Rip snorter of an evening

[Omaroo]

Well, it's been a couple of weeks now,and the weather at my place in southern Sydney has decided to turn it on. Good seeing and clear of cloud so far.

It's my new (to me) SBIGs first light, and I'm trying to get my head around the complexities of a proper, cooled CCD astro camera after using a DSLR for a while. I'm using CCDsoft for series aquisition of the ubiquitous M42 at the moment, and trying various length exposures at -5C to see what it captures and how it reacts. I've seen it gobble up the base trap stars and surrounding points of light in under 1/2 sec. The core starts to burn at 2 secs, and at 10 (which is where I am now) the nebulosity is starting to really grow. Geez this thing is sensitive. I'm worried now how I'm going to keep the blooming under conrol. I may upgrade the chip later to the micro-lensed KAF-1602 which I can import from the USA now for around $200. I'll see how the KAF-1600 goes first though.

Yikers - it's a heck of a learning curve! Lots of fun though.... :thumbsup:

[Ric]

It sounds like your having fun Chris, I'd like to other advice but I'm only in the DSI II class and they are worlds apart.

[renormalised]

...and a good time was had by all!!!:D

Sounds like you're having fun there, Chris. I'm certain the SBIG will get even better as you learn all the ins and outs:)

[monoxide]

ahh you'll be right Chris.. :P
if not you could always send it to me ;) lol

[Omaroo]

Thanks fellas. Great fun! :)

HEy Tony - did you end up getting that f/r for the Tak?

[Omaroo]

OK - first-ever CCD shots by me :)

LOTS to learn. Way more involved than DSLR. LOL!!!

Here's NGC2070 as well - just a couple of subs. Eek.... this is going to be tough!

[Tandum]

What did you buy Chris ? an SBIG ST-8i ?

[Omaroo]

Yes Robin - an ST-8i, the industrial version without the autoguide chip. I have an external autoguide setup anyway, so this isn't a problem. Some say that the "i" was a better performer than the ST-8 because of it. I don't know if that's true or not - but I think that filters won't get in the way of the guide chip with this camera.

[Tandum]

I was reading that sbig use both the internal and external guide chips to calculate commands to the mount.
But hey, a mono Sbig whooo hooo :thumbsup:

What recession :whistle:

[renormalised]

That's a start....not bad for the first try:)

[Matty P]

First CCD image woo hoo!

Congrats on the new camera Chris. :) Must be a huge change from a DSLR.

Just curious, what was the exposure time for the M42 image?

:thumbsup:

[Omaroo]

Thanks guys :)

Matty - M42 was a stacked set of 1,5,10 & 30 sec shots (5 each). I took a 60-minute sub for the hell of it, but haven't incorporated it yet. :lol:

[Matty P]

Wow... :eyepop: For such short subs, it really shows how sensitive the chip is. Wish my DSLR was that sensitive. :rolleyes:

Man are you crazy... a 60 minute sub. I don't believe it. I expect the whole image to be white washed knowing how sensitive th chip is. :lol:

Please post it. ;)

[Phil]

Great stuff. Nothing like watching that first CCD image download to the computer screen.
Phil

[Omaroo]

Here you go Matty :)

Surprisingly, apart from the noise (had sensor cooled to -5C because ambient was so warm at 22C) the core is obviously overdone, but the detail is starting to appear. I'll incorporate it into the rest and re-stack today sometime. Remember - this is a one hour (3600sec) single frame. Please excuse the rotation - I didn't really bother wasting time to properly polar align. I literally pointed it with a pocket compass and nuged it a bit to compensate for mag declination. LOL!

[renormalised]

Should look good when you've done some digital giggery pokery to it.

There goes Mr Satellite on the right hand side there (faintish trail)...now, where's that 5MW laser pointer/finder:eyepop::P:D

[ving]

well done chris. looking great for you first go :D

[Matty P]

That's looks great Chris. I would've expected the core to be burnt out some more but the fainter details look great. It's going to look great with the other images incorporated. ;)

:thumbsup:

[Hagar]

Nice one Chris, You have to be happy with that sort of performance. Looks like a few of us have a lot of learning to do.

[Omaroo]

Thanks guys :)

Doug - yup - it's going to be a rocky road for a while... LOL!

[monoxide]

not yet mate, i wanted to find out exactly why they were recalled first!
hopefully ill be able to test one out soon, i'll let you know as soon as i find anything out.