Thursday, January 8, 2009
Firs light for QHY9 and 200mm f1.8 lens
Ha 12 x 5min = 1h, O-III 3x5min and S-II 3x5min
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HEART & SOUL H-alpha 12 x 5min. = 1h, O-III 3 x 5min and S-II 3x5min. 
Rosette in "natural color"
H & S in natural color
1h. 7nm H-alpha channel
1h 7nm H-alpha channe
HEART & SOUL H-alpha 12 x 5min. = 1h, O-III 3 x 5min and S-II 3x5min. 
Rosette in "natural color" 
H & S in natural color 
1h. 7nm H-alpha channel 
1h 7nm H-alpha channe
After so many technical difficulties I managed to shot
first lights for QHY9 astro camera.
Everything worked smoothly with new ASCOM driver, MaximDL
and FocusMax.
This is real firs light for my new lens, Canon EF 200mm f1.8´, as well.
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It was really an experience to shot with f1.8 optics.
Extreme fast optical conficuration and difraction limited lenses makes this lens
to a dream machine for astro imaging.
Pay attention to exposuretimes of the first light images.
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Focusing at f1.8 is least difficult. The critical focus zone is only 7 microns =
7/1000mm!
I am using the TCF-s focuser and there is a temperature compensation build in.
I noticed, that about a half degree temperature drop is enough
to make focus soft. Without temp. compensation this lens must be focused
after every image.
Actual focusin is done by rotating the focusing ring of the lens by TCF-s focuser.
There is images about this system in R&D part of the pages.
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With this lens and camera combo I can have both, wide field and high resolution.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
A New Observatory!
After shooting from very bad location many years I finally have had
a new location for my observatory.
It stil located in very center of the Town and light pollution is a huge problem.
the good thing is, that new place has a good warm room next to the roof dec.
The dec is very well protected from the wind and I have 360 degree free view above 25 degree.
There will be a protective building around the telescope in near future.
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I build a permanent pear for the telescope. It makes a huge difference to my polar alignment
and vibrations. Since I'm using my telescope for photographing only, I made the pier
only 60 cm high. It's very heavy doe the 20mm steal and the actual pier diameter is 200mm.
Here is some images from the new location.
Telescope on the new pier
Canon 200mm f1.8 monster lens on the telescope.
The pier before painting and bolting down.
Leveling is done by the four bolt in the concrete. Modification to QHY9 camera
I made a small mod to the QHY9.
There is now angular scale added to the camera.
to be able to read the scale in any position I made it
to move by the gravity. Now I can easily rotate the camera
to specified angle for guide stars when OAG is used or moaic images are made.
QHY9 8,6mb cooled astro camera
My new B&W astro camera is now under testing.
So far it looks like a winner!
Information about the camera:
http://www.qhyccd.com/QHY9.html
The KAF8300 sensor is not known for low noise,
I was litle worried about it.
After first tests I can say, the noise is not a problem.
Cooling in this camera is very good.
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I tested the cooling with ambient temperature of -10C.
It took about 60s. to reach maximum cooling, -60C,
and I was uning about 95% of the maximum cooling power.
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Here is the QE of the camera (The Green line):
Main Features Total pixel : 3448*2574 (8.9mega pixel) Active pixels: 3358*2536 (8.6mega pixel) Pixel Size: 5.4um*5.4um FullWell: 25.5Ke- Imager Size : 19.7*15.04mm 4/3inch Readout noise: TBD(Appox 10e maybe) Preview Speed: 3Mpixel/s (3sec download time) Download Speed: 1Mpixel/s (9sec download time) Peak QE: 56% @540nm 48%@Ha Microlensing on chip ABG: 1000X 16bit ADC with CDS and Preamp USB2.0 High Speed interface Build in 32MBytes SDRAM buffer Support Binning: No Bin, 2*2,3*3,4*4 Communication port to QHY color wheel Improved 2-Stage TEC cooling -50 from ambinet Improved Heat Sink For KODAK CCD Build in Temp sensor and 16bit high presion ADC DC103 DC adapter & TEC Controller, Regulated Build in Mechanical shutter for Full Frame CCD Fully Airproof with Two 4.0mm Air Socket Weight: 510g Deep Cooling DC103 DC adapter & TEC controller Single voltage Input: +12V Output +-15V +5V to CCD PWM TEC controller: 0V-12V to TEC Single Cable connection with QHY2PRO Accquire Temp sensor information For more informations please visit discuss forum http://qhyccd.com/ccdbbs/index.php?topic=989.0
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Some quick and dirty first test images.
Note! NO DARKS are used, only flats and BIAS, 7nm Baader H-alpha filter.
Images are scaled down 50%.
Rosette Nebula. 2 x 10 min with Canon 200mm EF f1.8L lens and QHY9. NO Darks
Extremely dim supernova remnant in Taurus.
Only 5 x 10min Canon 200mm EF f1.8L lens and QHY9, NO Darks
California Nebula, 2 x 10min Canon 200mm EF f1.8L lens and QHY9. No Darks-
Please Note!
Images here are just a very quick test.
The lens was manually focused, and at f1.8 it's not possible to do accuratetly,
all the images are somehow soft for that reason.
No sharpening or noise reduction was used, just stretching.
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The camera has a small pixel size, 5,4 microns.
That gives me resolution of 5"/pixel with 200mm Canon lens.
With 300mm Tokina it will give about 3"/pixel.
Under sampled? yes a litle, but with my seeing conditions not actually at all.
With those lenses I can have both, high resolution and wide field!
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With longer focal lenght, like my LX200 GPS 12", the camera can be binned down 2x2.
It will give resolution of about 1"/pixel. Doe the fact, that the camera has 8,6mb,
image has enough resolution after binning.
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