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Orion 52083 Telescope User Manual

1. After you have captured and combined individual images with or without dark frame subtraction into a single resultant image you may want to perform some additional image processing to bring out subtle details or to make the image appear more pleasing overall Maxim DL Essentials contains several functions which serve to do this These can be found in the Process menu Make Pixels Square This command provides a one step adjustment of the image aspect ratio It uses the pixel aspect ratio determined by the file header and interpolates the image to make the aspect ratio 1 1 This generally has a very mild affect when applied to images For best results this function should be applied to individual images before stacking for best image alignment but can be used after stacking as well To use this function simply select Make Pixels Square from the Process menu for any image currently opened in Maxim DL Essentials Combine We previously mentioned in Imaging Deep Sky Objects that Average is one of the methods to combine your images There are three other methods that will achieve slightly different results Sum Median and Sigma Clip Each of these methods will improve your image buy stacking it but each one combines the images in different ways 1 Average sums all the pixels and divides by the number of images chosen to combine 2 Sum adds up all the pixels in the images This will increase the Max Pixel value and the offset i
2. and forward during image process ing If you perform a function improperly or do not like the results you can select Undo to return the image to its prior appearance Redo performs the undone function once again View Menu Zoom Increases or decreases level of image magnification on computer screen When you zoom in too much you will start to see the squares of indi vidual pixels When zoomed in you can use Quick Pan simply hold down the Ctrl key then left click and drag the mouse on the image Night Vision Toggles Night Vision mode The red background helps preserve your night vision FITS Header Window The FITS Header Window can be used to inspect the image FITS header which stores information about the image FITS is the stan dard storage format for astronomical images The window can remain open as a floating toolbox without interfering with other commands If several images are opened at once you can view the FITS header of each image by clicking on it with the mouse Note that if you make changes to the image they are not reflected in the viewer until the image is saved Toolbar Selecting this creates a toolbar of quick command buttons at the top of the Maxim DL Essentials program window This can be a handy way to perform functions especially when in the field and wearing gloves Status Bar This command toggles the display of the Status Bar on and off The Status Bar displays information on the c
3. Because the angular diameter of planets is quite small you will need to use a 14 Figure 12 The Moon s surface detail looks the best along the terminator barlow lens between the SSDSMI 2 and telescope to extend the effective focal length of the system and increase image scale see Using Focal Reducers and Barlow Lenses Since you will be taking multiple images over a period of time it is important the mount be polar aligned in order to keep the planet within the field of view of the camera and to prevent image blurring due to poor tracking during each exposure To this end you should also have the right ascension R A motor drive engaged Do not bother trying to obtain a perfect polar alignment as that will only be important for taking longer exposure images of deep sky objects most planetary exposures will be less than a few seconds To take multiple images of a planet for stacking 1 Acquire the planet into the field of view of your telescope barlow lens attached with an eyepiece and center the planet in the eyepiece s field of view Focus the eyepiece with the telescope s focuser 2 Now remove the eyepiece and replace it with the SSDSMI 2 In the Camera Control Window set the Mode to Light 1x1 Set Seconds exposure time to 0 5 seconds to begin with In the box below the Mode box select Focus Click the Expose button 4 Focus the camera using the telescope s focus knob The focus point for the SSD
4. Poor seeing move ment of molecules in the air such as heat rising and poor transparency mois ture smoke or other sky contaminants will all serve to reduce image quality That is why most major astronomical telescopes are on high mountains in thin air to get above much of the transparency and seeing problems Also wind will move your telescope and affect images Your eyes viewing through an eyepiece can change slightly to compensate for disturbances like these but the camera can not Keep these factors in mind when choosing an observing site for astronomical imaging For the best astro images we recommend finding a location with dry air some altitude and away from city or streetlights Even a nearby hilltop in the coun tryside can provide better viewing conditions than many convenient backyard locations 40 Loss of Camera Connection If the computer connection to the camera is interrupted you will need to re establish connection This can happen due to several reasons if a cable becomes unplugged the computer freezes or the software hardware other wise temporarily loses the data coming from the camera To re establish camera connection first close the Maxim DL Essentials pro gram on your computer Then unplug and re plug the camera into the com puter s USB port Now open Maxim DL Essentials and the Camera Control Window should appear indicating re established connection between camera and computer Using Fo
5. Telescopes amp Binoculars will repair or replace at Orion s option any warranted instru ment that proves to be defective provided it is returned postage paid to Orion Warranty Repair 89 Hangar Way Watsonville CA 95076 If the product is not registered proof of purchase such as a copy of the original invoice is required This warranty does not apply if in Orion s judgment the instrument has been abused mishandled or modified nor does it apply to normal wear and tear This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state For further warranty service information contact Customer Service Department Orion Telescopes amp Binoculars P O Box 1815 Santa Cruz CA 95061 800 676 1343 Orion Telescopes amp Binoculars Post Office Box 1815 Santa Cruz CA 95061 Customer Support Help Line 800 676 1343 Day or Evening 44
6. a poor polar alignment then you can use the Manual 2 stars align mode In the Output box select Average Make sure the Use Centroid and Auto Next boxes are checked 18 Note In addition to Average mentioned above 3 other different combining methods can be chosen Sum Median and Sigma Clip To learn more about these combine methods see Image Processing Combine Tips 10 Now find a well shaped circular star in the first image displayed Use the mouse to center the crosshairs on the selected star and left click 11 The next image will now be displayed center the crosshairs on the same star in this new image and left click again Repeat this for all the open images a chime will sound when you have gone through all the open images If you use the Manual 2 stars align mode then select another alignment star in the first image displayed after you hear the chime 12 If you find an image that looks poor you can reject it by clicking the Reject Image button Use the Next Image and or Previous Image button to con tinue going through the open images after an image is rejected Note At least one image must be used as the reference image for the stacked images to be overlaid upon The default uses the first image for the reference image If you reject the first image or otherwise want to use another image as the reference click the Set As Reference button If the image currently chosen as the reference is rejected from the s
7. computer 2 When the Launcher appears Figure 4 click on the Install ASCOM button and follow the automatic ASCOM platform installer instructions Restart your computer as indicated when done 3 Connect the SSDSMI 2 to your computer and open the Maxim DL Essentials software In the Camera Control Window click on the Guide tab Figure 17 Click on the Settings button 6 In the window that pops up Figure 18 select ASCOM for the Autoguider Output Control Via Click the Setup button under the Autoguider Output heading 7 The ASCOM Telescope Chooser Figure 19 will appear Select your tele scope model from the provided choices If your model does not appear it is not supported by the ASCOM platform 8 After you have selected your telescope model click the Properties but ton 9 In the window that pops up choose your specific Scope Type and desired Serial Port where the computer will send commands to the mount Click OK when done 10 Click OK in the ASCOM Telescope Chooser window 11 In the Settings window click the Close button Some telescope mounts such as the Orion Atlas EQ G and Sirius EQ G uti lize an ST 4 compatible autoguider jack For easiest autoguiding with these mounts we recommend purchasing the optional USB Guide Port interface GPUSB This adapter box will translate the autoguiding computer commands from Maxim DL Essentials into ST 4 pulse commands The GPUSB connects to the computer s USB
8. equipment Note This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation This equip ment generates uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions may cause harmful interference to radio communications However there is no guarantee that interference will no occur in a particular installation If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver Connect the equipment into an output on a circuit different from that to which the receiver in connected Consult the dealer or an experienced radio TV technician for help A shielded cable must be used when connecting a peripheral to the serial ports 43 One Year Limited Warranty This Orion StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager Il is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase This warranty is for the benefit of the original retail purchaser only During this warranty period Orion
9. however see Imaging Deep Sky Objects 3 Select No not this time and click Next 4 Select Install from a list of specific location Advanced and click Next 5 Select Search removable media floppy CD ROM Turn off the other options Click Next 6 Windows will start looking for the driver files on the CD ROM Found New Hardware Wizard Welcome to the Found New Hardware Wizard Windows will search for current and updated software by looking on your computer on the hardware installation CD or on the Windows Update Web site with your permission Read our privacy policy Can Windows connect to Windows Update to search for software O Yes this time only O Yes now and every time connect a device No not this time Click Next to continue Next gt Cancel Figure 5a When initially connecting the SSDSMI 2 to a Windows XP computer the Found New Hardware Wizard will appear and guide you through driver installation Windows will note that the driver has not passed Windows Logo testing This is normal Click the Continue Anyway button When the Wizard has completed click the Finish button This completes the driver installation process Now start the Maxim DL Essentials Edition software The camera will now be recognized and the Camera Control Window Figure 6 will appear Once the driver is installed the computer and software will recognize the SSDSMI 2 whenever it is plugged in To install
10. is done by selecting Save from the File menu You have captured your first image with the SSDSMI 2 This simple method of imaging is exactly how the camera could be used to capture terrestrial subjects during daylight hours Close up images of birds and other wildlife or faraway vistas can all be obtained in this way with the SSDSMI 2 Solar images can also be taken during the day with an optional full aperture solar filter over the front of the telescope Take some time to use the camera and Maxim DL Essential software during the day to become familiar and comfortable with their basic operation Note All of the images taken with the SSDSMI 2 are black and white To obtain color images with this camera see Color Filter Imaging Using the SSDSMI 2 Monochrome Note In the Camera Control Window there is a Setup button Clicking on this button will allow you to toggle the High Speed Readout Mode on and off High Speed Readout Mode should generally be left on unless there is a specific reason i e your computer system cannot process the higher speed readout to turn it off Screen Stretch Window The function of the Screen Stretch Window Figure 9 is to properly map the image brightness levels captured by the camera into corresponding image brightness levels on the computer screen A typical camera image has each pixel light detecting site over 437 000 pixels form a single SSDSMI 2 image represented as a number from 1 to 65535 depe
11. of the SSDSMI 2 is generally less sensitive in blue so that filter may require slightly more exposure time For example if you set a 180 second exposure for the red and green filters you may choose an exposure time of 240 seconds for blue You will determine what the ultimate color balance should look like so some experimentation with the exposure times in each filter may be needed Saving your Images for LRGB Imaging It is a good practice to setup a common naming convention for your images before combining them and assigning the LRGB colors If you don t give unique names to the images saved with the individual LRGB filters you will have no way of knowing which images were taken with each filter For example if the object your are photographing is the Orion Nebula then you can make the Base filename for each filtered image to OrionNebula1L for Luminance OrionNebulat1R for Red OrionNebula1G for Green and OrionNebula1B 22 for Blue The number of saved files will add up quickly since four images are needed for one single color image It is important to clearly label your folders when autosaving to ensure that you can easily follow which files belong to each image Creating dedicated folder for each new deep sky image is highly recommended Creating a folder called OrionNebula would then contain only the images taken for that object Combine Color With the SSDSMI 2 Maxim DL Essentials allocates four
12. refer to Figure 1 Telescope The SSDSMI 2 can be used with virtually any telescope that is compatible with 1 25 format eyepieces The camera simply is inserted into a focuser in the same way as a standard eyepiece Figure 2a Important Note Be sure to always firmly tighten the thumbscrew s that secures the SSDSMI 2 in the telescope focuser or it could fall out and onto the ground If your telescope is has T threads for direct camera attachment a more secure connection can be made First unthread the nosepiece from the SSDSMI 2 This exposes the camera s T threads Now simply thread the camera onto your telescope Figure 2b 2 Securing thumbscrew Figure 2a The SSDSMI 2 fits into 1 25 focuser just like a standard 1 25 eyepiece Firmly tighten the thumbscrew that secures the SSDSI in the focuser T threads a Figure 2b If your telescope has T threads remove the nosepiece from the SSDSMI 2 and thread the camera directly onto the telescope This provides the most secure connection In order to reach focus the telescope must have approximately 0 6 15mm of inward focus travel relative to where a standard eyepiece focuses If your telescope does not have enough inward focus travel you will need to use and optional 1 25 barlow lens to extend the telescope s focal plane to the camera s imaging plane For most types of astro imaging with the SSDSMI 2 except planetary imag ing
13. the ability to control two SSDSMI 2 cameras simultaneously This way you only need one computer and software program to image and autoguide at the same time This feature is also compatible with older SSDSI cameras Plug both cameras one at a time into the USB ports they will occupy on your computer Install the drivers for each camera as detailed prior in this instruc tion manual Now open the Maxlm DL Essentials software In the Camera Control Window that appears you will notice the Cam 1 and Cam 2 selection circles are now active in the Expose tab Choose which camera you would like to image with by clicking on the appropriate selection circle You may want to take a short test exposure with each camera just to make sure everything is working OK Now click on the Guide tab You will again see the Cam 1 and Cam 2 selection circles and the camera not currently selected for imaging in the Expose tab should now be automatically selected for autoguiding 36 Other Features Of Maxim DL Essentials Edit Menu Flip Flips image orientation Folds image about vertical center Mirror Creates mirror image of current image orientation Crop Lets you select an area of the total image and then discards the remainder of the image Use your computer s mouse and left click button to select the region of the image you wish to keep and click the OK button to discard the rest of the image Undo Redo Lets you step backward
14. the camera driver on Windows Vista computer 1 2 Make sure the CD ROM is in the computer Connect the SSDSMI 2 to a USB port on the computer with the supplied USB cable Windows will automatically detect the camera and display the Found New Hardware window Figure 5b Select Locate and install driver software recommended In the next window that appears select Don t search online The next window that appears will ask you to Insert the disc that came with your StarShoot Camera Click Next A Windows Security window will appear and mention that Windows can t verify the publisher of this driver software Choose Install this driver soft ware anyway Figure 5b When initially connecting Windows needs to install driver software for your StarShoot the SSDSMI 2 to Camera a Windows Vista computer the Found New Hardware Locate and install driver software recommended window will appear Windows will guide you through the process of installing driver software and guide you through for your device driver installation gt Ask me again later Windows will ask again the next time you plug in your device or log on Don t show this message again for this device Your device will not function until you install driver software 7 When the window appears telling you The software for this device has been successfully installed click Close This completes the driver instal lation process Now st
15. 3VDC power supply is plugged into the SSDSMI 2 To start 1 Acquire the deep sky object into the field of view of your eyepiece and center it in the eyepiece s field of view Focus the eyepiece with the tele scope s focuser Make sure your equatorial mount is well polar aligned and the R A motor drive is on and engaged 2 Remove the eyepiece and replace it with the SSDSMI 2 17 3 Precisely focus the camera by using the telescope s focus knob and the Focus setting in the Camera Control Window Set the Mode to Light 1x1 and try an exposure time of a few seconds to start Use the Medium setting in the Screen Stretch Window The focus point for the SSDSMI 2 will be approximately 15mm inwards from the eyepiece s focus point If you are having trouble determining best focus try focusing on a bright star near the deep sky object If there are no suitably bright stars in the camera s field of view you may need to move the telescope away from the deep sky object to a bright star focus on the bright star and then re center the deep sky object in the camera When you have a good focus press the Stop button in the Camera Control Window 4 Now in the box under the Mode box in the Camera Control Window select AutoSave Set the number of images you would like the camera to take under Autosave start with 5 or so select the file folder in which you would like to save the images with Folder and enter in a Base file name for the
16. INSTRUCTION MANUAL Orion StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager II 52083 on ORION TELESCOPES amp BINOCULARS Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 Customer Support 800 676 1343 E mail support telescope com Corporate Offices 831 763 7000 P O Box 1815 Santa Cruz CA 95061 IN 320 Rev A 10 07 Welcome to a new world of adventure Your new StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imaging camera Il SSDSMI 2 is capable of capturing detailed images of astronomical objects galaxies star clusters and nebula as well as the planets Moon and the Sun with optional solar filter These objects can be imaged to create spectacular views on your computer laptop recommended see System Requirements which can be saved for emailing or printing later You ll find that this relatively inexpensive yet powerful camera will enhance your astronomical journeys with your telescope Please read this instruction manual before attempting to use the camera or install the needed software For the most detailed information on specific camera and software functions consult the Maxim DL Essentials Help menu the tutorials found there are especially useful for familiarizing yourself with how the software and camera are typically used Parts List e StarShoot Deep Space Monochrome Imager II e USB cable e 3V Power supply for TEC requires 2x D cell batteries not included e CD ROM System Requirements
17. Minimum and Maximum A pixel that is at the Minimum value is set to zero black and a pixel at the Maximum value is set to 255 white An easy way to adjust the Maximum and Minimum values is to move the slider arrows located directly under the histogram of the image in the Screen 13 Stretch Window The red slider arrow corresponds to the Minimum value and the green arrow corresponds to the Maximum value Simply left click and then drag each arrow to adjust it to the desired level The best results are obtained by adjusting the arrows numbers until the most pleasing display appears There are also seven automatic settings in the Screen Stretch Window Typically Medium will give good results for deep sky objects so the default screen stretch setting is Medium Instead of using the Screen Stretch Window it is faster to use the Quick Stretch facility This allows you to modify the image appearance instantly with small up down and left right movements of the mouse To do this hold down the Shift key then left click and drag the mouse on the image You ll find this feature to be a great convenience when fine adjusting the screen stretch to get an image to look its best The trick with stretching is determining exactly how to stretch the image for best effect Often there are several different possibilities for the same image Trial and error will be the best way to judge what the best screen stretch set ting is Try several different settin
18. SMI 2 will be approximately 15mm inwards from the eyepiece s focus point If you are having trouble determining best focus try focusing on a bright star near the planet Use the Planet setting in the Screen Stretch Window You can also use the histogram functions for most accurate focus this will be explained later see Focusing Click the Stop button in the Camera Control Window when camera focus is achieved 15 5 Now in the box beneath the Mode box choose Autosave Set the number of images you would like the camera to take under Autosave start with 10 or so select the file folder in which you would like to save the images with Folder and enter in a Base filename for the captured images Typically the name of the object being imaged such as Mars1 will be entered here If Mars1 is the Base filename and you choose to Autosave five images then the images will appear in the selected file folder as Mars1_0001 fit Mars1_0002 fit Mars1_0003 fit Mars1_0004 fit and Mars1_0005 fit 6 Click Expose and the camera will commence capturing and saving the images Now that we have multiple images of the planet we will combine the images to form one high quality resultant image To do this 7 Select Open from the File menu Find the folder you indicated with Folder open it and select all images for stacking using the mouse left click and the Shift key All of the individual images selecte
19. al guiding corrections are needed during long expo sure imaging Keep in mind however that when the SSDSMI 2 is used in this way you will need another telescope and camera such as a DSLR or a second SSDSMI 2 on the mount to actually take images with the SSDSMI 2 takes the place of the observer viewing through the guide scope but cannot autoguide and image at the same time So in order to use the SSDSMI 2 as an autoguider the following equipment will be required e Astronomical telescope mount capable of accepting autoguider drive com mands e Cable to connect computer serial port to mount s autoguider jack mount specific e Main telescope for imaging e Camera for imaging e Guide scope for guiding e Any required rings or brackets for guide scope attachment to the mount along with the main telescope 31 Computer to Mount Connection In order for autoguiding with the SSDSMI 2 to work you need a way to send commands from the computer to the telescope mount This is generally done with a cable connecting the computer s serial COM port to the mount s auto guider jack this cable is generally mount specific so contact the dealer you purchased your mount from for the proper cable for your mount If your telescope mount is supported by the ASCOM platform it is a simple task to setup the autoguider to send commands through the computer to the telescope mount To do this 1 Insert the included CD ROM into your
20. all The installation will proceed 6 The installation is now complete Click the Finish button You can start Maxim DL Essentials Edition using the desktop icon or using the Windows Start menu Camera Driver Installation Now that the software is installed the camera driver must also be installed The system will automatically guide you through driver installation when the SSDSMI 2 is initially connected to the computer You must plug in the camera before starting Maxim DL Essentials Edition or the software and computer will not recognize the camera To install the camera driver on a Windows XP computer 1 Make sure the CD ROM is in the computer 2 Connect the Orion StarShoot Deep Space Imager II to a USB port on the computer with the supplied USB cable Windows will automatically detect the camera and start the Found New Hardware Wizard Figure 5a Note For best results use a USB 2 0 port If you only have USB 1 1 the cam era will run slower We highly recommend upgrading to USB 2 0 if you have USB 1 1 A USB upgrade card can be found from a computer parts supplier Note You do not need to connect the SSDSMI 2 to the external 3VDC power supply at this time The external power is for the camera s thermoelectric cooler TEC only and normal camera operation does not require it to be on i e when the TEC is powered it is on when it is not powered it is off Use of the TEC is highly recommended for long exposure astro imaging
21. allows you to install the Maxim DL Essentials software After the software is installed the drivers will install automatically once the SSDSMI 2 is initially connected to the computer Do not connect the camera to your computer before you have installed the software Figure 4 The Launcher provides an Mexim OL Essentials Edition for Orion StarShoot Cameras m Copyright C 2005 Ditracton Limited easy menu for software installation Mend OL Essentials Edition for Orion SterShoot Deep Space and Orion StarShoot Soler System Cameras Driver tor Orion StarShoot Planetary Camera Please install Driver instoll before plugging in the camera To install the Orion SterShoot Deep Space camera simply plug itin When prompted select this CD ROM ASCOM Pistiorn telescope drivers used for Install outoguiding with the StorShoot Deep Space camera eee Thank you for purchasing an Orion StarShoot camera f For support please coll 800 676 1343 o Software Installation To install Maxim DL Essentials Edition 1 Insert the CD ROM into the drive The Launcher will appear For Windows Vista computers the AutoPlay window will appear Select Run Launcher exe then the Launcher will appear 2 Click Install The InstallShield Wizard will start Click Next 4 Read the Maxim DL License Agreement If you agree with the terms then select accept the terms in this license agreement and click Next 5 You are now ready to install Click Inst
22. also be selected Having a choice of output file formats is useful especially if images will be exported to other software programs for additional image processing like Adobe Photoshop for instance If you save to a file format other than fit you will need to check the Auto Stretch box or otherwise Stretch the image to change the Output Range in the Stretch command window to match the Size Format in the Save As win dow Otherwise the Output Range will likely exceed the Size Format and the saved image will be ruined will turn all white For example say the Output Range is set to create image brightness values in 16 bit format while the Size Format of a specific file format jpg for example may only support 8 bits Since the 16 bit format sees 65535 brightness levels and the 8 bit format can only support 255 levels all of the levels above 255 in the 16 bit image i e the vast majority of the 16 bit brightness levels will be saved at the maximum 8 bit value of 255 So the saved jpg will have very little brightness information from levels 1 to 254 and almost all the brightness information at level 255 Thus a white image results If you plan to do all image processing within Maxlm DL Essentials Edition or the optional full version of Maxlm DL saving images in the FITS fit File Format using the IEEE Float Size Format is recommended This ensures that all saved data will be kept intact If another Size Format is utilized the
23. ardboard over the front of the telescope so that it completely covers the aperture except for the 1 2 circle If you are using a refractor telescope then the hole should be cut so it is centered on the piece of cardboard If you are using a reflector that has a central aperture obstruction then the hole should be cut off to one side in order to bypass the central obstruction Affix your aperture mask to your telescope with tape Figure 7 Figure 7 Because the SSDSMI 2 is sensitive to light an aperture mask is needed on the telescope for any imaging during daylight For a refractor the hole should be centered on the aperture mask For a reflector the hole should be off to one side of the aperture mask 10 Obtaining First Images To obtain first images in daylight with the SSDSMI 2 follow these step by step instructions 1 With an eyepiece inserted in the telescope center and focus an object that is approximately 1 4 mile away If you cannot focus your telescope this closely due to lack of back focus travel then you will need to utilize an optional extension tube available from Orion Plug the camera into your computer s USB port Open Maxim DL Essentials by clicking on the icon now installed on your computer s desktop Once open Essentials should connect directly to your camera with the Camera Control Window To connect the camera to the telescope simply replace the telescope s eyepiece with the ca
24. art the Maxim DL Essentials Edition software The camera will now be recognized and the Camera Control Window Figure 6 will appear Once the driver is installed the computer and software will recognize the SSDSMI 2 whenever it is plugged in Figure 6 The Camera Control Window automatically appears when the SSDSI is connected to the computer and the Maxim DL Essentials program is started Eeee Gate Mode ice Rie toto 10 2 Seco Egee roe Dak Stent Sue deere aie 3 00 of 0000 see f Note If your computer Windows XP or Vista has multiple USB ports you will need to install the driver again if the SSDSMI 2 is connected to a different USB port Getting Started During Daylight We recommend using the SSDSMI 2 for the first time during the day This way you can become familiar with the camera and its functions without hav ing to stumble around in the dark Setup your telescope and mount so the optical tube is pointing at an object that is at least a couple of hundred feet away Insert an eyepiece and focus as you normally would Since the SSDSMI 2 camera is so sensitive to light you will need to stop down your telescope aperture to do any imaging in daylight This can be done by creating a simple aperture mask out of a piece of cardboard The piece of cardboard should be larger than the telescope s aperture Cut a circular hole in the cardboard approximately 1 2 in diameter and place the c
25. cal Reducers and Barlow Lenses Focal reducers and barlow lenses change the effective focal length of a tele scope These lenses are inserted between the camera and telescope when imaging to change image scale Focal reducers serve to decrease the focal length of your telescope This increases the field of view seen by the camera decreases camera magnifi cation This can be very useful for obtaining images of wide field deep sky objects such as the Andromeda Galaxy or the Pleadies star cluster Focal reducers will usually thread onto the nosepiece of the SSDSMI 2 Barlow lenses increase the focal length of your telescope which makes the camera s field of view narrower increases camera magnification This is use ful for planetary imaging Keep in mind that when the focal length is doubled the image will become four times dimmer so a longer exposure may be nec essary Barlow lenses are generally inserted in the focuser s drawtube and secured with the thumbscrew on the focuser s drawtube and the SSDSMI 2 s nosepiece is inserted into the barlow and secured with the thumbscrew on the barlow lens Filters Any standard Orion 1 25 filter will thread into the front of the SSDSMI 2 s barrel For deep sky or planetary imaging with the SSDSMI 2 special dichroic color filters can be used to capture rich color definition when combined in Maxlm DL Essentials LRGB filters are available from Orion which include a Luminance Red Green a
26. captured images Typically the name of the object being imaged such as OrionNebula1 will be entered here If OrionNebula1 is the Base filename and you choose to Autosave five images then the images will appear in the selected file folder as OrionNebula1_0001 fit OrionNebula1_0002 fit OrionNebula1_0003 fit OrionNebula1_0004 fit and OrionNebula1_0005 fit Try exposures of 30 Seconds to start 5 Click Expose and the camera will commence taking the images Note When the camera is taking long exposure images it is critically important not to touch shake or otherwise disturb the telescope or a blurred image will result Also make sure no surrounding light shines into the telescope during the exposure Now that you have multiple images of the deep sky object we will combine the images to form one high quality resultant image To do this 6 Select Open from the File menu Find the folder you indicated with Folder open it and select all images for stacking using the mouse left click and the Shift key All of the individual images selected will open in Maxim DL Essentials Note In order to combine images the images must first be opened in Maxim DL Essentials 7 From the Process menu select Combine 8 In the Select Images window click Add All Then click OK 9 The Combine Images window will appear For Align Mode choose Manual 1 star shift only If you have field rotation due to
27. change over time So it is best to take some dark frames immediately before or after the light images are taken 19 To take dark frames for subtraction from light images 1 In the Camera Control Window set the Mode to Dark 1x1 2 Set the exposure time to whatever you set it to or will set it to for taking actual light images Note When taking dark frames do not change any of the settings in the Setup button from what they were or will be when light images are taken 3 Inthe box beneath the Mode box choose Autosave Now set the number of dark frames you would like the camera to take under Autosave 3 to 10 will generally suffice as these will be averaged together select the file folder in which you would like to save the dark frames with Folder and enter in a Base filename for the captured dark frames Typically the name of the object being imaged with the word dark added such as OrionNebula1 dark will be entered here If OrionNebulatdark is the Base filename and you choose to Autosave five images then the images will appear in the selected file folder as OrionNebula1dark_0001 fit OrionNebula1dark_ 0002 fit OrionNebulat1dark_0003 fit OrionNebula1 dark_0004 fit and OrionNebula1 dark_0005 fit Using the word dark in the Base filename will help you distinguish between light and dark frames when combining later 4 Click Expose and Maxim DL Ess
28. d dark frame as outlined previously 2 Acquire the deep sky object into the field of view of your eyepiece and center it in the eyepiece s field of view Focus the eyepiece with the telescope s focuser Make sure your equatorial mount s motor drive is on and engaged Remove the eyepiece and replace it with the SSDSMI 2 If the parfocal ring was set properly on the eyepiece the camera should be close to focused Precisely focus the camera by using the telescope s focus knob and the Fast Focus or Focus setting in the Camera Control Window 3 In the Camera Control Window click the Dark Subtract square so it is checked Once this box is checked every subsequent light frame taken with the camera will have the averaged dark frame automatically sub tracted 4 Now set the Mode to Light 1x1 In the box under the Mode box select AutoSave Set the number of images you would like the camera to take under Autosave start with 5 or so select the file folder in which you would like to save the images with Folder and enter in a Base filename for the captured images Set the exposure time equal to that of the dark frames taken prior 5 Click Expose and the camera will commence taking the images When it saves each image file to its designated Folder location it will automatically subtract the averaged dark frame These images have the averaged dark frame subtracted These are now ready for stacking using the Combine function You ca
29. d will open in Maxim DL Essentials Note In order to combine images the images must first be opened in Maxim DL Essentials 8 Select Combine from the Process menu In the pop up window you will see all of the images currently open in Maxim DL Essentials Choose the individual images you want to stack and press the gt gt button or simply click Add All Click the OK button when done 9 The Combine Images window will appear Figure 13 For Align Mode choose Planetary In the Output box select Average 10 Now you can see how each individual image looks by using the Next Image and Previous Image buttons If you see an image that looks poor you can reject it from the stack by clicking the Reject Image button Note At least one image must be used as the reference image for the stacked images to be overlaid upon The default uses the first image for the reference image If you reject the first image or otherwise want to use another image as the reference click the Set As Reference button when the desired reference image is actively displayed If the image currently chosen as the reference is rejected from the stack and another reference image is not selected you will not be able to Overlay All Images 11 Now click the Overlay All Images button All of the selected images will stack on top of each other to form one resultant image Click OK You have now composed your first planetary image Use Save under the File menu to save
30. different channels Luminance Red Green and Blue LRGB By combining all of your individual black and white images taken through each LRGB filter your monochrome images will transform into vivid full color astrophotos Before selecting the images to color combine you must first Combine each color channel by stacking the individual images taken through each color filter Make sure you save each combined image so you can go back to it anytime to reprocess There are two modes of color combining LRGB and RGB You may choose RGB if you do not have or wish to create a luminance channel This saves time because fewer images need to be taken but at the expense of having less image detail For the best results we recommending taking images with all four channels in LRGB 1 In the File menu Open the images that you will be using to color com bine In most cases you will open 4 files total one for each color channel Luminance Red Green and Blue 2 In the Process menu select Combine Color Check the settings in the Color Space box select LRGB Make sure the Auto Equalize Background box is checked In the pull down menu use CIE L a b You can also experiment using RGB which has a different color combine algorithm Color Balance should be left at 1 for Red Green and Blue 4 In the Select Images box select your images for Luminance Red Green and Blue Figure 14 5 Click on Align Images Figure 15 The alignment proc
31. e Mouse e Internet Explorer 4 or higher required to display on line help e USB port USB 2 0 recommended Maxim DL Essentials benefits greatly from increased memory size Note Some computers have USB ports that are known to not meet the USB specification for the output voltage These computers may not be able to run the SSDSMI 2 without the use of an external powered hub The vast majority of computers however do meet the proper USB specification and should have no problems running the SSDSMI 2 off of regular USB power The SSDSMI 2 itself is fully USB compliant regarding its power requirements Power and the TEC In order to provide power for the SSDSMI 2 s thermoelectric cooler TEC an external 3VDC power supply is needed The SSDSMI 2 camera itself runs off the power supplied by your computer s USB port only the TEC requires exter nal power So if you happen to run out of external 3VDC power in the field you can still run the camera without the TEC The TEC is like a refrigerator in the camera When the camera is running it pro duces internal heat which causes noise in images The TEC counteracts this by cooling the CCD chip which reduces thermal noise This produces better quality images than similar uncooled cameras can provide Also cameras with simple air cooling i e with an onboard fan cannot reduce the internal cam era temperature below ambient outside temperature and therefore produce images that are inhe
32. e duration of the exposure however long that may be Other Autoguiding Notes e If you are using a German equatorial mount you must calibrate with the tube on the same side of the mount as it will be when actually imaging e The calibration settings need changing if you move the telescope in declina tion by more than about five degrees Select another bright star and Calibrate again e If you experience bad guiding in declination and cannot resolve it through adjusting the calibration or aggressiveness you may have a stiction problem with your declination drive Watch which way the star drifts and turn off the Guider Enable checkbox in the Settings window that pushes the star in that direction That will prevent the stiction cycle from happening e Make sure that any backlash compensation in the mount is turned off e On most telescopes the Right Ascension drive likes to have some load push ing against sidereal tracking If the mount is balanced such that it is pulling the mount forwards slightly the gear teeth may bounce back and forth resulting in terrible guiding that cannot be corrected by an autoguider Be sure to always balance the telescope such that it lifting the weight rather than allowing it to fall i e heavier on the East side Note that this may require balancing the telescope differently when it is pointed East versus West Using Two SSDSMI 2 One very nice feature of the Maxim DL Essentials software is
33. e software will Calibrate the mount by moving it back and forth on each axis The Calibration Time determines how long it activates the motors each time The usual value is 5 10 seconds start out with a value of 5 Make sure all of the Guider Enables boxes are checked For Autoguider Output set Control Via and COM Port as required for your telescope equipment See Computer to Mount Connection if you have not already done this Click Apply You can leave this dialog box open or Close it if you wish Make sure that the telescope mount is set to move at 1X sidereal or slower For some mounts you must set the guide rate manually The maximum usable rate is 1X sidereal If your mount does not drift quickly then 0 1X is recommended otherwise use a value between 1X and 0 1X 9 On the Guide tab set to Expose and click the Start button A single image will be taken Ensure that a well focused bright star near the actual object to be imaged appears in the image If not adjust the guide scope and try again Make sure the star is roughly centered Note The algorithm can be confused if another star appears in the frame to minimize this risk calibrate on an isolated bright star 10 Now set to Calibrate and click the Start button A series of five exposures will be taken each time the telescope will be moved slightly If the tele scope does not move check the Settings Remember you have to set up a method for sending the autogu
34. e the ones you want to keep Once all the images have been reviewed you can restore the minimized windows to their original size and position Arrange Icons Image windows can be minimized at which point they become small bars icons If these have become scattered about the main application window the Arrange Icons command will stack them neatly at the bottom of the window Help Menu Help Topics Click on this if you have any questions This is an extensive resource and should be consulted often Under the Index tab type in Help Topics and press Enter on your keyboard This will give a primer on how to most effectively use and access the Help files About Maxim DL Gives the version number of the software Note The Open or Convert AVI File command in the File menu is for the StarShoot Solar System Imager not he SSDSMI 2 Tips Polar Alignment Good telescope mount polar alignment is of critical importance for long expo sure CCD imaging Inaccurate polar alignment leads to image movement over time even with motor drives running and engaged which limits the amount of time an exposure can be taken before the stars begin to streak and blur If your equatorial mount uses a polar axis finder scope we highly recom mend utilizing it for polar alignment If not a technique known as the drift method of polar alignment has been used for many years and can achieve 38 an extremely accurate polar alignment Unfortuna
35. entials will indicate the camera needs to be covered to take a dark frame Cover the front of the lens you are imaging through and then click OK The camera will commence taking and saving the dark frames Now that you have acquired several dark frames combine them into a single averaged dark frame for subtraction from light images 5 In the Process menu select Setup Dark Subtract 6 In the window that pops up click Remove All if any filenames appear in the window 7 Click Add and select the file folder location for the dark frames taken Select the dark frames and click Open 8 The selected dark frames will now appear in the pop up window Click OK The dark frames have now been averaged and stored into memory You are now ready to subtract the averaged dark frame from light images This should be done to individual light images BEFORE combining them together There are two ways to do this If you take dark frames first before taking light images using Light 1x1 then you can automatically subtract the averaged dark frame from each individual light image as it is captured If you take dark frames after you have already taken the light images using Light 1x1 then you can subtract the averaged dark frame from each individual image before you combine them into a single final resultant image 20 To automatically subtract the averaged dark frame from light images as they are captured 1 Setup the average
36. ess is similar to the combine process This allows each image to overlap perfectly before com bining the color image For Align Mode choose Manual 1 star shift only If your polar alignment was poor or if you were tracking using an altitude azimuth mount choose Manual 2 stars 6 Click OK and the resulting image should appear in color You can make sev eral adjustments to the Color Balance if needed see Color Balance 7 Save your color image 23 Figure 14 To Combine Color select which images will be designated as Luminance Red Green and Blue Figure 15 Each LRGB image must be aligned so they overlap before combining the color image Narrowband Imaging The extra high sensitivity of the SSDSMI 2 is also capable of capturing images through specialized narrow band filters Filers that isolate the Hydrogen alpha 24 Oxygen lll and Sulfur Il wavelengths are used individually or in combination similar to RGB to deliver astounding detail and definition of certain types of nebula such as emission nebula or planetary nebula Additionally narrow band imaging remedies light pollution from interfering from the image quality thus allowing you to take high contrast images in heavily light polluted areas Narrowband imaging is used by the most advanced astronomical telescope imaging systems including the Hubble Space Telescope The same method of RGB imaging can be applied to narrowband imaging Image Processing
37. etch Window to see how changing these parameters change the histogram For the Permanent Stretch Type the Linear Only mode is useful for adjusting the range of pixels to match a particular file format The Log mode is useful for compressing the dynamic range of the image but can be rather harsh The Gamma mode allows you to selectively emphasize bright or dim parts of the image by entering a suitable Gamma Value A Gamma of 1 has no effect less 27 than 1 will emphasize faint details while a value greater than 1 will emphasize bright details The Input Range can be set to Screen Stretch which in Linear Mode pro duces an output matching the current screen appearance This is useful in producing final images for output to 8 bit image formats which have limited range Note that the minimum and maximum values are always taken from the screen stretch settings for the original image These can be adjusted dynami cally using for example Quick Stretch The Max Pixel selection sets the input range from 0 to the brightest pixel in the image This prevents any image pix els from being saturated in the final result but may produce images with low contrast You can also manually set values with Manual Settings in a similar fashion to the Screen Stretch Window The Output Range is used when preparing a file to be saved in a format that has limited range The Output Range maps minimum input to zero and maxi mum input to 255 4095 or 65535 dependi
38. ges are being taken with another camera such as a DSLR or another SSDSMI 2 Tracking errors are usually sufficiently small on short duration images 15 to 90 seconds depending on the mount that guiding is not required Therefore a series of short exposure images can be taken and combined together later using the Combine command However in many cases a single long exposure is superior due to the elimination of extra readout noise and the residual blur ring caused in realigning the images When taking long exposures with astronomical telescopes motorized tracking is required to compensate for the Earth s rotation Most telescope mounts do not track accurately enough for long exposure imaging without some form of additional guiding Manual guiding can be done by an observer watching a star guide star through a telescope guide scope mounted next to the main imaging telescope on the same mount The observer makes manual corrections to the motor drives via a pushbutton hand controller to keep the star centered in the guide scope s eyepiece over time In this way the track ing accuracy of the main telescope with imaging camera attached can be assured Stars in the resultant images will be crisp and round Manual guiding can be very tiresome and tedious however especially if taking many long exposures throughout the night The SSDSMI 2 can be used as an autoguider to take the place of the observer so that no manu
39. gs until you find one you think looks best When the image is subsequently saved the screen stretch setting information will be kept when the image is next opened Astronomical Imaging Now that you re familiar with basic camera and software operation it s time to take the SSDSMI 2 out at night under the stars to capture some astronomical images We recommend starting with the Moon as it is easy to acquire into the camera s field of view and typically does not require stacking of multiple exposures as planetary and deep sky images do Imaging the Moon Imaging the Moon is much like imaging terrestrial objects during the day Since the exposure is very short it is not critical that the telescope mount be pre cisely polar aligned Best focusing will be achieved by first focusing on a bright star near the Moon Start with short exposures of less than 0 1 seconds When the moon is past half full it is hard to get detail due to the tremendous glare off of the lunar surface Most detail even on a sliver of a moon will be at the terminator the tiny thin line between the shadow and light see Figure 12 To get more of the moon in the image a focal reducer will need to be used For close ups of craters use a barlow lens see Using Focal Reducers and Barlow Lenses Imaging Planets The best planetary images will be obtained by stacking combining many individual images in order to improve image contrast brightness and detail
40. ider commands to the telescope 11 The star should move in an L shape If it does not move enough a warning message will appear The recorded positions will be displayed in the scroll ing log along with any error messages Note If the star does not move far enough or moves too far i e the star leaves the field the duration of the calibration move commands can be adjusted by clicking the Settings command and changing the Calibration Time fields measured in seconds A longer calibration time will increase the motion of the star a shorter time will decrease the motion Typical values range from five to ten seconds depending on the correction speed focal length and pixel size 12 Once you have successfully calibrated switch to the Track mode Click Start and watch the star It should move to the center of the small track box and whenever it drifts off it should be pulled back again You can zoom in the window for a better look Also the tracking errors will be dis played in the scrolling log 13 If the star bounces back and forth reduce the aggressiveness for that axis If it corrects too slowly increase the aggressiveness Changes to the aggressiveness settings take effect immediately 35 You are now ready to take a long exposure image through the main telescope and imaging camera The SSDSMI 2 will continuously send small correction factors to the mount s motor drive to insure steady and accurate tracking throughout th
41. iltered version of an image from itself The low pass filtered version is called the mask The Low Pass Filter itself can be set to Mild or Strong for different effect Use Mask Weight to control the strength of the mask applied to the image The Mask Weight is in percent the higher the number the stronger the mask Gaussian Blur is a method of blurring an image It can be used to suppress noise in an image at the expense of sharpness The Radius setting controls the amount of blurring applied to the image Increasing the radius increases the amount of blur applied For best results turn on the Auto Full Screen preview button and adjust the settings This allows you to rapidly adjust the settings until you are satisfied with the results Then click OK to actually apply the filter settings to the image It is best to use a light touch with this command to avoid over processing the image Over processing can create artifacts i e features in the image that are not real It also amplifies the noise in the image Color Balance The sensitivity of most CCD cameras as a function of wavelength color is dif ferent from the response of the human eye The filters used for creating color composites also have their own characteristics as do the telescope optics Although perfect color rendition is an elusive if not impossible goal all indi viduals see colors slightly differently it is straightforward to get good color balance with
42. images To use in 2x2 mode select Light 2x2 mode for capturing light images and Dark 2x2 mode to capture dark frames for averaging and subtracting Images can be combined and processed in the same way as Light 1x1 images Color Filter Imaging Using the SSDSMI 2 To obtain a color image with the SSDSMI 2 you will need to photograph though a series of filters While this takes comparatively longer to do than using a one shot color camera the monochrome SSDSMI 2 provides higher sensitivity to better capture faint deep sky objects The color definition and detail is also greater through the use of filters This method of imaging is used by professional astronomers to render the most detail and information in their astrophotos The most common method for color filter imaging is to use a Luminance filter and a Red Green and Blue filter LRGB To better manage the use of multiple filters a color filter wheel available from Orion is recom mended The luminance filter is responsible for all of the detail in the image Providing ample exposure time and stacking several images with the luminance filter will be beneficial to your final image You do not need to use the same exposure time for all the LRGB channels Typically the luminance filter should have the longest exposure The Red Green and Blue filters need to be individually photographed through to later combine a full color image see Combine Color The color response
43. ing but ton resets to 100 on all three planes The Click On White Area to Set Scaling check box enables the operation of the mouse to set the scaling Set the Background Level first you can use Auto then click on a white object e g a neutral colored star in the image not the Preview Image with the mouse The Scaling settings will automatically be adjusted to make the selected point appear white If an area of the image is known to be white or gray this is an easier way to determine the scaling factors and can be used to instantly color balance the image Stretch The Stretch command located in the Process menu Figure 16 modifies the brightness and contrast and optionally the range maximum and minimum pixel values of an image Unlike the screen stretch settings in the Screen Stretch Window which only affects the how an image appears on the com puter screen the Stretch command actually changes the image data pixel values in the memory buffer In reference to the histogram the Screen Stretch Window changes how the histogram is displayed on the computer screen the Stretch command alters the histogram itself There are three elements which must be set the Permanent Stretch Type the Input Range and the Output Range You can use the Preview Image to see how changing these parameters will affect the resultant image or click the Full Screen button to see the changes applied to your actual image You can also open the Screen Str
44. low any loose particles off the surface with a blower bulb or compressed air Then apply some cleaning fluid to a tis sue never directly on the optics Wipe the optical surface gently in a circular motion then remove any excess fluid with a fresh lens tissue Oily fingerprints and smudges may be removed using this method Use caution rubbing too hard may cause scratches Specifications CCD Sensor Sony ExView HAD ICX429ALL Monochrome Color Sensor format 1 2 Pixel array 752x582 437 664 total Pixel size 8 6u x 8 3u Exposure range 0 002 seconds to 100 minutes A D conversion 16 bit Thermoelectric cooling TEC current draw USB connection Camera current draw IR cut filter Optical window Weight Autoguider capability Mounting 42 20 C below ambient temperature sealed dry air chamber to prevent CCD icing Approximately 1A 3VDC 2 0 or 1 1 Approximately 0 5A powered by USB com puter connection No Fully coated with anti reflection coatings 1 0 Ib Yes 1 25 nosepiece or T thread This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules Operation is subject to the following two conditions 1 this device nay not cause harmful interference and 2 this device must accept any interference received including interference that may cause undesired operation Changes of modifications not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user s authority to operate the
45. ments to the mount s position 6 Next point the telescope at a bright star near the eastern horizon and near the celestial equator Dec 0 7 Let the telescope track for at least five minutes and the star should begin to drift north or south 8 If the star drifts south the telescope mount is pointed too low If the star drifts north the telescope mount is pointed too high Observe the drift and make the appropriate correction to the mount s altitude or latitude most mounts have some sort of fine adjustment for this Repeat the entire procedure until the star does not drift significantly north or south in the eyepiece When this is accomplished you are very accurately polar aligned and should be able to produce good unguided images of up to several minutes long assuming the mount s drives track well with little periodic error Focusing One of the hardest things to do in imaging is achieving good focus You can simply watch the computer screen to focus Focus in the Camera Control Window but you can focus by the numbers on a bright star to get the best focus possible To do this 39 1 In the Camera Control Window select Light 1x1 mode 2 Set the exposure time to 1 to 5 Seconds depending on how bright the star is Turn off Dark Subtract 4 Now beneath the Mode selector pick Focus and then click Expose The camera will take repeated exposures until you click Stop 5 Point the telescope at a b
46. mera Make sure the securing thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube is firmly tightened If your telescope has built in T threads then remove the eyepiece from the telescope and the nosepiece from the SSDSMI 2 and thread the camera onto the telescope see Figures 2a b You will now need to refocus the camera for the centered object Focusing will be the hardest thing to do in the initial stages In the Camera Control Window set the mode to Light 1x1 Set the Seconds exposure time to 01 to begin with In the box underneath the Mode box select Focus Make sure the Dark Subtract box is unchecked Press the Expose button in the Camera Control Window The camera will now rapidly take short exposures and display them on the computer screen For daytime imaging open the Screen Stretch Window in the View menu and set the stretch mode to Moon If the image brightness is too bright for the camera an all or mostly black screen will result You will also notice that the Max Pixel in the lower right corner of the Camera Control Window see Figure 6 will be at 65535 which is the maximum pixel brightness value Try to get a Max Pixel of around 50000 to 60000 by increasing or decreasing exposure time 002 sec is the minimum exposure time If the daytime image is still too bright to produce an acceptable image on your computer screen you may need to stop down the aperture of your telescope further Try making another aperture mask with a diamete
47. n Save the individual images or just save the combined image after stacking If you have already taken your light images then you will need to manually subtract the averaged dark frame from each image prior to stacking them into one combined image To do this 1 Open all light images to be stacked in Maxim DL Essentials Do this with the Open command in the File menu 2 Click on one of the opened images and select Dark Subtract from the Process menu The averaged dark frame has now been subtracted from the selected light image Repeat this process for all of the light images opened in Maxim DL Essentials You can save each image after dark frame subtraction and color conversion using Save from the File menu or you can just save the final combined image once the individual images have been stacked using the Combine function 21 Light and Dark 2x2 Modes For added convenience and versatility the SSDSMI 2 s individual pixels light detecting sites can be binned into units of two by two pixels i e four individual pixels create one binned 2x2 pixel This creates larger and more sensitive pixels but with decreased resolution This can be useful for some types of astronomical imaging such as capturing faint nebulae It can also be useful for quick checking the aiming of the telescope or framing of objects within the field of view of the camera before using the normal Light 1x1 mode to actually capture
48. n the Screen Stretch window If you Sum the image the file should be saved as a fit in IEEE Float beyond 16 bits to preserve all the data in the image 3 Median takes the middle pixel value from all of the images The Median mode is useful when some pixels are extremely bright or dark hot dark pixels cosmic ray hits If Median mode is used a Normalize option is available Normalize will remove differences in the image scaling which could interfere with the median processing 25 4 Sigma Clip combines the best features of Average and Median Sigma Clip is the best choice for removing unwanted noise hot pixels and satel lite trails It works like Average but also calculates the standard deviation of the averaged pixel values The Sigma Factor will determine how many pixels from the standard deviation are discarded The lower the Sigma Factor the more pixels are discarded 3 0 is a good value to start with A new average is calculated without the discarded pixel This value is assigned to the corresponding pixel in the output image Filter Filtering an image is an operation that emphasizes certain characteristics of an image while suppressing others Maxlm DL Essentials supports two kinds of filters Unsharp Mask and Gaussian Blur In the Filter window Image 14 select which one of these filter types you would like to apply Unsharp Mask is a method of sharpening or high pass filtering an image It amounts to subtracting a low pass f
49. nd Blue imaging filter for use with CCD cameras especially the SSDSMI 2 The filters can be individually threaded into the 1 25 nosepiece of the SSDSMI 2 However because 4 filters are required to assemble one color image we recommend using a multiple filter wheel available from Orion to allow the filters to be changed without removing the camera and effecting the focus You can also utilize other imaging filters such as the Orion Extra Narrow Band Hydrogen Alpha filter refer to Narrowband Imaging 41 USB Extension Cable In many instances it is likely a longer cable for the SSDSMI 2 will be needed in order to comfortably setup telescope camera and computer We recommend purchasing a 10 USB extension cable if you need more cord length available through Orion check the catalog and or www OrionTelescopes com Care and Maintenance When the SSDSMI 2 is not in use the cover cap should be replaced on the end of the nosepiece This prevents dust from accumulating on the SSDSMI 2 s optical window If significant dust does accumulate on the optical window or the optical surface is touched then it should be cleaned Any quality optical lens cleaning tissue and optical lens cleaning fluid specifi cally designed for multi coated optics can be used to clean the glass surface of the SSDSMI 2 s optical window Never use regular glass cleaner or cleaning fluid designed for eyeglasses Before cleaning with fluid and tissue b
50. nding on brightness This has to be mapped into the video monitor s brightness range from 1 to 255 It is important to set the screen stretch appropriately or a great image may look terrible pe 12 Figure 9 The settings in the Screen Stretch Window greatly determine how an image will appear on your computer screen Figure 10 A histogram is a visual representation of the range and levels of brightness in an image T Screen Stretch pixe ightness Pe n eee Minimum Maximum 2 21512 228 3 Update Range of brightness levels H o b FE Zul When an image is displayed you will notice a graph in the Screen Stretch Window This is called the histogram of the currently displayed image Figure 10 A histogram is a simple bar graph that shows the range of brightness in an image Each bar in the graph represents a level of brightness the bar to the far left in the histogram represents the dimmest pixels and the bar to the far right is for the brightest pixels The height of the bar is the total number of pixels at that brightness level in the image Every image has a different histo gram depending on how much of the image is bright or dark Directly viewing the histogram of your image in the Screen Stretch Window provides an easy interface for making decisions on how the screen stretch should be set In Maxim DL Essentials the two parameters entered in the Screen Stretch Window are
51. ng on the settings Any values that exceed the limits are clipped The Unlimited setting disables all limiting and is recommended when performing Gamma and Log stretches it is appropriate when the image will be saved in floating point format Recommended Processing Sequence What is the best order to apply the processing functions in Here is a recom mended sequence 1 Dark Subtract 2 Make Pixels Square N Maxim DL Lssenthals dition mars_0031 fit toe mAg aR og noamzn Figure 16 The Stretch command modifies the data contained within the image in order to improve contrast and brightness 28 Combine Filter Combine Color Color Balance Stretch For convenience you can Make Pixels Square after the combine unless align ment requires rotating the images i e Manual 2 stars is used as the Align Mode in the Combine Images window If you need to rotate the images by more than a small amount then you should make them square first to avoid geometric distortion between the frames NO a Po Once you have the combined image there is a lot more room for experimenta tion and tinkering Be sure to Save a copy of the combined image otherwise you might have to go back to the beginning and stack individual images again Note on File Format When saving images using Save or Save As in the File menu you have a choice of file formats The default produces fit files but tif jpg png and bmp file formats can
52. port instead of the COM port A cable then connects the GPUSB to the mount In addition to installing the ASCOM platform on your computer from the Install ASCOM button in the Launcher you will need to install the GPUSB ASCOM driver downloadable from the Orion website www OrionTelescopes com Then you can select the GPUSB in the ASCOM Telescope Chooser 32 Figure 17 The Guide tab in the Camera Control Window is where the SSDSI s autoguider functions can be accessed Figure 18 The autoguider Settings window is where the Autoguider Output is defined Other telescope mounts accept commands in the LX200 Protocol For these mounts it is not necessary to install the ASCOM platform to have the com puter talk to the mount To setup the autoguider for mounts that use the LX200 Protocol 1 Connect the SSDSMI 2 to your computer and open the Maxim DL Essentials software 2 In the Camera Control Window click on the Guide tab 3 Click on the Settings button 33 w ASCOM Telescope Chooser Select the type of telescope you have then be sure to click the Properties button to configure the driver for your telescope Click the logo to learn more about ASCOM a set of standards for inter operation of astronomy software Figure 19 The ASCOM Telescope Chooser provides an easy way to establish a computer to mount communications link if the mount is supported by the ASCOM platform 4 In the
53. r of only 14 Now turn the telescope s focus knob so the focuser drawtube moves slowly inward The drawtube needs to go approximately 15mm inward from where the eyepiece focuses for most eyepieces Look at the computer screen and adjust the focus knob accordingly to determine best image focus 11 Note The camera s field of view is fairly small It is approximately equivalent to the field of view through the telescope when looking through a typical i e not wide field 10mm focal length eyepiece So make sure the object to be imaged is well centered in the telescope before connecting the SSDSMI 2 otherwise it may not appear in the field of view of the camera 10 Once focused image orientation can be changed by rotating the camera within the focuser drawtube Simply loosen the thumbscrew on the draw tube and rotate the camera until the desired image orientation is achieved Retighten the thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube when done You may need to slightly refocus using the telescope s focus knob if the focuser drawtube has moved a bit inward or outward when the camera was rotated 11 When the image is focused and the image looks acceptable press the Stop button in the Camera Control Window 12 Beneath the Mode box in the Camera Control Window select Single 13 Click the Expose button in the Camera Control Window An image will appear in a window 14 You can now save the image for later processing if you wish This
54. re may be some loss of data especially when saving combined images 29 Batch Process Batch Process can be used to process multiple images simultaneously using the various commands available in Maxim DL Essentials Edition The first step is to select a set of images or files Image files can be selected from disk using the Select Files button You can browse to a location on the disk where your image files are located and select a number of files Use CTRL click to select individual files and SHIFT click to select a range of files You can see the path for the selected files by turning on the Show Path check box You can also select images already open in Maxlm DL Essentials Edition by clicking the Select Images button The window that pops up will indicate all the images currently open Again use CTRL click and or SHIFT click to select multiple images Click OK when done You can subsequently remove selected images and files from the Batch Process list by selecting them with the mouse and clicking the Remove button Once all input images have been selected use the Processing Commands settings to specify which of the commands from the Edit and Process menus will be applied to each of the selected images Each selected command will be run automatically on each input image The individual commands must already be set up with the settings you wish to use The individual commands are run in the same order that you specify them in the dropdo
55. rently inferior The TEC in the SSDSMI 2 will reduce the temperature of the camera s interior to approximately 36 F 20 C below the ambient outside temperature The included 3VDC power supply requires two D cell batteries not included To install the batteries open the battery holder by pulling and lifting the tab on the cover labeled OPEN Then insert the batteries so the polarity is as indicated on the interior of the holder ORION STARSHOC DEEP SPACE MONOCH SER 0 D cell batteries 2 Input jack for 3VDC Power supply TEC power Figure 3 The 3V power supply with two D cell batteries installed turns the TEC on when it is plugged into the SSDSMI 2 When the 3VDC power supply is plugged into the SSDSMI 2 the TEC is on Figure 3 It takes about a minute for the TEC to provide maximum cooling so wait a couple of minutes before you begin to capture images When the power source is not plugged in the TEC is off Remember to unplug the TEC when it is not in use or you will drain the power supply Keeping a spare set of D cell batteries in your equipment case is also a good idea Software and Driver Installation Before the camera can be used software and camera drivers must be installed onto your computer Turn on your computer and allow the Windows operating system to load as normal Insert the included CD ROM into your computer s CD ROM drive and the Launcher will appear Figure 4 This
56. right star and you can focus by the numbers e MaxPixel is the value of the brightest pixel in the image When you are in focus it will be at its highest value You will need to look at the value for several images in succession because the number will bounce around with the seeing Note If the MaxPixel reaches 65535 the image is saturated and all three focus numbers will be inaccurate Either pick a fainter star adjust the camera s Analog Gain settings using the Setup button or use a shorter exposure time e FWHM or Full Width Half Maximum is the width of the star half way down the sides This provides a highly accurate measurement when you are close to focus When you are at focus it will be at its lowest value This number will vary due to seeing so it is best to look at several images before decided e HFD or Half Flux Diameter is similar to FWHM but works much better than FWHM when the star is badly out of focus It can produce a usable number even when the star looks like a donut Refocus often throughout your imaging session This ensures at least some of your images will have an excellent focus It is also not uncommon for tele scope motions or movements to alter the focus slightly so be sure to refocus after slewing to any new astro imaging targets Choosing a Site for Astro imaging Once you have a focused image you may find your image shifting and washed out This can be caused by many environmental factors
57. simple weightings This is where the Color Balance command in the Process menu Figure 15 comes in handy to touch up the resultant colors in your images Use the Preview Image to see how altering these parameters will affect your image or click the Full Screen button to see the changes applied to your full image 26 Note Before any color balance adjustment can be made you must first Combine Color to each individual LRGB or RGB images Refer to Combine Color Color images from CCD cameras typically require a background level adjust ment This is accomplished by bringing the background level or bias in each color plane down to zero Each of the Background Level values is subtracted from every image pixel in its color plane Any pixel values that become nega tive are forced to zero The Auto button automatically determines the settings necessary to equalize the image background in all three color planes The Reset button resets the background level subtraction to zero on all planes Scaling adjustment entered as a percentage allows you to compensate for transmittance differences between the filters used to acquire the three color planes Values of 100 result in no change The scaling percentages can be typed in or adjusted using the spin controls small up and down click arrows to the right of the scaling numbers The Preview Image is particularly helpful in monitoring the results when using the spin controls The Reset Scal
58. tack you will not be able to Overlay All Images 13 Now click the Overlay All Images button All of the selected images will stack on top of each other to form one resultant image Click OK Adjust the Screen Stretch Window to Medium or otherwise manually adjust for best image appearance and use Save under the File menu to save your image You can now perform any wanted imaging processing see Image Processing To get the very best images however you should subtract dark frames from images prior to stacking with the Combine function Dark Frames To completely eliminate any remaining camera noise you can take several dark frames average them and subtract them from images before stacking A dark frame is an image taken with no external light coming into the camera What results is an image of the camera s remaining background noise only When a dark frame containing the camera s noise pattern is subtracted from images prior to combining them the noise is essentially eliminated The dark frames can be taken before or after the light images are acquired but if they are taken beforehand the dark frame subtraction process can be automated Note To most effectively use dark frames to subtract noise out of resultant SSDSMI 2 images it is important to take dark frames close to the actual time of taking the light images This is because temperature changes will cause the noise pattern in the SSDSMI 2 to
59. tely it is very time consum ing since the drift of a star over time must be observed The basic idea is to let the telescope mount track while watching a star to see which way the star drifts Note the direction of the drift and correct by moving the mount in the appropriate direction To perform the drift method of polar alignment 1 Do a rough polar alignment by pointing the R A axis of the mount at Polaris the North Star 2 Find a bright star near the meridian the imaginary line running north to south through zenith and near the celestial equator zero degrees declina tion Point the telescope at this star and center it in an illuminated reticle eyepiece available from Orion If you don t have an illuminated reticle eyepiece use your highest magnification eyepiece 3 Determine which way is north and south in the eyepiece by moving the telescope tube slightly north and south 4 Now let the mount s motor drive run for about five minutes The star will begin to drift north or south Ignore any east to west movement 5 If the star drifts north the telescope mount is pointing too far west If the star drifts south the telescope mount is pointing too far east Determine which way the star drifted and make the appropriate correction to the azi muth position of the mount Rotate the entire mount and tripod slightly east or west as needed or use the azimuth adjustment knobs if your mount has them to make fine adjust
60. urrent operation when high lighted in its selection menu but not actually selected yet the contrast ratio for the selected open image the size of the currently selected image the zoom factor the coordinates of the mouse on the image the intensity of the pixel under the cursor and for color images the red green and blue intensities of the pixel under the cursor 37 Window Menu New Window This creates a second view of the currently selected image The new view can be independently panned and zoomed but will have the same stretch as the original window Fit to Image This toggles the Fit to Image mode on and off The Fit to Image mode causes the window for the image to be adjusted to the same size as the image If the view is zoomed out the window will shrink with it If the view is zoomed in the window will grow until it fills the main window Cascade Tile Horizontally Tile Vertically These functions alter the way multiple open image frames are arranged and displayed within Maxlm DL Essentials Edition These functions are very useful for organizing the visual display when processing large numbers of raw images for stacking Restore All This command will restore all minimized image windows to the position they had within the Maxlm DL application window at the time they were minimized This can be handy for sorting images For example when inspecting a set of images you can close the ones you want to reject and minimiz
61. using a telescope with a focal length of under 1000mm is recommended Otherwise the field of view may be too small to capture the entire deep sky object To decrease the effective focal length of your telescope use a focal reducer lens available from Orion If you are imaging planets however you will benefit from using a telescope with a long over 1000mm focal length Or you can use a barlow lens to extend the effective focal length of your telescope to increase planetary image scale Mount An equatorial mount with right ascension motor drive is required for deep sky imaging with the SSDSMI 2 Otherwise objects will drift in the field of view as the image is being captured It is also very important that the mount tracks very accurately with little periodic error If not stars will not appear round in the final image Use a sturdy mount that is appropriately sized for the telescope tube being used Accurate polar alignment will also be required Computer A computer is needed For astro imaging in the field at night a laptop com puter is highly recommended Maxim DL Essentials requires Windows 2000 Windows XP or Windows Vista The following hardware is also required e Processor Pentium or equivalent or higher e Recommended minimum memory size is 64 MB e Disk Space 67 MB for program installation 100 MB swap file recom mended e Video Display 800 X 600 16 bit color or higher 1024x768 or higher is recommended
62. window that pops up select LX200 Protocol for the Autoguider Output Control Via Select the COM Port of the computer you would like to use to send commands to the telescope 5 Click the Apply button then click the Close button Autoguider Calibration In order to properly control the mount you must calibrate the system The exact orientation of the SSDSMI 2 the focal length of the guide telescope optics and the speed of the motor drive all affect the calibration To perform autoguider calibration 1 Switch to the Guide tab 2 Set the X and Y Aggr aggressiveness to 8 to start with Set the Exposure to 1 0 second Under Guide Star make sure the Watch box is checked Note The X and Y Aggr aggressiveness controls on the Guide tab allows you to adjust how vigorously star motions are tracked out in each axis An aggres siveness setting of 10 means that the SSDSMI 2 attempts to track out 100 of the motion whereas a setting of 1 means that the SSDSMI 2 only tracks out 10 of the motion Usually a setting of around 8 or 9 provides the best tracking since it reduces overshoot and helps ignore random motions due to atmospheric seeing and wind loads You should experiment to determine the best setting for your particular telescope 3 Click the Settings button 34 4 Maxim DL Essentials needs to know how fast the telescope moves in right ascension R A and declination Dec when the autoguider commands are issued To do this th
63. wn lists Select the location for the saved files using the Path button or click Write Output to Source Folder to cause the files to be saved back into the folder from which they were loaded This option cannot be used when an image has never been saved for example one freshly acquired from a camera In the event that saving a file will cause it to overwrite an existing file you can select skip save overwrite it or move to subfolder You can specify the sub folder name in the adjacent field Use Size Format to select between 16 Bit Integer and 32 Bit IEEE Float formats for the processed images To keep all processed image data intact especially for stacked images we recommend using the 32 Bit IEEE Float format If you need to open the resultant files in another program however you may need to use the 16 Bit Integer format Click OK to start the Batch Process operation Successfully converted and saved files are removed from the list box leaving only those for which an error occurred In this case the OK button will change to Retry To find out what error occurred point the mouse cursor at an image name in the list The appro priate error message will appear in the Status Bar at the bottom of the Maxlm DL Essentials Edition main window 30 Using The SSDSMI 2 As An Autoguider A great feature of the SSDSMI 2 is its ability to be used as an autoguider for telescope mounts You can use the SSDSMI 2 to autoguide a mount while ima
64. your image at this time To make it look its best you will want to adjust the Screen Stretch Window to Planet You may also want to do some image processing see the section entitled Image Processing for more information 16 N Maxim DL Essentials Edition Combine mars 0001 fit i Heip Se Migr Raal od oamarn 00 OOT R mars _O0U FR mars 0009 Fr mars 0010 Overlay All Images Set Ai Relerence 4a Camera Control Camera Ide 5 mayes to Foka Bae Most filenames IMa Figure 13 The Combine Images window allows stacking of individual images into one high quality resultant image Imaging Deep Sky Objects To capture breathtaking images of deep sky objects such as galaxies nebu lae and star clusters much longer exposures are needed As with planetary imaging you will take several individual images and stack them together to form one high quality resultant image But while planetary images are formed by stacking many exposures of less than 5 seconds deep space images will generally be comprised of individual images of a minute or longer Because of this polar alignment and motor drive tracking must be very accurate If not images will be blurred and stars will not appear round Also because camera noise increases greatly over exposure time due to internal heat generation you will need to suppress the inherent camera noise with the built in thermoelectric cooler TEC Make sure the

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