For the past year I have been using a MallinCam Color Hyper Plus (MCHP) video camera with my 24" and 15" Dobs on their Equatorial Platforms. Results have been very satisfying, not only with obtaining images, but also with "live" viewing using a monitor right at the telescope. A group of people can be observing all at once using this powerful camera, as it puts a new image up on the screen every 2-58 seconds. The camera has remarkable sensitivity and yields fabulous color, as can be seen in the single shot downloads posted below. The view on the live screen was every bit as good, if not better, than these images.

All of the images were taken at integration times of either 2, 7,14, or 28 seconds. All of the exposures were unguided, using an Equatorial Platform for the tracking. The first group of photos are all single exposures with minimal processing (mostly just brightness/contrast). The second group of photos are stacked images of 2-5 exposures and more processing, such as you might do with a regular CCD camera. While the MallinCam is not intended to replace high-end CCD cameras with much larger chips, it can still make some nice color pictures -- with exposures measured in tens of seconds instead of minutes or hours.

Stacking MallinCam Images

The following images have been created from 2-5 exposures stacked together, with some image processing after that. The individual exposures were either 7s,14s or 28s. I'll be posting more pictures as they are taken.