ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY WITH MEADE DEEP SKY IMAGER Last updated: 21 April 2006

This page documents the Meade Deep Sky Imager and DSI Pro comments, tips, and photos. Contributions welcome. In order to showcase the DSI you may occasionally see images taken with other telescopes on this page.

Subject:	How do I connect the DSI to the desktop over a long distance?
Sent:	Tuesday, April 18, 2006 16:21:54
From:	GENE SHERER (hiqulty@verizon.net)
I have a meade DSI on the etx 125( both new in 12/05).  I have been able
to image over a short distance but,  not long enough to let me  put the
scope in an area for better viewing.  I use a powered hub on my sony
vgc-rb53 computer. I have 2 16' iogear booster usb cables.  I was able
to image with 2 cables for about 2 weeks then the  linked cables quit
working.  When 2 cables are hooked up the image will show for a fraction
of a second,  then it's gone.  Each cable will work alone but not linked
together.  I would like to have 50' of cable between the computer and
the scope.  There is a booster cable that runs cat5 between the two end
connections,  is this the answer? If you or your reader could help me I
would really appreciate it. Thanks.  Gene

Subject:	I need some help
Sent:	Thursday, April 13, 2006 23:23:51
From:	Dan Krszal (dankrszal@comcast.com)
I can sure use a little help. I got a Meade ETX 105PE   with the UT
coating,

1. This one is no real big deal but how do u know if u got the coating
or not? Just got by what the lable saids on the brown box?

2. I also got a DSI Color. Now for some reason I can't seam to get it to
focus very good at all.

it wants to focus in and out( I should say blur in and out cause it
never gets close to a good picture, I even tryed it ones in the daylight
to see what happens and I tryed it looking out my window to see how it
would be, I didn't feel like taking everything out just to try it, now
would that cause a problem using it at a window, At the time I was doin
g it I waited untl I didn't see any heat wave comeing from the Ground,
Well I still didn't get much of a picture but it was a little better
thanwhat i did get trying th emoon and I try jup. to and all I got from
it was a white ball when looking at it and when the DSI was looking at
it it was bluring in a out, I could get it to focus, Now I have been
having a lot of problems for the 3 months since i got the meade ETX, I
started with a 80 and the focuser broke on it sent it back and then said
well why not got biger so I got a 105 with no coating on it and it ws
having problems from day one the OTA have a lot of play in it so I
called meade and they said sent it back, so i did, Now one good thing
was that it was under the 30days that telescope.com has to sent it back
to them so i didn't have to deal with meade so well I got another 105
this time i got the Pe with the coating, well They must be having a ball
with me cause it was missing the disk and the bolt that hold the eye
piece in place haha not them i saw that the eyepiece bolt was no there
had to just crack up, i wouldnt that all this could happen to me in so
little time. Well anyway I call telescope.com up and told them and they
email meade to send me the items I was missing,  now this was a little
over a week ago and I was looking at the hole where the bolt goes
tonight before I started to right u and saw that the hole is not (well
if you look at the 1.25 hole where the eyepiece goes and think of it as
a clock looking at it from the back of the scope) so anyway If I
remember right the hole on the last 105 was at 3:00 and this one looks
like it is at 2:00 maybe not even 2:00, but close to 2  1:45, anyway I
am thinking that thats why the bolt wasn't in it cause they couldn't get
it in, I would think that someone is playing a joke on me here with all
the things that i had go wrong. So anyway if u can answer th eDSI
question for me that would be good also the ut coating how u can tell if
your scope really has it cause i can't tell from the last 105, it looks
the same. I thought that the coating made everyting look better. Now as
for the dsi and using it with a scope at the window would that cause the
scope to have problems with the dsi? I hope u r understanding me cause
it is a little late here and I am tired and not feeling to hot eater so
if my msg doesn't sound right or I made a error on typing I am sorry,  I
thought being u are the man to ask the questions about the ETX and then
there is meade and meade always has one answer for me send it back, I am
tired of sending it back, it was a little funny at one time but now its
not a joke anymore for me. There r not many days that i feel well that i
can go out with it and I had 2 days sunday and monday this week and one
of the days I fellike crap and th eother i was feeling so so and just
use my upstairs window. I do hope u tell me at iis because i use i from
my room here the temp was aboutthe same in as out I had the window open
all day and noght and day, well its always open in my so called lab
room, it's where i go to get away for the whole family and spend time on
the compter and reading books, So if u can help in anyway I would be so
happy, I am really worryed about the bolt and it not making the fit to
hold the eyepiece in being its at 1:45 there is not much room, I just
know i am goin gto have to sent it back AND when i got this last one
last week on a friday i had it overnighted so it would be here for the
good weather and look along witht the problems i should of just had it 3
day. on well i gues if i sent is one back maybe i will get a 125, hhaha 
also its not that I can just quick the ETX I have a cam 64 t- mounts i
got a lot of items just for the ETX. At one point i got rid of al my
eyepieces thinking that I needed good ones only, the 26mm look good so I
got rid of the case i had and everything  and ordered the 4000 set with
the cast the one for 299. SOOO can u help??

Thank You

Dan

P.S. its ok if u can't , at this point I don't have much hope anymore

Subject:	Reid McCall Saturn Moons Pic
Sent:	Thursday, April 6, 2006 17:26:56
From:	Reid McCall (reidmccallsc@yahoo.com)
Saturn taken with moons (from left to right):
Rhea, Dione, Tethys, Iapetus, Titan
 
ETX 125EC
DSI II Pro w/ IR Filter
Photoshop
 
I photographed Saturn with the DSI set to Deep Space Mode.
The longer exposure brought out the moons.
I then processed Saturn and the moons seperately in AutoStar Suite.
I brought them back together in Photoshop.

Same approach here,
Deep Space mode for DSI Pro II.
Processed Jupiter and moons seperately in AutoStar Suite,
then brought them back together in Photoshop.
 
From left to right:
Jupiter, Europa, Callisto.
 
More moons are easily imaged with this approach.

ETX 125EC w/ OPT 96 Moon Filters for all four pictures.
DSI II Pro
Lightly processed using Unsharp Mask at 3, then Smooth tool.
About 100 pictures.
Seeing 2/5

ETX 125EC
DSI Pro II
Titan is visible to the far left.
But the real fun is the detail in the rings.
Seeing was 4/5.

Subject:	M42  Orion and M43 Images
Sent:	Tuesday, April 4, 2006 22:22:26
From:	Greg Kaiser (kizrus@phreego.com)
Hello,
 
I thought I'd share some more Images taken over the last 2 weeks (not
many opportunities due to weather). I have upated my scope form a 4inch
Meade ETX to an 8 inch Meade LX50 SCT on a Celestron CG5 mount plus a
400mm Short tube refractor sits piggy back on the 8 inch LX50 SCT.
Photo's are processed in Photo Shop to bring out the Gas Clouds and
enhance colors and reduce noise from the CCD imager.

Thanks for looking. Comments are Welcome.
 
Greg
 
 
M42  M43
 
Taken with a Meade DSI CCD .
Scope 70mm short tube , 400mm Focal Length
 26 seconds exsposure
without a .5 Focal focal reducer.
Magnification approx. 66x
Distance to Earth 1500 light years pre mag. 23 light years post mag
 


 
M42  M43
Taken with a Meade DSI CCD .
Scope 70mm short tube , 400mm Focal Length
 26 seconds exsposure
with a .5 Focal focal reducer.
Magnification approx. 33x
Distance to Earth 1500 light years pre mag. 46 light years post mag
 



Taken with a Meade DSI CCD .
M42 Orion
Scope Meade 8 inch LX50 , 2000mm Focal Length
 26 seconds exsposure
with a .5 Focal focal reducer.
Magnification approx. 166x
Distance to Earth 1500 light years pre mag. 9 light years post mag
 

Subject:	Fwd: picture of saturn with DSI 2
Sent:	Sunday, March 26, 2006 17:48:57
From:	josh rhines (mic00n64@yahoo.com)
Here is  2 pictures of saturn taken with the DSI 2 with an etx 105 pe. I
took this picture on march 11 with fair conditions. I processed it with
registax (saturn processed), stacked 18 images, and fooled around with
the gamma a little bit

Subject:	DSIw/autostar suite
Sent:	Wednesday, March 22, 2006 10:00:40
From:	Marvin Hill (mhill1979@triad.rr.com)
I was just wondering if you could help me. I am using a Meade 12''
LX200GPS with a DSI. I have tried and tried to take pictures and have
had very poor results. I can never get a clear focused image on the
computer screen. Would you kindley tell me what to do from step one in
every day language how to take images and process them, since Meade
apparently doesn't recognize us little uneducated critters except when
they want to sell us something. I don't know how to stack images,
process, etc. I read in my manual the DSI was supposed to do everything
for you automatically, what a joke!
Please help if you can.
Sincerely,
Marvin Hill

And:

Thanks for your quick response. The info on your site is very helpful.
One thing puzzles me about focusing.The other night, I had the camera
set on Jupiter. I could see Jupiter and five moons on my computer
screen, but Jupiter had no detail. It was just a bright disc.Even when I
noticed the magic eye foucus went almost together,the image was still
bright.I used the sliders to bring out some of the planets cloud bands,
but could never get a sharp in focus image. And when I took images,they
were the same way. I let the camera take some four hundred images. I had
my quality set at 50%. The evaluation count was set at 10. The gain was
at 100%. What did I do wrong?
Thanks,
Marvin Hill

Subject:	Planning ETX125PE purchase- which digital imager is best?
Sent:	Friday, March 17, 2006 09:08:08
From:	Dave Getzy (dgetzy@hotmail.com)
I have learned a tremendous amount about the ETX and related scopes from
your site.  I am planning on purchasing an ETX 125 PE in the near
future.  I noticed on Meade's website, several newer digital imagers
(DSI2, Deep Sky Imager Pro, etc.).  I couldn't find any recent posts on
these imagers from Meade.  Do you have suggestions as to what works best
with the PE model?
 
Best regards and thanks,
 
Dave Getzy
Fort Collins, CO

Subject:	ETX125 Images
Sent:	Friday, March 10, 2006 17:14:25
From:	BLC131@aol.com (BLC131@aol.com)
I put together a new composite of some of the best images I've taken
over the past year with the ETX125. I am still learning but thanks to
your website I am getting better. Great site!

Later... Bobby Collins, Huntsville, AL.

Thanks... I forgot to mention that I took those with the Meade DSI and
used Photo Suite and Image Expert to arrange all the objects into one
photo...

Subject:	Re: USB Cable
Sent:	Thursday, March 9, 2006 11:30:56
From:	Stephen Bird (stephen.bird@btconnect.com)
Actually a single unpowerd USB cable is limited to 5m (16 feet). You can
buy USB repeater cables that use the power fed down the cable to operate
a little built in amplifier / hub. You can connect up to 5 of these in
series, which will stretch the distance you are looking for. But as Mike
says, a powered USB hub in the middle might be better as it has a bit
more punch than the repeater cables. I have successfully had two USB
repeater cables and one ordinary USB cable in series working my DSI, but
the real trick is to ensure that you use a full powered USB port on the
PC which is a rear port, not a front mounted one, and don't have any
other USB devices plugged in at the same time as they share the same
500mA power supply. The DSI needs the full 500mA to itself or it will
give up part way through a picture cycle, or more likely not register
when connected to the PC in the first place.
 
Regards
 
Stephen Bird

Subject:	Re USB Cable
Sent:	Wednesday, March 8, 2006 01:06:56
From:	David & Barbara (tamtarn@iprimus.com.au)
I have a Meade ETX 125 PE and am looking at purchasing a DSI Imager. My
Computer is about 50 feet from my viewing site at home. Would there be
any problems with a cable this long ?. ( I don't have a laptop )
 
Have enjoyed you site and learnt a lot from it.
 
Best Regard
 
David Andrew
 
Melbourne  Australia

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