televue powermate 5x

If you seeing red on the one half of an image and blue on the other half, the camera is probabily not square to the mirror/lens of your scope.
Is the colour full red on one side of the focus and blue on the other ??
If soo this is probabily the cause, otherwise you might have some type of chromatic abberation or lens defect.

Have a look at www.cademuir.net/astro/images/saturn.jpg see the way the top is blue and the bottom is orange? Its a stacked webcam image, though a single frame shows the prooblem also www.cademuir.net/astro/images/saturn-single.jpg

It keeps the same orientation when I rotate the webcam which would suggest something with the scopes optics, though I cant detect this visually.

Cheers,
~Al

Was it taken with the camera lens in or out?
Was it taken using an eyepiece or just the barlow?
Michael

Sorry I should make things clear when I post!

Was it taken with the camera lens in or out?

This was with the lens out. The lens of the toucam unscrews exposing the ccd. I have an adaptor that screws into the camera and lets me slot it into the focuser.

Was it taken using an eyepiece or just the barlow?

Just the barlow, I'm not using any eyepieces in this method.

Cheers,
~Al

To be honest Albert, I'm flummoxed!
If you had told me you tookthe image any other way, I'd have said it was due to all the glass. However, you have minimised it as much as possible. I can't see how the problem would be with the barlow. We all know the reputation TeleVue have. And it's an LXD55 you have, if memory serves me correctly, which is reputed to have good quality optics. The Mogg adaptor also ensures that the CCD chip is perpendicular to the light path.
Did you try stacking the image with Registax 2. I don't know much about it but I think the new version can help correct for chromatic aberration. Might be worth looking into.
I also think I remember reading somewhere that some people remove the little piece of glass that is on the CCD chip itself. Don't know how accurate this is or if I have my story mixed up. Look it up though - may be useful.
If worst comes to worst, at least you'll have very good quality B/W images. Don't know how much consolation this is to you though.
Anyway, food for thought - hope this is useful. Keep us informed. I'd be interested if you can progress any of these issues.
Michael

Thanks I might try taking the cover off the CCD, but I cant imagine it being responsible for such a dramatic effect.

One point, Im using a Meade APO 2x barlow not a televue (yet! cause they are out of stock, and changing the powermate 5x to have a tring adaptor on the end, hence the shipping delays)

There are a couple of experiments I can try next time its clear:

1. Rotate the webcan in the focuser to be sure its not part of the webcam.
2. Rotate the optical tube of the scope and see if it keeps the same orientation.

This should rule out or pinpoint any scope problems. One suggestion I got on the lxd55 list was that it could be atmospheric diffraction (refraction?).

I've got registax 2 though I cant see where it is doing colour alignment, does it split the avi file into 3 (red green blue) align, stack, then merege them? There are some LRGB controls but not the functionality im looking for I dont think. is there another tool that I can use to split the avi into colour streams first?

Cheers,
~Al

Just check with others about my hunch about removing the cover of the CCD - just in case! I have to agree though, I can't see how it would be responsible. Reg 2 can do "chromatic shift" I think it's called. From what I remember, it can move red or blue horizontally or vertically relative to the rest of the image. It consists of a little box that you tick on one of the main screens. Ticking the box opens up a new panel which gives you the relevant controls. Have a look at this link
aberrator.astronomy.net/registax/html/rgb_shift.html

Hope this is of help.
Michael