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Telescope ImagerJust what is a telescope imager anyway? Glad you asked!A telescope imager is an electronic device that converts focused telescope light into an electronic signal. This focused light can now be used for one of three purposes. These are; 1. Astrophotography: Producing great pictures of celestial objects 2. Autoguiding: Forcing your telescope to follow the motion of the the sky 3. Polar Alignment: Making sure that your telescope knows where it is on the earth's surface. But just what is a telescope imager? A telescope imager is a camera. The heart of the camera is a small silicon chip that can either be a CCD or CMOS type component. Do not worry if you do not know what these are, because you are not going to get an electronics lesson. For a huge number of reasons, CCD type sensor chips are used in the best telescope imagers made. They are typically of much better quality and resolution, to name a couple of great attributes. But I do need to say that while CCD sensors are preferred, CMOS sensors consume considerably less power than their CCD counterparts and are very inexpensive to manufacture. CMOS sensors actually work quite well for taking pictures of very bright objects, such as the moon and brighter planets, but you will be greatly disappointed if you expect them to work well on deep sky objects. They won't. Either CCD or CMOS sensors work well if you are going to use the telescope imager for autoguiding purposes. The goal of an autoguiding camera is to "lock on" to a bright object (usually a bright star) and follow it across the sky. So if you are looking for an inexpensive telescope imager to use for autoguiding, do not shy away from CMOS sensor devices. Telescope imagers are also increasingly being used for automatic polar alignment. (Take a look at the LightSwitch telescope in the listing to the right.) One of the more complex tasks facing all amateur astronomers is accurately aligning the telescope with the polar axis of the earth. Yes, you can use polar alignment scopes and other devices, but the latest telescopes do the complete alignment for you without intervention. The goal being to spend more time observing than setting up your telescope. Last, but by no means least, is the role of telescope imagers in astrophotography. We have all seen them. Great photographs of deep space objects in stunning detail. But how do these amateur astronomers do it? A great CCD camera, of course. The one nice thing about about astrophotography is that you do not need to spend a fortune to get great celestial photographs. There is nothing more pleasing than capturing the Orion Nebula by yourself. But why? There are millions of photos out there already so why would anyone choose to take one more? It is really hard to explain, but there is something exhilarating about taking these photographs for yourself. You set up the scope. Your take the picture. You do the processing. You enjoy the results. No better pictures have ever been taken than the ones you take yourself. Period. |
Telescope ImagerClick on any of the
pictures below for detailed product information.
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