NEAF 2008
April 28, 2008 at 5:41 PM by Jim It was another great showing for this year's Northeast Astronomy Forum and Telescope Show. This was my second year attending the show, and it still amazes me how much work is being done in the field of amateur astronomy. In fact, it is becoming quite clear that the line between amateur and professional research is becoming more indistinct. There is undoubtedly an increasing emphasis on imaging and automated and remote observatory operation via the internet.
The equipment at the show ran the gamut between the ubiquitous small, rich-field refractors, to some more impressive gear including Ritchey Chrétien, corrected Dall-Kirkham, and Newtonian astrographs with impressively light honeycomb cell mirrors. The displays on the floor had these scopes on massive mounts. There were about a half-dozen manufacturers of observatory domes, sheds, and enclosures at the show, indicating that this is an expanding segment of the market. One of the things that interested me most was a new line of CCD cameras based on the Sony ICX285AL ExView chip. This is an improved version of an older model that now boasts a USB 2.0 connection and one of the things that makes it attractive is the low noise of the chip, allowing for casual imaging without the need to subtract dark frames. |
Tags: neaf telescope imaging
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
