First Light QHY9

[Hagar]

Well I did it. Bought a new camera. A QHY9, 8.6mega pixel mono CCD and filter wheel. I am yet to aquire filters but have a whole lot to learn all over again so Mono will be enough for a little while.

Tonight is less than perfect with a lot of dust in the air but I thought I might give NGC253 a go.

Image Capture: EZCap and QHY9 at -20 degrees C.
Telescope: Takahashi FS102 at F8
8 X 5 minute images stacked using IP3
Gain 1 Offset 130
I had a few glitches with calibration files but will work them out again so the original image was cropped to remove some calibration rubbish.

Lots to re-learn and then colour combination. God help me.:work:

[monoxide]

lookin good Doug, is there a filter wheel for it yet? i remember seeing the design + prototype but not much more

[renormalised]

Pretty good first light there, Doug. Once you've ironed a few things out and get those filters, we'll be looking forward to some "uber piccies" a la Doug:):)

[Hagar]

Yes the filterwheel is finished and fully integrates with the camera and capture software. I have one in a box and it looks very good but I may have to wait a while for some filters.

[gregbradley]

Wow, that is an excellent start.

Greg.

[Matty P]

Looks excellent Doug. Congrats on the new camera. Very promising indeed.

What is going to happen with the QHY8 now that you have the QHY9?

:thumbsup:

[strongmanmike]

Exciting times ahead for you Doug :jump2:

Yes you will find LRGB imaging somewhat more time consuming too but the mono nature of the chip and thus higher res will be worth it :thumbsup:

Good start

Mike

[Alchemy]

well doug im fascinated about the new camera... perhaps you could give us a few details of its performance, is it as smooth as the qhy8 ... what sort of chip. etc etc. bang in a pic of it... is it bulkier than the 8 ( side by side pics perhaps)

off to have a look at your other image now...

cheers clive.

[atalas]

Congrats on the new camera Doug !

[avandonk]

Sounds like you have a lot of learning to do Doug, but is that not where all the fun is. When looking for filters have a look at these

http://www.sciencecenter.net/hutech/idas/rsfilter/index.htm

Hutech have only compared them to their own but the super anti reflection coatings would really minimise any reflections wth bright stars in a field of dim nebulosity.

Looking foward to more images.

Bert

[AlexN]

Looks good Doug! :) Did that have a UV/IR filter on the QHY9? the stars look a little large, but the detail in 253 indicates that the focus was good..

Looking forward to many more shots, and watching you progress and master LRGB imaging.

[lesbehrens]

very cool.:thumbsup:

[KenGee]

Welcome to the mono club! With flexibility comes lost more learning. Great first outing.

[Terry B]

Excelent Doug.:thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Thanks for all the comments but I still have a long way to go.
The camera is so much more sensitive than the QHY8 that I am even having trouble taking flats with my EL sheet. On the lowest shutter speed I am completely oversaturating the flat image. I cannot get the ADU count down below 12K and I really want it down at about 9K as the FW capacity is 27.5K. Looks like another layer of opaque material on the frront of the sheet is required.