> What camera/software is out there that allows for a continuous
> stream of high resolution (ie. better than VGA) frames to be
> fired over to a PC and displayed in near REAL time?
> i.e. frames per second?

I don't believe that you can gather enough photons from most
astronomical objects to display multiple frames per second.

> I have been trying to find an inexpensive (read 'consumer')
> solution that would allow disabled (wheelchair bound) visitors
> to our astronomy club's observing deck to see telescope images
> that approach what you can see at the eyepiece.  This means
> exposure times in the sub second to seconds range in order to
> match human eye sensitivity, and resolutions around XGA or SXGA
> (1024x768 or 1280x1024).

A consumer camera contains a bunch of things you don't want.
It has an optical system that will be inserted into the telescope's
light beam, a fairly "slow" optical system to boot, an aperature
mechanism, a hand-holdable body with battery compartment, flash
memory storage, and weight for all of the above.

How about using a built-for-the-purpose astronomical imager?
One that fits in a 1-1/4" mount.  They are designed to be used
tethered to a computer.  They provide just the sensor and depend
on the telescope to provide the optics -- which suits your setup.
Lower weight is _much_ nicer on the telescope mount too.

And they are a whole lot more likely to have provision for cooling
the imager to reduce random noise from the sensor chip.

Try www.sbig.com, www.optcorp.com, or look in Sky & Telescope or
Astronomy magazine for vendors.

> The PC just needs to display the retrieved image at full size and
> near real time (to make it easier to point the telescope since
> the camera is now the eyepiece).

Add a beam switcher with a flip-over mirror.  Device is like a T;
with mirror in one position, light from main objective is passed
to eyepiece (for aiming & critical focus); with mirror in second
position, light rays are sent to CCD or CMOS sensor (and thence
ultimately to the computer display).

						Lee Jones

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