The new Meade Deep Sky Imager (DSI) is an entry-level CCD camera designed for beginner and intermediate digital astrophotographers. When combined with a fast (f/4) Newtonian like the 8" LXD75, the DSI is capable of some decent images. Of course, they can't compare to the pictures streaming out of a fat SBIG chip on a Takahashi apo, but for that kind of money, I'd rather rent time on Hubble.

The nice thing about having a Meade camera and telescope is that I can control both of them with the same software. The Autostar suite that comes with the DSI talks to the camera via USB and controls the telescope through a serial port. I set up my telescope on my balcony (under light-polluted Cantabrigian skies) and connect it and the DSI to a laptop. Since I have a wireless network, I can use Windows XP's Remote Desktop on my home office PC to control my laptop.

[Note: Windows XP Professional can be controlled using Remote Desktop, but if all you have is XP Home Edition, you can use this trick: All you have to do is select Help and Support from the Start menu and click on "Invite a friend to connect to your computer with Remote Assistance." Just invite yourself and accept the invitation on your other computer (the computer that you want to use to control the laptop). You can do the same thing with VNC, but Remote Assistance/Remote Desktop are already built-in to Windows XP.]