ASI cam users

[malau (David)]

Hi ASI cam users,

I am thinking to get an ASI cam (prob mono), just wonder what are the accessories I should have (e.g. filter wheel, filters, heater..etc)? Mainly deep sky and some planets....

Thanks

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

David,
I successfully use the ASI 174 MM for solar imaging. Both white light and Ha.
If you are considering any Ha solar, then the T2 tilter is almost mandatory ( to remove Newton rings)
Because of the fast frame rate which can be achieved and the large (AVI) image sizes I also "invested" in a HOT MSI i7, 16gb, 500Gb SSD laptop.

[malau (David)]

Originally Posted by Merlin66

David,
I successfully use the ASI 174 MM for solar imaging. Both white light and Ha.
If you are considering any Ha solar, then the T2 tilter is almost mandatory ( to remove Newton rings)
Because of the fast frame rate which can be achieved and the large (AVI) image sizes I also "invested" in a HOT MSI i7, 16gb, 500Gb SSD laptop.

Cool. I never think about I can do Ha as well.

Do you have the filter wheel and what kind of filter you have?

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

David,
I don't need to use a filter wheel for solar.
The PST etalon, or the Coronado 60 act as very very narrow Ha filter elements.

[sil (Steve)]

Ken, is the T2 filter just for a spacer for Ha? my 120 seemed fine when i tried in my coronado.

[Atmos (Colin)]

Originally Posted by sil

Ken, is the T2 filter just for a spacer for Ha? my 120 seemed fine when i tried in my coronado.

The idea of the tilter is to introduce tilt into the optical train as the Newtonian Rings occur when it is onthogonal to the optical axis. If there is naturally a little tilt in your connections then that will remove the rings.

[Merlin66 (Ken)]

As Colin says....
I need a tilt of 1.4 degrees to remove the NR in the SM60/ED80 setup.

[sil (Steve)]

thanks guys!

[andyc (Andy)]

I'd probably suggest a camera for one or the other of deep sky/planetary, as I think you'll compromise lots if you end up in between, and may be disappointed in one direction or the other. Also on the computer/laptop you need for capture - a little notebook/tablet works for deep sky (long battery life key), but a faster machine helps for grabbing planetary frames (high performance, shorter battery).

I have the ASI 185MC for planetary - works very well with Firecapture and seems to produce good images with my scope. Can't comment on mono or other ASI cameras, though there are some very good deep sky images coming out of the ASI 1600...