longer exposures (8 seconds) with a narrow histogram (0-32)
shows fainter stars. I've also seen a couple of faint satellites pass
though the field, but with combine & average on their trails quickly
fade. I'll have to tinker with saving every frame to preserve transient
events.

The examples attached include...

Alberio: 10x8sec, histogram 0-32.





M-13: 10x8sec, histogram 0-32, five images averaged with Registax.





M-11: 10x8sec, histogram 0-32.





M-39: 10x8sec, histogram 0-64, mosaic of 4 images.





-John

Subject:	LPI pics
Sent:	Monday, July 5, 2004 07:49:23
From:	Mr. Tom (MrTomsMail@gmx.net)
Here are some LPI pics of the Venus transit on 8 June 2004.







They were taken near Den Helder, Netherlands, 5258' North, 446' East
with a 1000mm f/10 Maksutov ("Russentonne"), Baader sun foil and an
orange filter. Exposure times were about 0,044 sec, adding about 30
frames for each picture. Please notice the 2 tiny sunspots also.

I could not see any drop phenomena.

Here are 2 LPI pics of M42 from 20 February 2004.






I added 20 frames, with an exposure of 16 seconds each. They were taken
with my Celestron 9 1/4, focal reducer f/5 (an old 30 mm lens), colours
and contrast were enhanced. The red picture is taken without, the blue
one with OIII filter.

Cheers,
Tom, Aachen & Dortmund, Germany

Subject:	Meade LPI - Lunar Mosaics
Sent:	Friday, July 2, 2004 07:02:37
From:	Graham, John L (Graham@udri.udayton.edu)
Although the Meade LPI is only 640x480 it is a relatively simple matter
to assemble several adjoining images into a mosaic to give a higher
effective pixel count. Two examples of the Moon taken June 30th are
attached. The first is a composite of two images taken at the prime
focus of a StarBlast (4.5" f/4); each source image was an average of 25
frames with a minimum match quality of 50%. I used the LPI's auto
exposure to set the base conditions, and then shortened the exposure a
tad to keep the brightest features from washing out. No other
adjustments were needed. This has proven to be an effective combination
for getting full-disk images of the Moon with reasonable resolution.





The second picture is a composite of four images taken at the prime
focus of a Meade DS-2130 (5.1" f/8, the best $300 I've ever spent); each
source image was an average of 10 frames with a minimum match quality of
50%. I again used the LPI's auto exposure to set the base conditions,
shortened the exposure a tad to keep the brightest features from washing
out, and then increased the gain to 70% to recover the terminator. This
gave a gray background sky that I corrected in post processing. Note the
subtle color on the lunar mare.





I attended Jack Newton's talk at the 2004 Apollo Rendezvous and he
described this kind of photography as being akin to adaptive optics. The
ability to capture and preserve those brief moments of clarity can
produce amazing results with relatively simple equipment. The images
with the LPI often show more detail than I can see visually, but once I
notice something of interest in the pictures I can go back and take a
closer look. It's been fun to experience how real-time imaging and image
processing can enhance visual observing.

Now that the Moon is leaving the evening sky I'll be turning my
attention back to experimenting using the LPI for wide field and deep
sky work. I'll keep better notes this time and let you know how things
work out. Now if the weather will only cooperate...

-John

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