Advanced Imaging Conference 2008

[jase]

Hi All,
Thought I’d provide some updates on from the AIC2008 (http://www.aicccd.com) conference as it goes to air. If anyone else is here from Oz or other regions make sure you post, send me a PM or email and we’ll meet up. Arrived yesterday (Thursday) afternoon and recognised Adam Block’s face so introduced myself. Got chatting about many aspects of imaging and processing. Amazing guy with some very cool projects happening at Mt. Lemmon. He’s running another series of hands-on processing workshops at this location in Feb’09 – for those interested, I’m happy to provide more info. Weather permitting; you’ll also get to acquire data with their 24” RC. Today’s (Friday) workshop sessions include (there are duplicates so you can at least attend some conflicting sessions if desired):

Workshops:
8:45AM- 10:00AM...Series #1
* CCD Autopilot Imaging with John Smith
* Maxim DL Image Processing with Doug George
* PixInsight Image Processing with Jack Harvey
* T-point made simple with Ron Wodaski
* Successful Remote Imaging with Mike Rice

10:15AM- 11:30AM...Series #2
* ACP automated imaging with Bob Denny
* CCD Stack Image Processing with Stan Moore
* ImagesPlus Image Processing with Mike Unsold
* CCD Commander Imaging with Matt Thomas

1:45PM- 3:00PM...Series #3
* Successful Remote Imaging with Mike Rice
* T-point made simple with Ron Wodaski
* PixInsight Image Processing with Jack Harvey
* Maxim DL Image Processing with Doug George
* CCD Autopilot Imaging with John Smith

3:15PM- 4:30PM...Series #4
* CCD Commander Imaging with Matt Thomas
* ImagesPlus Image Processing with Mike Unsold
* CCD Stack Image Processing with Stan Moore
* ACP automated imaging with Bob Denny

Will post more info as it comes to hand.

[RB]

Have a great time Jase, looking forward to your reports.

Cheers.

[Dennis]

Hi Jase

Wow – this sounds like an incredibly exciting and rewarding experience, to be so thoroughly and intensely immersed in the conference with the top players in the game; thanks for giving us the details of the AIC.

Although AIC attendees are in the upper regions of the stratosphere with their knowledge, experience skills and equipment, this stuff does none the less percolate down to us mortals, through these posts as well as the helpful advice and guidance you provide when critiquing our images on IIS.

Have a great time!

Cheers

Dennis

[g__day]

Jase,

I am so jealous! Have a great time, learn lots and please send us the highlights back!

Best regards,

Matt

[jase]

I'm not one for dropping names, but most of the key players are here. Information overload that's for sure. I'm off to shout some beers to extract more processing tips.:D

Here's a couple of photos, more to follow;
20" PlaneWave on a PME
24" RCOS with a RC guider piggybacked:lol:;)

Will update when more info comes to hand.

PS- the "guidescope" is actually a 12.5" RC, looks dwarfed compared the 24".

[leon]

Bugger I though that this was in the land of OZ, ah well.

Leon

[Dennis]

Hey Leon

You should be grateful that this conference is held overseas. If it were held down under, you’d no doubt attend and inevitably come home having spent $10,000’s on high end mounts, scopes, ccd cameras, accessories and software! :lol::lol:

Cheers

Dennis

[leon]

Thanks Dennis, you are probably right, :whistle: but it would be good to attend something like that.

Leon :thumbsup:

[h0ughy]

Jase - bring back heaps of info and all the software you can........

[gary]

I believe Tony Buckley and Lachlan MacDonald from ASNSW might be there,
as I believe that was the conference they had flown out to attend.

It will give you an opportunity to play "spot the Aussie" among the attendees
anyway. :)

Enjoy!

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Phone +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[jase]

Will see if I can spot the Aussie! May make it difficult given the quantity of people here.

Here's the ASA 12" with their new ASA Direct Drive mount. More info can be found here - http://www.astrosysteme.at/eng/monts.html

[jase]

Great day, with plenty of info; John Gleason's presentation was sensational, picked up a few tricks - always a good thing. Today's agenda included;

Opening Remarks, Ken Crawford
2008 Hubble Award Lecture, Professor Timothy Ferris
Fires of Creation, John Gleason
.Break
Publisher Priorities, Michael Bakich
.Lunch
Founding Sponsors: Michael Barber, Brad Erhorn, Steve Bisque
Dark Energy and the Runaway Universe, Dr. Alex Filippenko
.Break
Tzec Maun-AIC Scholarship Program, Ron Wodaski
Collaborative Imaging, Sean Walker
3D Astronomical Rendering, Chris Ford, PIXAR Studios
Remote Imaging with audience participation, Stephen Cullen, Lightbuckets
.Close of day

Here are a few more rig teasers photos...
AP3600-GTO aka el'Capitan
AP3600-GTO with 24" RC. This is one of the few GEMs that can take the 24" RC. RCOS typically sell the 24" on their professional series fork.

[jase]

I know everyone is probably waiting for an update on this....
SBIG STX series.
Here are two photos of the prototypes they are currently testing (one with the 16803 chip). Alan advises that they are currently on track to commence shipping in March 2009.

[Dennis]

Goodness gracious me…the SBIG camera is almost as big as the notebook PC shown next to it!!!

Thanks for all the news, updates and photos Jase, it’s almost like being there, but without the jet lag!

Cheers

Dennis

[AlexN]

DUDE!! talk about equipment envy... I'd go stir crazy in that place... Personally, I want the AP3600GTO + 24" RCOS, 16mp SBIG STX and also the ASA 12" astrograph setup for wider fields :P

Please bring back for me!

[jase]

The Chronos Mount with 17" planewave (2 photos) - http://www.chronosmount.com/

16" RC from A&M - http://www.astrotech.it/

Have to say its nice to see all this gear, but show me the data! That is all I care about - processing.

[AlexN]

Jase. Could you do me a favor while you're there.. if there is any info brochures on the Chronos mount, could you grab one for me and post it to me when u get home? Im rather interested, also if you could have a look at it, see how steady it feels with that kind of weight on it and no counter weights etc.. It definitely looks like a new era in Astroimaging mounts..

The 16" A&M RC is a stunning looking bit of gear too.... Man.. I'd be losing it in there... (money that is..)

[Phil]

Wow Jase look like fun. Have a great time mate.
Phil

[jase]

Alex, I've got the brochures, in fact I've got brochures for just about everything, but in the digital age, they don't tell you much. Everyone has a website. The PME brochure simply has a few pretty pictures and a URL to the Bisque site.:)

The Chronos is available through Optcorp. Simply hit there site and type Chronos into the search field. There are a few models with different payload capacity. Starting price is US$14k. Not sure if its the future of mounts - interestingly, the traditional astrophotographers still go for a GEM. If you're looking for cutting edge, I'd say the Astelco NTM 500 (http://www.astelco.com/products/ntm/ntm.htm) would be it at present. It will get superceeded at some point. Vendors learn from each other and as such make advances. Without a doubt, SBIG would have kept a close eye on Apogee and FLI, so when they come out with the STX, it will be cutting edge. Before you know it FLI will probably offer a camera that contains a 22mp chip, which will make SBIG look a little dated. Its simply a game of leap frog. The bottom line is whether your equipment meets your needs. Unfortunately Astelco aren't here at AIC (I've searched high and low as I was keen to see the mount in action - slewing etc).

[AlexN]

Yeah I posted a thread on here about the NTM 500 earlier today, first time I'd seen it.. Shame there isnt one there for you to have a look at.. The ASA mount also looks interesting, although, as usual with these things, no price to be seen.. :(

[jase]

Further information on this after speaking with a few.
Two more mounts are scheduled from ASA.
ASA DDM60 (lightweight direct drive mount) - 25kg capacity - Est. EUR 7,500
ASA DDM150 (observatory class) - 150kg capacity - Est. EUR 24,000

Both mounts are expected to be available second quarter 2009.

I don't think the pics I took show the in mount cabling, but there DEC housing has three USB ports and one large din power. Details probably on the website. Also the picture shows the DDM85 - 65kg capacity. Don't have the pricing for this one - sorry.

[AlexN]

The DDM85 is on Opt for USD $17,999

[Bassnut]

Wow, oh to be there Jase. Ask ASA if they have flexure problem sorted on OTAs right up to 16" with heavy cam/focusers, and does their smick direct drive mount have a guide input despite the claim its not needed.

[gary]

Hi Alex,

The Chronos is indeed an interesting mount and the guy behind it is Timothy Cann.
Tim had been thinking about this mount for a long time, but started working on the
design in earnest early in 2006 and it saw 'first light' in late 2006 and was tested
through 2007.

Tim was showcasing the mount when we were at the Riverside Telescope
Makers Conference last year.

One of the key technologies of the Chronos is its Harmonic Drive Gearing.
This supersedes the standard worm drives found in many mounts. With a harmonic
drive, up to 30% of the teeth are in contact at all times, resulting in what is
claimed to be effectively zero backlash. These drives also have high torque
and other highly desirable characteristics.

These mounts have no counterweights and no clutches and are claimed to eliminate
the need for PEC.

If you are interested, I highly recommend Tim's article on the Chronos that
appeared in the Nov 2007 edition of Astronomy Technology Today.
You can subscribe to the online version which then also gives you
access to back issues at http://www.astronomytechnologytoday.com
This article describes the Harmonic Drive in some detail.

The Chronos web site is here -
http://www.chronosmount.com/

Best regards

Gary Kopff
Wildcard Innovations Pty Ltd.

[jase]

Fred, Did some questioning this morning... No more flexure issues with heavy cameras I'm told. They had a few sample images taken with the new rig with an FLI camera. Have to say it looks pretty good, but lacks details...as the flexure occurred at different altitudes of pointing. The new ASA has the twin, four vane spider configuration instead of single. This can be seen in the second photo I posted. This produces much tighter looking star patterns. I was asked to compare two photos and I have to say I was impressed at how improved the stars looked - tight with controlled difraction spikes. Stars certainly didn't appear square.

OK, now a note on the guiding. You're correct in that the direct drive mounts dont have a autoguide port. However, they still guide. This is achieved through the regular mount to PC USB connection instead of a dedicated port from camera to mount. So for example, on a dual chip configuration such as an SBIG camera, the camera to PC USB cable downloads the guider image (as it does today) and their AutoSlew software (developed by Philipp Keller) analyses the difference. Any adjustments that maybe required are then sent via the mount to PC USB connection. There is no requirement for relays etc.

[avandonk]

I must not look I must not look I must not look

Too late I looked! Thanks for the great info Jase.

Bert

[jase]

Only two sessions today, but enjoyable ones - conference now closed heading back tomorrow armed with copious amounts of reading material.

Advanced Image Combine Techniques, Ray Gralak
Getting the Best Out of Your Site, Wolfgang Promper
===
A few more photos...
24" RCOS on the AP 3600 GTO - I include this image as it shows the true scale of this instrument. Its about 11 foot tall.
Software Bisque display - 12" Planewave on a PME. SkyX Professional is flagged for mid next year.
16" Military Spec RCOS - all white.
20" Planewave on MI-750 eq fork (2 photos).
Ceravolo 300 astrograph (3 photos).

[jase]

Just a couple more...

6" F/8 A&M APO (TMB/LZOS optics) - AIC2008 show price US$7,990.00 (regular US$9,950.00) - bargain! (Master of Ha in background).
10" F/12.5 Maksutov Cassegrain - AIC2008 show price US$8,890.00 (regular US$11,130.00) - yet another bargain!

OK. That's all folks. Hope you enjoyed the updates. Will provide some processing updates in respective forum areas once I've tested them myself.:)

[iceman]

Fantastic reports and pictures, thanks Jase!

[gary]

Thanks for the reports.

The gentleman in the background of the first photograph resembles David Malin.
Is it by chance David or just someone that looks like him?

Best regards

Gary

[Bassnut]

Excellent Jase, thanks very much.

[jase]

No, its a mistaken identity - I didn't see David there, though he was present at AIC2006 as he took out the Hubble award.

[Ric]

Great thread Jase, I enjoyed reading your report and the scopes are awesome. I reckon you must have been like a kid in a lolly shop.:lol:

I can only imagine how great it must be to chat with some of the big names in the business.

My favourite has to be the 24" RCOS with a 12.5" guidescope. Now if I could just win Lotto.:whistle:

[Terry B]

It's amazing that there is a market for these very expensive items. All are research grade instruments that you would expect to find in a professional establishment. There must be some wealthy people out there. Hopefully not all just to take pretty pics with.

[jase]

For those interested, the below link will take you to some of this years AIC presentations. Excellent information for the avid imager!

http://www.aicccd.com/archive/2008_presentation_archive.html

Enjoy!:D

[multiweb]

Very cool! Thanks heaps for sharing Jase. :thumbsup: