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SXVF-H9C handbook - Starlight Xpress

1. 28 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Camera maintenance Very little maintenance is needed to keep the SX V H9C in excellent operating order however two problems which are common to all CCD equipment might show up on occasion These are dust and condensation Removing Dust 1 Dust can be deposited on either the optical window not a big problem to cure or on the CCD faceplate difficult to eliminate entirely When small particles collect on the window they may not be noticed at all on deep sky small F ratio images as they will be very much out of focus However if a powerful contrast boost of the image is carried out they may well begin to show as the shadow Do nuts mentioned earlier Images taken with a large F ratio optical system are more likely to be affected by such dirt owing to the smaller and sharper shadows that they cast There is no great difficulty in removing such particles on the outside surface by the careful use of a lens cleaning cloth or air duster and so you should have little trouble with this aspect of maintenance Dust on the CCD faceplate is a much greater nuisance as it casts very sharply defined and dark shadows and it entails dismantling the camera to get rid of it To clean the CCD you will need a good quality lens cloth no silicone or tissues and some high grade isopropyl alcohol A very suitable cloth is the Micro Fibre type marketed by PENTAX etc and suitable alcohol is
2. 0 00645 205920 2 664mm For a 200mm SCT this is an F ratio of 664 200 F3 32 which is easily achieved with the Meade converter and appropriate extension tube as supplied with the converter Moderate deviations from this focal length will not have a drastic effect and so any F ratio from about F3 3 to F5 will give good results The same equation can be used to calculate the amplification required for good planetary images However in this case the shorter exposures allow us to assume a much better telescope resolution and 0 25 arc seconds per pixel is a good value to use The calculation now gives the following result F 0 00645 205920 0 25 5354mm This is approximately F27 when used with a 200mm SCT and so we will need a 2 8x Barlow lens and the common 3x version will be good enough for all practical purposes Barlow lenses are less critical than focal reducers and most types can be used with good results However if you are buying one especially for CCD imaging I recommend getting a 3x or 5x amplifier or the planets will still be rather small in your images 14 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Achieving a good focus Your starting point will depend on the focus aids if any which you are using With the par focal eyepiece you should slip the eyepiece into the drawtube and focus visually on a moderately bright star about 3 magnitude Now withdraw the eyepiece and carefully insert the camera nosepiece
3. Insert the CD into the computer and run the InstallSXV file which is found in the SXV H9C directory This will install the following files 1 SXVLoad inf and SXVIO inf in C Windows Inf 2 04B48613 hex SXVLoad sys Generic sys and SX VIO sys in C Windows System32 Drivers If you cannot see the directories C Windows Inf and Windows System32 Drivers this will be due to the setup of your Windows Explorer software In this case go to the Tools menu followed by Folder Options and select View Now select Show hidden files and folders and make sure that the Hide file extensions for known file types and Hide protected operating system files check boxes are NOT checked After this the various directories and files should be visible Not all of the above files are needed for current production cameras as we now load the hex file into the internal EEPROM of the camera to simplify the procedure However they may be useful if the camera needs re programming at some later date and do not cause any problems to the system It is now time to set up the USB device Plug the USB cable into the camera and observe the computer screen After a brief delay you should see an information box which reports that the computer is Installing a Starlight Xpress CCD camera If all is well the cycle will complete within a couple of seconds but it is possible that you may have to
4. as follows Most imaging sessions begin or end in twilight and so the dusk or dawn sky can provide a distributed source of light for a flat field However using the sky directly is likely to result in recording many unwanted stars or patches of cloud etc so a diffuser needs to be added to the telescope An ideal material is Mylar plastic drafting film obtained from an office supplies warehouse It is strong and water resistant and can be easily replaced if damaged Stretch a piece of the film loosely across the aperture of your telescope and point the instrument high in the sky to avoid any gradient in the light near the horizon Now take several images with exposure times adjusted to give a bright but not overloaded picture A histogram peaking at around 128 is ideal Averaging flat fields together is a good way to reduce their noise contribution and so recording 4 or more images is a good idea To use your flat fields they must first have a dark frame subtracted Although this may appear to be unimportant with such brightly lit and short exposures there is the bias offset of the camera in each image and this can produce an error in the final correction As we are mainly interested in the bias any very short exposure dark frame will give a good result The dark subtracted images should then be averaged together before use After the above procedures have been executed the flat field will be ready for use Load up your image for
5. eyepiece When the par focal eyepiece is fitted into the telescope drawtube you can adjust the focus until the view is sharply defined and the object of interest is close to the field centre On removing the eyepiece and fitting the CCD camera the CCD will be very close to the focal plane of the telescope and should record the stars etc well enough for the focus to be trimmed to its optimum setting 12 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Several astronomical stores sell par focal eyepieces but you can also make your own with a minimum of materials and an unwanted Kellner or Plossl ocular Just measure a distance of 22mm from the field stop of the eyepiece equivalent to the CCD to adaptor flange distance of the camera and make an extension tube to set the field stop at this distance from the drawtube end Cut down 35mm film cassette containers are a convenient diameter for making the spacer tube and may be split to adjust their diameter to fit the drawtube Another popular solution to the find and focus problem is the flip mirror unit These operate on a similar principle to the single lens reflex camera where a hinged mirror can drop into the light path and reflect the image through 90 degrees into a viewing eyepiece Mirror up Light from Telescope Camera Flip mirror unit A typical flip mirror finder focuser In this case the camera and eyepiece are made par focal with each other b
6. until it is bottomed against the drawtube end and then lock it in place With the flip mirror unit all that is needed is to swing the mirror down and adjust the focus until the star is sharply defined and centred in the viewing eyepiece Now lift the mirror and you are ready to start imaging SXV_H9C has a focus routine that will repeatedly download and display a 128 x 128 pixel segment of the image at relatively high speed This focus window may be positioned anywhere in the camera field and can be displayed with an adjustable degree of automatic contrast stretching for focusing on faint stars To use this mode start up the software and select the SXV camera interface File menu Set the camera mode to Binned 1x1 and select an exposure time of 1 second Press Take Picture and wait for the image to download There is a good chance that your selected star will appear somewhere within the image frame and it should be close to a sharp focus If the focus is still poor then it may appear as a pale disk of light often with a dark centre the secondary mirror shadow in an SCT or Newtonian Now select the File menu again and click on Focus frame centre you can now use the mouse pointer to click on the star image and the new focus frame co ordinates will be displayed Now return to the camera interface window and click on Start in the Focus frame The computer will now display a continuous series of 128 x 128 pixel images in
7. while setting lower values will increase the image brightness in inverse proportion Please note that ONLY 1x1 binned images will decode to colour the other modes are for focusing and acquisition only If you cannot record any kind of image please check the following points 1 Ensure that the power indicator lamp is on and that the cables are properly home in their sockets 2 If the screen is completely white the camera may be greatly overexposed Try a shorter exposure time or stop down your lens See if covering the lens causes the image to darken 3 If the USB did not initialise properly the camera start up screen will tell you that the connection is defective Try switching off the power supply and unplugging the USB cable Now turn the power supply on and plug in the USB cable This will re load the USB software and may fix the problem after restarting the SXV_H9C program Otherwise check the device driver status as previously described and re install any drivers which appear to be defective 4 Ifyou cannot find any way of making the camera work please try using it with another computer This will confirm that the camera is OK or faulty and you can then decide how to proceed Our guarantee ensures that any electrical faults are corrected quickly and at no cost to the customer Converting your image to colour Once you have a recognisable image it is quite easy to convert it to full colour The raw image will app
8. 16 bit slider control allows you to adjust the contrast of the focus frame for best visibility of the star image It defaults to maximum stretch 12 bits which is generally ideal for stars but a lower stretch value is better for focusing on planets Taking your first astronomical image 15 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 I will assume that you are now set up with a focused camera attached to a telescope with an operating sidereal drive If so you are now in a position to take a moderately long exposure of some interesting deep sky astronomical object I will deal with planets later As most drives are not very accurate beyond a minute or two of exposure time I suggest that you find a fairly bright object to image such as M42 M13 M27 or M57 There are many others to choose from but these are good examples Use the finder to align on your chosen object and then centre accurately by using the focus frame and a short exposure of between 1 and 5 seconds The 12 16 bit slider in the focus frame allows you to adjust the image contrast if you find that the object is too faint with a short exposure Once properly centred and focused take an exposure of about 60 seconds and observe the result Initially the image may appear rather barren and show only a few stars however there is a great deal of data hidden from view You can get to see a lot of this without affecting the image data if you go to the View menu and sel
9. Sub Dir OoOo O Apply Auto Processing a Auto Remove Dark Frame c dark def Auto Apply Flatfield f c flat def Take Photo Autoguide Photo Cancel Go to Autoguider Help After the exposure and download have completed about 4 seconds an image of some kind will appear on the computer monitor It will probably be poorly focused and incorrectly exposed but any sort of image is better than none In the case of the pinhole all that you can experiment with is the exposure time but a camera lens can be adjusted for good focus and so you might want to try this to judge the high image Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 quality that it is possible to achieve With our adaptor most lenses come to infinity focus at about midway through their normal focus adjustment range Various other exposure options are available as can be seen in the picture above For example you can Bin the download 2x2 or more to achieve greater sensitivity and faster download or enable Continuous mode to see a steady stream of images Focus mode downloads a 128 x 128 segment of the image at high speed The initial position of the segment is central to the frame but can be moved by selecting Focus frame centre in the File menu and clicking the desired point with the mouse The focus window has an adjustable contrast stretch controlled by the 12 16 bit slider The image will be normal if 16 bits is selected
10. System Now click on the tab labelled Device Manager and all of the system devices will be displayed in a list see above If the installation is successful there will be a diamond shaped symbol labelled SX VIOClass and clicking on the sign will reveal it to be a Starlight Xpress USB 2 0 camera driver If this device is faulty try clicking on it and selecting properties and then update driver Following the on screen instructions will allow you to re select the correct inf file SX VIO inf and driver file SXVIO sys which should fix the problem Adding the camera control software Now that the USB system is installed the camera control program can be used to operate your SXV H9C Copy the camera software files from the CD and paste them into a suitable directory such as SXVH9 on your computer s C drive Your directory should contain the files SXV_H9C exe SXV_H9C hlp bwec32 dll and wsc32 dll Connecting the camera Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 e ee USB in ij te Power and T guide indicator Parallel and serial Socket 6 The camera rear panel Wiring up the SXV H9 Camera 12V DC input optional PC computer Connect up the power supply and switch it on You can start the SXV_H9C software by double clicking on the icon and you should see the main menu and image Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 panel appear If the U
11. available from Tandy Radio Shack etc as tape head cleaning fluid A bright light and a strong watchmakers eyeglass will also be found to be essential Procedure 1 Disconnect the lead from the camera head and remove it from the telescope Place it on a table with the optical window facing downward 2 Remove the two M3 screws from the camera back plate and ease the plate out of the camera body Unplug the power lead from the camera PCB 3 Withdraw the body cylinder and unscrew the two long spacer pillars from the heat sink plate assembly 4 The entire camera electronic assembly can now be lifted away from the camera front barrel and the CCD will be readily accessible Note that a layer of white heat sink compound is applied to the periphery of the heat sink disc and this should be left undisturbed by subsequent operations 5 You can now closely examine the CCD faceplate under the spotlight using the watchmaker s glass when any dust motes will show clearly If there is only an odd particle or two and the CCD is otherwise clean carefully brush away the dust with a corner of your lens cloth A smeared or very dusty CCD will need a few drops of alcohol to clean thoroughly and you may have to make several attempts before the surface is free of contamination One gentle wipe from one end to the other with no return stroke will be found to be the most effective action DO NOT rub vigorously and be very careful to avoid scratching the wind
12. it is better to avoid the need for one by keeping the optics clean and unvignetted I will ignore flat fielding for current purposes and describe the process in detail at a later stage Processing a deep sky image The following instructions include the subtraction of a dark frame but this may be regarded as optional 17 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 THE RAW IMAGE 1 Make sure the Auto Contrast Stretch is switched off and load your image into the SXV_H9C program Select Merge and then Subtract Dark Frame Pick the appropriate dark frame and the software will then remove the dark signal from your image leaving it somewhat darker and slightly smoother than before 2 The next step is to process the image into colour but you may find that the application of a gentle contrast stretch to the image before synthesis will improve the colour result Don t overdo the stretch as the colour range can then exceed the dynamic range available leading to un correctable colour errors Keep a copy of the original file just in case Set the colour synthesiser to apply the anti alias filter and then run it 3 The resulting image will probably still look faint and dull with a pale orange or green background due to light pollution Try using the Start point adjustment in the Colour balance menu to get something close to a neutral background colour It is now time to process the luminance brightness a
13. k K K k k k K K k k k k K K k k 2k K K k k 288 2K K 2K 2 2 2 K og ok Using the built in serial ports The SXV H9C incorporates two fast serial ports for use with external accessories The ports are available on 5 pins of the 18 way connector that is provided for the autoguider and may be accessed by plugging in a serial port divider box The divider box and cables are available as an accessory and may be chained in series with the autoguider cable when the guider is in use or may be used on its own The two serial connections are in the form of standard RS232 PC style plugs and provide TX RX and Ground connections at RS232 levels Access is via commands sent through the USB connection and at the time of writing is limited to any serial 25 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 controls that are provided by the SXV software It is expected that many more functions will be added as the software is upgraded 3K K AR 8 K K K K K 3K 3K 3K 2K 2K K K K K 3K 3K FK FK 2K K K OIE 3K 18 3K FK FK FK K K OIE 3K 3K 3K FK FK FK K K K 3K 8 3K FK FK FK K K K 3K 3K 3K FK FK FK K K 2K 2k 2s 2 FK is 2k K Other features of the SXV H9C hardware and software Slew amp Sum imaging The SXV H9C can be used in an automatic image stacking mode called Slew amp Sum The camera is set to take several sequential exposures which are automatically slewed into alignment and then summed together by the software
14. of the autoguider inputs on commercial mounts If active high inputs are needed or a very low control voltage drop is essential then you will need to add a Starlight Xpress relay box between the guider output and the input to the mount Please contact your local distributor if a relay box is required Some mounts Vixen for example use a similar guider input socket but have re arranged connections Details are given on our web pages at the end of the STAR2000 section 22 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 SAY camera p P F LN l a Guide head To autoguider input on mount The autoguider installed on a 70mm refractor guide scope in the author s garden To use the autoguider please proceed as follows 1 Having started the SXV H9C software open the autoguider control panel by clicking on the autoguider menu button 23 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Agte Guider Comers Control Cu trdieatus x E7 y 208 wat fo suiuctod x 313 r 153 Eapreure Harnehredtiow Terhes Secomds J vam a Start Help The autoguider control panel with a guide star selected Press the Start button and a series of 1 second exposure guider images will begin to appear in the picture frame If the images look too dim use the Stretch Image slider to increase its contrast and brightness until the noise begins to be visib
15. processing subtract the dark frame and then select Apply 27 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 flat field in the Merge menu The result should be an image with very few signs of the original artefacts and you can then process it in the normal way 2 92 2 9 2 2A 2 2 2 I I 2A 9 2A 9 2 2 2 2 2 I 2 CI CI 2A 2A 9 2 a 2 2 2 2 a 2 a oa a a ae ae The SXV H9C accessory ports Guider output USB input Power and guiding indicator Guider and Power in scrial port The camera ports The SXV H9C is provided with two ports for use with accessories The Autoguider output port is a 6 way RJ11 socket which is compatible with the standard autoguider input of most telescope mounts It provides 4 active low opto isolator outputs and a common return line capable of sinking a minimum of 5mA per output This socket may be used for telescope control if the SX V H9C is employed as an autoguider but is primarily intended to be the control output for the optional add on autoguider camera head available for use with the SX V H9C e o E o oO The autoguider output connections i as seen looking into the RJ11 socket The high density parallel port socket provides both control and power for the add on autoguider but also includes a pair of serial ports for use with other devices DAS IG k 2 k k k FIG k k k k k 8 k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k IS k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k K K k k 2k K K 2s 3k 2K K K
16. prompt the system with the location of the 04B48613 hex file Windows System32 Drivers After another brief delay the computer should say that it has found a new USB2 0 device and is installing a Starlight Xpress USB 2 0 CCD camera In some cases the installation will halt after the first stage and you will need to restart the machine or unplug and re plug the USB lead to initiate the second step Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Device Manager BEE Fie Action View Help gt a R S4 TERRYLAPTOP wa Batteries 9 Computer S Disk drives 2 Display adapters 2 DYD CD ROM drives Floppy disk controllers A Floppy disk drives IDE ATA ATAPI controllers IEEE 1394 Bus host controllers gt Keyboards Mice and other pointing devices Modems te Monitors E Network adapters PCMCIA adapters oy Ports COM amp LPT ae Processors Sound video and game controllers Se Storage volumes lt gt SxvIOClass lt Starlight Xpress USB 2 0 Camera Driver System devices E Universal Serial Bus controllers i es i At the end of this process the USB interface will be installed as an SX VIOClass device and the camera software will be able to access it You can confirm that the installation is complete by checking the status of the USB devices in the Windows Device Manager see above Start up the Windows Control Panel and select
17. to illuminate the field If dust motes are your main problem it is best to clean the camera window rather than to rely on a flat field to remove the do nuts Flat fields always increase the noise in an image and so physical dust removal is the best option If you have serious vignetting first check whether the optical system can be improved The most likely cause of this problem is trying to use too powerful a degree of optical compression with a focal reducer and you might want to try moving the camera closer to the reducer lens If you really do need to use a flat field for image correction then it must be taken with care It is most important that the optical system MUST NOT be disturbed between taking your original images and taking the flat field Any relative changes of focus and rotation etc will upset the match between flat field and image and the result will be poor correction of the errors The other necessity for recording a good flat field is a source of very even illumination of the telescope field and good colour matching of the light source to the sky light This is surprisingly difficult to achieve and many designs of light source have appeared in the literature and on the Web These usually consist of a large wooden box containing several lamps and an internal coating of matt white paint which is placed over the objective of the telescope to provide an evenly illuminated surface These can work well but I prefer a simpler method
18. Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Starlight Xpress Ltd SXV HIC ExView Megapixel USB One Shot Colour CCD camera User manual Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress CCD camera We hope that you will be very satisfied with the results The SXV H9C is an advanced very high resolution cooled CCD camera especially designed for One Shot colour astronomical imaging It is a second generation version of the very popular HX916 and incorporates many substantial improvements and extra features These include a built in fully programmable USB 2 super fast computer interface USB 1 1 compatible an optional add on autoguider output and integrated dual serial ports for filter wheel and telescope control The SX V H9C uses a Sony ICX285AK ExView progressive scan CCD with 1392 x 1040 x 6 45uM pixels in a 8 98 x 6 71mm active area Ex View devices have excellent quantum efficiency with a broad spectral response peaking at around 65 in the green and an extremely low dark current well below that of any comparable CCD currently available The ICX285AK incorporates a Bayer Matrix of Red Green and Blue filters deposited directly onto the CCD pixels and a downloaded image may be quickly converted into a full colour picture by application of the software provided Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 The USB 2 connection offers a download speed increase of about 3x that of the original USB 1 1 interface supplied
19. SB connection is OK a message box will inform you of the Handle number for the SX VIO interface and various other version details etc The main program window will now be seen If you press the Camera button at the top left the program will warn you that the Program Defaults have not been set but pressing OK will allow you to continue The camera default settings are not important for current purposes and may be left as the software start up values for now but the warning message may be removed by selecting Set program defaults from the File menu and then saving the defaults window by pressing the Save changes button Once the camera control panel is seen you are all set to take your first images Recording your first image We now have the camera and computer set up to take pictures but an optical system is needed to project an image onto the CCD surface You could use your telescope but this introduces additional complications which are best avoided at this early stage There are two simple options at least one of which is available to everyone 1 Attach a standard M42 SLR camera lens to the SXV H9C using the 25mm spacer to achieve the correct focal distance 17 5mm M4 Pentax M4 Thread se x thread Camera Lens pu Bs be i L N T to M42 adaptor 42mm T thread Camera Tripod Bracket Coupling the camera to an M42 SLR lens Or 2 Create a Pin ho
20. This mode can help to overcome a poor RA drive by summing images that have exposure times shorter than the drive error period The resulting image has more noise than a single exposure of the same total length but this method of imaging is still an effective way of making long exposures without a guider To take an S amp S image go to the camera interface window and select an exposure time for one image of the sequence Do not use a very short exposure time as the read out noise will become dominant About 30 seconds is a reasonable minimum Now go to the Multiple Exposure Options and select a number of exposures to take You can also select to average the images rather than adding them and there is a Alternative Slew Mode available which uses the correlation of image areas rather than a single star This mode can be better in dense star fields Another option is Auto remove dark frame This is advisable with S amp S images as the slewing will mis register the images with a single dark frame that is applied to the finished sequence To use this option you will need a dark frame taken with the same exposure time as a single image from the sequence This is stored on drive C with the name dark def Now click on Take Picture and the sequence will begin Using the Binned modes Up to this point I have assumed that the full resolution imaging mode is being used This is essential for colour imaging but it w
21. Train button and waiting for the software to complete a sequence of automatic moves and calculations The training will also determine the angle at which the guide camera is oriented with respect to the RA and Dec axes If you do not wish to train the system at this time the default values of 6 pixels per second will serve as a starting point Now press Go to main camera and the guider control panel will be replaced by the camera control panel Set the required exposure time for the image say 24 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 5 minutes and press the Autoguide next image button The autoguider window will reappear and after a few seconds you should see error values appearing in the text windows at the top The guide star will be fairly close to the green cross although not necessarily accurately centred and you should see the power guide LED on the rear of the camera brighten and change colour with each correction 10 If the star begins to drift away from the cross despite the corrections being made the chances are that the N S and or E W directions are set wrongly Judge which axis is incorrectly set by observing the direction of the drift and then stop the exposure by pressing Esc Open the guider control panel and check the appropriate swap box es After this operation you will probably need to find the guide star again by taking a guider image and reselecting the star as before Now return to the m
22. ain camera menu and try the Autoguide next image button again 11 Once guiding is taking place without problems the main exposure can be allowed to finish and if all is well you should see an image with tiny circular stars If the stars are not circular you may need to alter the guiding parameters or investigate the rigidity and drive performance of your mount A lot of information can be deduced by watching the behaviour of the guide star in the guider frame If it is continually moving between two locations either side of the green cross then the RA or Dec pixels per second value is set too low The higher these values are set the gentler the guiding becomes Too low a value will cause an over aggressive correction to be made and result in oscillation of the star position between two points Another source of guiding errors can be a too accurately balanced telescope mount Good balance can result in the telescope mount bouncing between the gear teeth as corrections are made A simple fix is to add a weight of about 0 5kg 1 pound on the eastern end of the declination axis so that there is always some pressure acting against the gear teeth Getting a good result from an autoguider will often entail a lot of detective work to eliminate the sources of gear error telescope flexure mirror shift etc but the final result is well worth the effort 8 88 58 K IS k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k K k k k k K K k k
23. ally possible and you will become expert at judging the best way to achieve these as your experience increases As a rough guide the Filters menu can be used to sharpen soften or noise reduce the image Strong High Pass filters are usually not a good idea with deep sky images as the noise will be strongly increased and dark rings will appear around the stars but a Median filter can remove odd speckles hot pixels and a mild Unsharp Mask Radius 3 Power 1 will sharpen without too much increase in noise Other things to try include summing several images for a better signal to noise ratio This MUST be done AFTER colour synthesis as summing raw images is highly likely to destroy the filter grid pattern and so prevent the creation of a proper colour image Summing can be done in the Merge menu and involves loading the first processed image selecting a reference point a star then loading the second image and finding the same star with the mouse Once the reference is selected you can either add directly or average the images together Averaging is generally better as you are less likely to saturate the highlights of the picture The signal to noise ratio will improve at a rate proportional to the square root of the number of summations summing 4 images will double the signal to noise but different exposures must be used Summing an image with itself will not change the S N ratio Although I have concentrated on
24. control signals directly from the SXV camera via the 18 way socket on its rear panel The autoguider is only 1 25 in diameter and has a video style CS mount thread in its nose so video lenses may be attached The guider may be used with either an off axis prism assembly mounted in front of the SXV camera or with a separate guide telescope rigidly mounted alongside your imaging telescope I personally use it with a 70mm aperture F12 inexpensive refractor as a guide scope but a shorter focal 21 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 length lens will make more guide stars available in any given region of sky See the picture below To use the autoguider first orient it so that the connector plug is roughly parallel to the declination axis of your mount This is not absolutely essential as the training routine will learn the angle of the head and compensate for it but it is easier to understand the motion of the guide star if the guider frame is aligned with the RA and Dec axes Now connect the head to the SXV camera using the 18 way connector lead including the port divider box if it is to be used The recommended way of connecting the autoguider output to the mount is to use an RJ11 telephone lead between the socket on the SXV camera and the autoguider input of your mount This output is active low i e the control relays pull the guider inputs down to zero volts when applying a guide correction and matches most
25. e curve and look unnaturally contrasty Applying a Power law stretch of about 0 5 power will often make them look better At this point you will have a working knowledge of how to take and process an SXV H9C image It is time to move on to astronomical imaging which has its own unique set of problems 2S 388 58 K K k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k k K K k k k K K K k k k K K k k k 2K K k k k 2K K K k k 2K K kK k k 2k 2K K 2K 2 2 2K K os 2 Astronomical Imaging with the SXV H9C 1 Getting the image onto the CCD It is fairly easy to find the correct focus setting for the camera when using a standard SLR lens but quite a different matter when the SXV H9C is attached to a telescope The problem is that most telescopes have a large range of focus adjustment and the CCD needs to be quite close to the correct position before you can discern details well enough to optimise the focus setting An additional complication is the need to add various accessories between the camera and telescope in order that the image scale is suitable for the subject being imaged and sometimes to include a flip mirror finder unit for visual object location A simple but invaluable device is the par focal eyepiece This is an eyepiece in which the field stop is located at the same distance from the barrel end as the CCD is from the camera barrel end Eyepiece K Film cassette Field stop containers A home made par focal
26. e finished images on its screen then you will also need a graphics card capable of displaying an image with a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels and 16 000 000 colours A medium specification Pentium with between 400 and 1000MHz processor speed is ideal USB 2 PCI cards are readily available for upgrading a USB 1 1 machine if you want to achieve the best possible performance Please note that USB 2 0 operates at a very high speed and cannot operate over very long cables Five metres of good quality cable is the maximum normally possible Adding one or more USB 2 Hubs in line can extend this if necessary USB 1 1 is more tolerant and will often work properly over a 15 metre lead without hubs Installing the USB system First find a free USB socket on your PC and plug in the USB cable If you do not have a USB capable computer it is normally possible to install a USB 2 card into an Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 expansion slot Almost all machines manufactured after 1996 provide a pair of USB 1 1 sockets on the rear panel and either of these may be used if USB 1 1 is satisfactory Please note that it may be necessary to enable your USB system in the computer BIOS the SETUP menu which can usually be accessed at start up Many BIOS systems have the ability to disable Plug and Play devices such as the USB ports so please make sure that these are enabled The next operation is to run the USB installer from the CD ROM provided
27. e g Maxim DL will provide a hot pixel killer that can be mapped to specific locations in the image If you feel that dark frame really is necessary please proceed as follows To take a dark frame just cover the telescope objective with the lens cap or drop the flip mirror to block the light path to the CCD make sure that this is light tight and take another exposure of the same length as that of the light frame This image will be a picture of the dark signal generated during your exposure and it should be saved with your image for use in processing the picture If many such darks are recorded and averaged together the statistical noise will be reduced but the gains to be had are rather small compared with the effort involved As variations in ambient temperature will affect the dark signal it is best to take the dark frames within a few minutes of capturing your images For the same reason it is not wise to use old dark frames if you want the best possible results however some software allows you to scale library dark frames to match the image e g AstroArt and this can be useful as a time saver Flat fields are often recommended for optimising the results from your CCD camera but these are generally less important than dark frames especially if you make sure that the optical window of the camera is kept dust free The purpose of a flat field is to compensate for uneven illumination and sensitivity of the CCD and
28. e widely available It is also better to use a star for initial focusing as planetary detail is difficult to judge in bad seeing Although 19 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 the star will also suffer from blurring the eye can more easily gauge when the most compact blur has been achieved You could begin by imaging lunar craters or the planets Jupiter Saturn or Mars The rapid variations of seeing which accompany planetary imaging will ruin the definition of about 95 of your images and so I recommend setting the camera to run in Autosave mode This will automatically take a sequence of images and save them with sequential file names in your Autosave directory Dozens of images will be saved but only one or two will be satisfactory for further processing The Subframe mode of the SXV may be found useful for limiting the wasted area and reducing the download time of small planetary images To start the Autosave process call up the SXV Camera Interface and select the Continuous Mode check box at the top make sure the rest are unchecked Now check the Autosave Image checkbox near the bottom of the window If you now click on Take Picture the automatic sequence will begin and will not stop until you press a computer key The images will be saved in FITs format with sequential names such as Img23 Img24 and will be found in the Autosave directory or a sub directory of Autosave s
29. ear to have a fine grid distributed across it this is the colour filter matrix and the variations of pixel brightness encode the colour data which we want to extract Here is an enlarged section of a raw image Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Click on Colour Synthesis in the main menu and you will see the synthesiser dialog SYNTHESIZE COLOUR IMAGE Daylight Images need less i ka Daylight Image Can be useful for exposures over 5 minutes Light Pollution Correction Apply Low Pass Filter to Colour data Colour Smoothing Filter Recommended for all Apply Anti Alias nightime images Colour balance is affected IR Filter Used by Infra red For Planetary images try No Auto Stretch weak stretch for nebulae Apply Weak Stretch try strong 7 9 Apply Strong Stretch Auto Stretch User C 4 For Astro Images remove the background Remove Background 5 To crispen images use high High Pass Low Power a pass filter or an unsharp Unsharp Mask r mask filter dia 3 power fi Nb You can only convert to colour if the values of all three selection boxes are valid This includes various options for correcting the colour synthesis for variations in the lighting conditions filters etc Briefly these items perform the following functions 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Daylight Image If an unfiltered lens is used the infra red content of the light will tend to
30. ect Auto Contrast Stretch Image The faint image data will then appear in considerable detail and I think that you will be impressed by the result If you are happy with the image go to the File menu and save it as a Tiff file in a convenient directory M27 from a 15 minute exposure at F5 with a C11 Most competitive brands of CCD camera require a dark frame to be subtracted from your images to achieve the best results A dark frame is simply a picture which was taken with the same exposure as your light frame but with the telescope objective covered so that no light can enter It records only the hot pixels and thermal 16 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 gradients of your CCD so that these defects are largely removed when the dark frame is subtracted from the light frame The SXV H9C CCD is quite different from those used in other brands of camera and generates an extremely low level of dark noise Indeed it is so low that subtracting a dark frame can actually INCREASE the noise in your images This is because the statistical noise of the dark frame can exceed the pattern noise from warm pixels and hence add to that of the subtracted result If your test pictures have an exposure time of less than about 10 minutes as above then don t bother with a dark frame just kill any hot pixels with your processing software In SXV H9C the Median filter can do this but other software
31. et up in the program defaults menu The exposure time needed for good planetary images is such that the image histogram has a peak value at around 200 and does not extend much above 220 Ignore the major peak near zero due to the dark background If you use too short an exposure time the image noise level will be increased and if too long a time is used you will saturate the highlights and cause white patches on the image With the recommended focal length Jupiter and Mars will both need an exposure time of between 0 1 and 1 seconds and Saturn will need between 0 5 and 2 seconds Processing a planetary image Planetary images have one major advantage over deep sky images when you come to process them they are MUCH brighter with a correspondingly better signal to noise ratio This means that aggressive sharpening filters may be used without making the result look very noisy and so some of the effects of poor seeing can be neutralised Try applying an Unsharp Mask filter with a radius of 5 and a power of 5 This will greatly increase the visibility of any detail on the planet but the optimum radius and power will have to be determined by experiment 20 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Jupiter after an Unsharp mask In general terms the larger the image and the worse the seeing then the wider the radius for best results My Jupiter shots are usually about one third the height of the CCD frame and I find tha
32. ill often provide more resolution than the optical system or the seeing allows Binned 2x2 mode sums groups of 4 pixels into one output pixel thus creating a 696 x 520 pixel image with 4 times the effective sensitivity Using 2x2 binning you can considerably improve the sensitivity of the SXV H9C without losing a great deal of resolving power so you may like to use this mode to capture many faint deep sky objects in monochrome Other binning modes 3x3 and 4x4 are available and will further increase the image brightness and reduce its resolution However generally these are more useful for finding faint objects than for imaging as the colour information is lost in all these modes Taking and using a flat field Flat fields are images which display only the variations of illumination and sensitivity of the CCD and are used to mathematically modify a wanted image in such 26 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 a way that the errors are removed Common flat field errors are due to dust motes on the camera window and vignetting effects in the optical system of the telescope Dust motes act as inverse pinholes and cast out of focus images of the telescope aperture onto the CCD chip where they appear as shadow do nuts Most optical systems show some vignetting at the edges of the field especially when focal reducers are used This causes a brighter centre to show in images especially when there is a lot of sky light
33. le If you haven t focused the guider lens or scope move the mount until a bright star is visible on the guider image and then adjust the focus until it is as sharp as possible At this point you may want to test the guiding control by pressing the manual Move Telescope buttons at the bottom left corner of the control panel You can watch the position of any stars in the guider image and confirm that they move in response to the buttons The movement should be slow if the correct guiding rate is selected on your mount typically 2x sidereal Adjust this if necessary Move the mount until the required object for imaging is properly framed in the main CCD image leave the guider menu and use the main camera control panel as necessary Re open the guider control panel start imaging and try to locate a clearly visible guide star If necessary make adjustments to the guide telescope or off axis guider until one is found Press Stop and then press Select Guide Star Use the mouse to left click on the selected star and a green cross will highlight it and the co ordinates will appear in the text boxes above the image window The various guiding rate defaults listed on the right hand side of the control panel are unlikely to be perfect for your particular telescope and mount You have the option of manually selecting values or asking the software to attempt to determine what they should be This is done by pressing the
34. le lens by sticking a sheet of aluminium baking foil over the end of the 1 25 adaptor and pricking its centre with a small pin Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Camera iji 1 Adaptor 2 Pin Hole Aluminium Foul reac Li Elastic Band CCD Tripod Bracket Using a pinhole lens to test the camera If you use a normal lens then stop it down to the smallest aperture number possible usually F22 as this will minimise focus problems and keep the light level reasonable for daytime testing The pin hole needs no such adjustments and will work immediately although somewhat fuzzily Point the camera lens or pinhole towards a well lit and clearly defined object some distance away Now enter the File menu in the SXV_H9C software and click on SX camera interface Select an exposure time of 0 1 seconds and press Take Photo SXV _H9 Control Interface i amp Continuous Mode a Delay between Seconds 4 po Daley beincerposece I exposures Minutes No of Exposures 4 1 Exposure Range Focus Window Focus Mode Alternative Slew Method E Thousandths Stretch Hundredth s 12 bit j Max Yalue Exposure Mode Tenth s f High Resolution Seconds Binned 2x2 Minutes Average Multiple Exposures I Binned 3x3 Dosen Vane Autochange Exposure j i Binned 4x4 Set Stretch for all Images oc User Defined SubFrame Start Stop Auto Save Image Last file no po
35. nd contrast of the image to get the best visual appearance First use the Normal contrast stretch to darken the background by setting the Black slider just below the main peak of the histogram Alternatively you can use the Remove Background option to let the software decide on the best setting This will greatly reduce the background brightness and the image will begin to look rather more attractive if dark You can now try brightening the highlights with another Normal stretch in which you bring down the White slider to just above the main image peak The best setting for this is rather more difficult to guess and you may need several attempts before the result is ideal Just use the Undo last filter function if necessary to correct a mistake In many cases a Normal contrast stretch will give a good result but may burn out the bright regions and leave the faint parts of the image rather lacking in brightness To combat this many imagers will use a combination of Normal and Non linear contrast stretches The best settings are different for different objects but performing a non linear or power law stretch 18 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 followed by normalising the background to black with a normal stretch is the usual procedure 4 The image will now look quite impressive and I hope that you are pleased with your first efforts Further small refinements are usu
36. ono image will be replaced by a full colour version There is every reason to expect that the image will be reasonably well colour balanced but if it is not you can adjust the colour in the Set Colour Balance dialog box Under Colour in the main menu 10 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 The colour balance controls seem complex but are really quite easy to use The most useful controls are the Start and Saturation Factor settings Saturation factor will simply vary the colour intensity without any alteration of the colour balance but the Start settings for each colour will alter the colour rendering of the dimmer parts of the image As most astronomical images are badly affected by light pollution which affects the dimmer background colours in particular the start point settings are particularly helpful for correcting this If you move the start point of the Red histogram a few points to the right and click on Apply the new image will have LESS red in the background and will appear more Cyan Similarly if you move the Green start point to the right the image will appear more Magenta and moving the blue start point will turn it more Yellow Do not move the start points beyond the start of the main burst of histogram data or you will introduce colour errors into low saturation parts of the image Just move the sliders by small amounts in the clear area below the main peak until the backgr
37. ormance that is capable of providing As with most sophisticated equipment a certain amount of routine maintenance is necessary to keep the equipment operating at its optimum performance The maintenance has been kept to a minimum and is fully described in the manual In the unfortunate instance when the equipment does not perform as expected might we recommend that you first study the fault finding information supplied If this does not remedy the problem then contact Starlight Xpress for further advice Our message board service on the Starlight Xpress web site will often provide solutions to any problems The equipment is covered by a 12 month guarantee covering faulty design material or workmanship in addition to any statutory Consumer Rights of Purchasers CONDITIONS OF GUARANTEE 1 The equipment shall only be used for normal purposes described in the standard operating instructions and within the relevant safety standards of the country where the equipment is used 2 Repairs under guarantee will be free of charge providing proof of purchase is produced and that the equipment is returned to the Service Agent at the Purchaser s expense and risk and that the equipment proves to be defective 3 The guarantee shall not apply to equipment damaged by fire accident wear an tear misuse unauthorised repairs or modified in any way whatsoever or damage suffered in transit to or from the Purchaser 4 The Purchaser s sole and excl
38. ound is nicely balanced In some cases the histograms may all start a long way above zero usually in astro images with a lot of light pollution In this case slide the start point settings for all colours until they are equally distant from the beginning of the colour data but quite close to it This will both correct the colour balance apart from any fine tweaks and increase the colour saturation In some images the colour data may be balanced differently in the highlights and shadows For example the dark areas may be quite neutral in colour but the highlights may be bluish in tint This indicates a slope error in one or more colours and in this example it is caused by the blue data increasing too quickly when compared with the red and green data To correct for this the other histogram sliders may be used as slope adjusters In the case of the excess blue try increasing the top end Max value to greater than 255 300 max is allowed This will reduce the blue slope and result in a more yellowish rendition Other image enhancements Your first image may be satisfactory but it is unlikely to be as clear and sharp as it could be Improved focusing and exposure selection may correct these shortcomings and you may like to try them before applying any image enhancement with the software However there will come a point when you say That s the best that I can get and you will want to experiment with the effects of image p
39. ow 6 Before re assembly make certain that the inside surface of the front window is also clean and then carefully replace the camera front barrel and screw it into place If the heat sink seal is disturbed renew it with fresh compound before reassembling 29 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 7 Replace all the camera parts in reverse order and the job is done Dealing with condensation The SXV H9C is designed to avoid condensation by minimising the volume of air trapped within the CCD cavity and by preventing moisture ingress This normally works very well but storage of the camera in a humid location can lead to the trapped air becoming moist by diffusion through the optical window mounting thread etc and can result in condensation on the CCD window If this becomes a problem try storing the camera in a warm dry place or in a plastic lunch box containing a sachet of silica gel desiccant N B DO NOT leave the camera switched on for long periods between uses The cold CCD will collect ice by slow diffusion through any small leaks and this will become corrosive water on the cooler and CCD pins when the power is removed If substantial amounts of moisture are seen dismantle the camera and dry it thoroughly kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk Alternative Software Although we hope that you will be satisfied with our SXV_H9C_USB software other companies are offering alternati
40. produce a Green Blue shift in the balance A partial correction of this bias is provided by selecting this option but the best option is to use an infra red blocking filter when taking daylight shots see 5 below Light Pollution Correction This option is for deep sky colour images where a strong colour bias is often present in the sky background This option attempts to return the background colour to a neutral grey Colour Smoothing Filter Applies a low pass filter to the colour data to smooth out colour noise Apply Anti Alias Runs a special filter over the colour data to remove coloured artefacts around sharp edges This is especially useful for cleaning up erratically coloured star images IR Filter Used Sets the colour balance to allow for the loss of infra red content when using an IR blocking filter Stretching A selection of contrast boosting options which are preset for various subjects Remove Background This option will adjust the sky background brightness to give an optimum background level High Pass filters Automatically sharpen the luminance data to emphasise fine details Most useful for sharpening planetary images but will also increase the noise content Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 For your first test images I suggest that you turn on the Anti Alias option and possibly the Daylight Image option Now press the Create Image button After a couple of seconds your raw m
41. ptical match between your camera and the telescope Most SCTs have a focal ratio of around F10 which is too high for most deep sky objects and too low for the planets This problem is quite easy to overcome if you have access to a focal reducer for deep sky and a Barlow lens for planetary work The Meade F3 3 focal reducer is very useful for CCD imaging and I can recommend it from personal experience It does not require a yellow filter for aberration correction unlike some other designs so it can also be used for tri colour imaging If you use a focal reducer do not try to use it at maximum reduction as the large chip of the SXV H9C will suffer from considerable vignetting dimming towards the corners and this will be difficult to remove from your images To achieve this use only a short extension tube between the focal reducer lens and the camera The longer the extension tube used the greater the focal reduction will be As a guide most CCD astronomers try to maintain an image scale of about 2 arc seconds per pixel for deep sky images This matches the telescope resolution to the CCD resolution and avoids undersampling the image which can result in square stars and other unwanted effects To calculate the focal length required for this condition to exist you can use the following simple equation F Pixel size 205920 Resolution in arc seconds In the case of the SXV H9C and a 2 arc seconds per pixel resolution we get F
42. rocessing In the case of daylight images the processing options are many but there are few that will improve the picture in a useful way The most useful of these are the Normal Contrast Stretch and the High Pass Low Power filter The high pass filter gives a moderate improvement in the image sharpness and this can be very effective on daylight images Too much high pass filtering results in dark borders around well defined features and will increase the noise in an image to unacceptable levels but the Low Power filter is close to optimum and gives a nicely sharpened picture as above The Contrast routines are used to brighten or dull the image highlights and shadows A Normal stretch is a simple linear operation where two pointers the black and white limits can be set at either side of the image histogram and used to define new start and end points The image data is then mathematically modified so 11 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 that any pixels that are to the left of the black pointer are set to black and any pixels to the right of the white pointer are set to white The pixels with values between the pointers are modified to fit the new brightness distribution Try experimenting with the pointer positions until the image has a pleasing brightness and crispness Most daylight pictures suffer from having too much Gamma a way of referring to the contrast respons
43. t the radius 5 power 5 values are good for most average seeing conditions If you have exceptionally good conditions then a reduction to R 3 P 3 will probably give a more natural look to the image as too large a radius and power tends to outline edges with dark or bright borders As a finishing touch the application of a Median filter or a Weighted Mean Low Pass filter can be useful to smooth out the high frequency noise after a strong Unsharp Mask As with deep sky images it is advantageous to sum colour planetary images together to improve the signal to noise ratio In this case the averaging option should always be used or the result is likely to exceed the dynamic range of the software and saturate the highlights Aligning the images is always something of a problem as there are rarely any stars to use when imaging the planets but Jupiter s satellites can be useful reference points Otherwise you will have to find a well defined feature on the planet or estimate where the centre of the disk is located Some more sophisticated software can automatically align planetary images and you may find these programs to be very useful 3K KK 2K K fs K 3K K 3K 2K K 3K K 3K K K 2K K 3K 3K K fs 2K K 3K K 2 K K 2K K 3K K 3K K is K K 3K K 3K K K K K FK K 3K K K 2K K 3K K 3K K K K K 3K K 3K K 2s 2k ok 2 ok Using the add on autoguider A very useful accessory is the add on autoguider head which takes its power and
44. the focus window and you should see your selected star appear somewhere close to the centre A peak value the value of the brightest pixel will also be shown in the adjacent text box and this can be used as an indication of the focus accuracy Although the peak value is sensitive to vibration and seeing it tends towards a maximum as the focus is optimised Carefully adjust the focus control on your telescope until the image is as sharp as possible and the peak value reaches a maximum Wait for any vibration to die down before accepting the reading as reliable and watch out for bursts of bad seeing which reduce the apparent focus quality Quite often the peak value will increase to the point where it is off scale at 4095 and in this case you must halt the focus sequence and select a shorter exposure if you wish to use the peak value as an indicator Once you are happy with the focus quality achieved you might like to trim the settings of your par focal or flip mirror eyepiece to match the current camera position Although you can reach a good focus by the above method many observers prefer to use additional aids such as Hartmann masks an objective cover with two or three spaced holes or diffraction bars narrow parallel rods across the telescope aperture These make the point of precise focus easier to determine by creating double images or bright diffraction spikes around stars which merge at the setting of exact focus The 12
45. the use of a telescope for deep sky imaging do not forget that you have the option of using an ordinary camera lens for impressive wide field shots A good quality 200mm F3 5 lens with an infrared blocking filter will yield very nice images of large objects such as M31 M42 M45 etc If you cannot obtain a large IR blocker for the front of the lens it is quite acceptable to place a small one behind the lens inside the adaptor tube You can even try using a light pollution filter to bring out nebulae reduce light pollution and sharpen the star images The Hutech types are particularly effective with a colour camera Taking pictures of the planets Planetary imaging is in many ways quite different from deep sky imaging Most deep sky objects are faint and relatively large so a short focal length and a long exposure are needed while planets are bright and very small needing long focal lengths and short exposures High resolution is critical to achieving good results and I have already shown how a suitable focal length can be calculated and produced using a Barlow lens Many camera users comment on the difficulty of finding the correct focus when taking pictures of Jupiter etc This is usually due to poor seeing conditions which are only too common but may also be due in part to poor collimation of your telescope Please ensure that the optics are properly aligned as shown by star testing or by using one of the patent collimation aids that ar
46. usive rights under this guarantee is for repair or at our discretion the replacement of the equipment or any part thereof and no remedy to consequential loss or damage whatsoever 5 This guarantee shall not apply to components that have a naturally limited life 6 Starlight Xpress s decision in all matters is final and any faulty component which has been replaced will become the property of Starlight Xpress Ltd For further info or advice please call Mr Michael Hattey Starlight Xpress Ltd Briar House Foxley Green Farm Ascot Road Holyport Berkshire England SL6 3LA Tel 01628 777126 Fax 01628 580411 e mail Michael hattey starlight xpress co uk Web site http www starlight xpress co uk 31 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 32
47. ve programs with more powerful processing functions The most active and successful of these is AstroArt by MSB software You can purchase AstroArt from many dealers Worldwide and more information may be obtained from their web site at http www msb astroart com Maxim DL is another popular choice and you can find out more by visiting http www cyanogen com 3K KK K K ie K 3K K 3K 2 K ie K 3K K 3K K K 3K K 3K K K K K ie K 3K K K 2K K 3K K 3K K K K K K K 3K K K K K 3K K 3K K 3K K K K K ig K ois K K 2 K 3K K 3K 2 K K Some details of the camera and CCD characteristics CCD type Sony ICX285AK Exview interline imager with RGBG Bayer colour filter matrix CCD size Active area 8 95mm x 6 7mm CCD pixels 1392 x 1040 pixel array Each pixel is 6 45 x 6 45uM or 12 9 x 12 9uM in binned 2x2 mode Well depth Full res mode 27 000e Mean visual QE Approx 25 effective 60 for pixels at peak response Useful spectral response 360nM 1100nM Readout noise Approx 7e RMS typical 12e max 30 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 Back focal distance The CCD is approximately 17 5mm from the barrel front Camera size 63mm diameter x 100mm long Dear Observer Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress CCD Imaging System We are confident that you will gain much satisfaction from this equipment but please read carefully the accompanying instruction manual to ensure that you achieve the best perf
48. with the HX916 The full frame download time is approximately 3 7 seconds and binned 4x4 downloads take only 0 5 seconds so finding and centring are very quick and easy in this mode If you have only a USB 1 1 connection on your computer the download time is longer but is still impressive at around 7 seconds for a full resolution frame Please take a few minutes to study the contents of this manual which will help you to get the camera into operation quickly and without problems I am sure that you want to see some results as soon as possible so please move on to the Quick Start section which follows A more detailed description of imaging techniques will be found in a later part of this manual Quick Starting your SXV H9C system In the shipping container you will find the following items 1 The SXV H9C camera head 2 A power supply module 3 A USB camera cable 4 An adaptor for 1 25 drawtubes 5 An adaptor for 2 drawtubes and M42 Pentax thread lenses 6 A disk with the SXV H9C control software 7 This manual Optional extra items include 1 A serial port adaptor and cable 2 A guider output to guider port lead 3 An add on guide camera head includes items 1 and 2 You will also need a PC computer with Windows 98 Windows Me Windows 2000 or Windows XP installed NOT Windows 95 or NT4 This machine must have at least one USB port available and at least 32 Megs of memory If you intend to view th
49. y locking up the mirror focusing the camera on an easy object such as a moderately bright star and then flipping the mirror down to view the same star with the eyepiece Once the eyepiece has been locked into the correct position you can use it to focus on the image by lowering the flip mirror and operating the telescope focus wheel until the image is sharp When the mirror is raised the image will fall onto the CCD surface and should be accurately in focus Most flip mirror units allow several adjustments to be made so that the image can be centred properly in the eyepiece and CCD fields which are not necessarily coincident when you first buy your unit Opinions vary as to the utility of flip mirrors They are a convenient way to find and focus but they add quite a bit of extra length between the camera and telescope This can be very inconvenient with Newtonians and not a lot better with SCTs especially 13 Handbook for the SXV H9 Issue 1 June 2002 if the assembly is somewhat flexible They also make it difficult to use a focal reducer with your camera as the rapidly converging light cone from a reducer cannot reach all the way through the flip mirror unit to the CCD surface If you are using one of the popular F3 3 compressors for deep sky imaging you will NOT be able to include a flip mirror unit in front of your camera and using a par focal eyepiece is your best option Whichever device you use it is necessary to set up a good o

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