Lunar/planetary imaging

Hartwig Lüthen's work illustrates well the Mintron's all round capabilities. He has images of the moon, planets, comets & meteors, as well as deep sky objects.

Deep Sky Astronomy in a large city

Martin Elsässer's image gallery of DSO's taken with a Mintron 12V1-EX. This page is in German, but some of the site is in English and is a goldmine!

In a backyard observatory on the outskirts of light polluted Munich, Ulrich Schmidbauer has created an impressive image gallery of DSO's taken with a Mintron camera on a 13 inch Newtonian Telescope, as well as creating an animated gif of asteriod 2002NY40. Visit his homepage at www.psw-muenchen.de

Guiding

Klaus-Peter Schroeder uses his Mintron with its on-board integration of images for up to 2.5 secs, for convenient guiding from a monitor, seated on a table instead of balancing precariously up a ladder by the newtonian focuser.

And amateur astronomer Alan Chen describes how he uses a Mintron for guiding his 12"LX200. Visit his image galleries taken with his SXV-H9C one-shot megapixel camera at www.heavenlyview.com

Short C mount 1.25" adapter - £19

Short adapter aimed at reflector and some refractor owners. Used with our focal reducer needs less focuser in-travel, gives a reduction ratio of about .66x.

Long C mount 1.25" adaptor - £19

Longer adaptor suitable for use with SCT and MCT's (long focal ratio instruments). Used with the focal reducer it gives a reduction of about .4x.

C mount microscope adapter - £19

Adaptor to allow the connection of C mount cameras like the Mintron to microscopes with 23.3mm eyepiece holders. Lets you see into the world of the very small.

C mount M42 lens adapter - £25

Use your M42 mount SLR system lenses to view and image the larger deep sky objects like M31 and M45. Just add a camera tripod to observe the night sky quickly and easily.

T to C mount adapter - £22

Allows you to couple your Mintron, Watec or other C/CS mount camera to any scope or lens with male T threads.

Focal Reducer (1.25") - £25

When coupled with the short adaptor it functions as a .66x reducer. This ratio is very useful for deep sky performance with most reflectors and refractors in the F4-F8 range. Larger and slower instruments benefit most from reducing the F ratio. Adding the C/CS adaptor supplied with each video camera results in a reduction of about .6x, but requires more focuser in-travel than many instruments can deliver, without modification.Higher focal ratio instruments are better off with the long telescope adapter. Using the focal reducer in this situation can result in a focal reduction of around .4x. Achieving focus is not usually a problem with these instruments. F8 + telescopes are transformed for deep sky work by a large reduction in the focal ratio. Brightens images and increases field of view with all scopes. Accepts 1.25" eyepiece filters.

USB2 Video capture device - £39

Capture Mintron images to disk via a USB2 port (reduced resolution with USB1) & Windows 2000/XP. Has composite and s-video inputs and includes software.

Scart adapter - £10

This adapter allows you to connect the phono plug on your video cable to the scart socket of your TV or video recorder. Use if your TV/VCR doesn't have an AV input.

Model	WAT-120N+(CCIR)
Pick-up element	1/2" interline transfer CCD image sensor
Number of total pixels	795(H) x 596(V)
Number of effective pixels	752(H) x 582(V)
Unit cell size	8.6µm(H) x 8.3µm(V)
Imaging system	Frame accumulation, Field readout
Synchronizing system	Internal
Scanning system	2:1 interlace
Video output	Composite Video, 1Vp-p, 75ohms, unbalanced
Resolution Horizontal Vertical	570TVL (Center) 570TVL
Minimum illumination	0.00002lx F1.4
S/N	More than 52dB (MGC=8dB, γ=1.0)
AE mode HIGH SLOW Manual	OFF (1/50), 1/125, 1/250, 1/500, 1/1000, 1/2000 sec 1, 2, 4, 8, 16. 32, 64, 128, 256 FRAME As required exposure time(one frame) is operated by start/stop switch
MGC	8 - 38dB
Gamma characteristics	γ=0.35(HI) / γ-0.45(LO) / γ=1.0(OFF)
Lens iris	Video / DC (EIAJ arrangement, Auto-select), Fixed full open auto iris lens is available
Power supply	DC+12V±10%
Power consumption	2.16W (180mA)
Operating temperature	-10°C - +40°C
Storage temperature	-30°C - +40°C
Operating / Storage humidity	Less than 95% RH (Without condensation)
Lens mount	CS mount
Weight	Approx. 150g (Remote control: Approx 220g)

Martin Elsässer has some impressive image galleries including DSO's taken with a Watec camera and a 70mm/400mm refractor in H alpha light, as well as a gallery of large emission nebula. Much of Martin's site is in English and is a goldmine of information.

Customer Mike Hazzledine bought a Watec, short adaptor and focal reducer. This image is the result of his first night's work. M42, Orion 8" f6 with focal reducer, four images stacked in Registax, then coloured with Photoshop.

Short C mount 1.25" adapter - £19

Short adapter aimed at reflector and some refractor owners. Used with our focal reducer needs less focuser in-travel, gives a reduction ratio of about .66x.

Long C mount 1.25" adaptor - £19

Longer adaptor suitable for use with SCT and MCT's (long focal ratio instruments). Used with the focal reducer it gives a reduction of about .4x.

C mount M42 lens adapter - £25

Use your M42 mount SLR system lenses to view and image the larger deep sky objects like M31 and M45. Just add a camera tripod to observe the night sky quickly and easily.

T to C mount adapter - £22

Allows you to couple your Mintron, Watec or other C/CS mount camera to any scope or lens with male T threads.

Focal Reducer (1.25") - £25

When coupled with the short adaptor it functions as a .66x reducer. This ratio is very useful for deep sky performance with most reflectors and refractors in the F4-F8 range. Larger and slower instruments benefit most from reducing the F ratio. Adding the C/CS adaptor supplied with each video camera results in a reduction of about .6x, but requires more focuser in-travel than many instruments can deliver, without modification.Higher focal ratio instruments are better off with the long telescope adapter. Using the focal reducer in this situation can result in a focal reduction of around .4x. Achieving focus is not usually a problem with these instruments. F8 + telescopes are transformed for deep sky work by a large reduction in the focal ratio. Brightens images and increases field of view with all scopes. Accepts 1.25" eyepiece filters.

USB2 Video capture device - £39

Capture Mintron images to disk via a USB2 port (reduced resolution with USB1) & Windows 2000/XP. Has composite and s-video inputs and includes software.

Scart adapter - £10

This adapter allows you to connect the phono plug on your video cable to the scart socket of your TV or video recorder. Use if your TV/VCR doesn't have an AV input.