Orion releasing an Adaptive Optics unit.

[AlexN]

Just perusing the web looking at new toys that I can't afford... Found that Orion are releasing an AO unit that works as an OAG, its apparently compatible with the Orion SSAG guide camera, and many other cameras, and is capable of up to 40 corrections per second.. Its actually fairly expensive for what it is, at about the same price as the Starlight Xpress AO unit, The difference being that it will work with practically any guide camera, where as the SX unit requires the SX Lodestar, a $799 USD guide camera..

At $1799 USD, I dare say there will be a few people interested in one of these, as it will work with even a DSLR and a QHY5.. I know a lot of people who image with 2000mm+ focal lengths, and for those people, AO is exceptionally useful....

Just thought I'd bring it up..

HERE is a link to the product page if you're interested...

[RobF (Rob)]

Sigh - there's always something else to be lusting for Alex. Looks nice though - would be fun to give one a spin, just to see what's possible....

[allan gould]

Did you also notice that there was an Orion Parsec imaging CCD camera as well. So there is going to be some interesting things in the future

[AlexN]

Allan, Yep.. Another KAF-8300 based camera to confuse potential buyers! It seems reasonably priced, around the same cost as a QHY9, few hundred less than the FLI ML8300 and Apogee Alta U8300.. It would all really come down to the electronics and cooling I suppose.. And hopefully they have done something with regards to the fogging problem experienced by the Star Shoot Pro users.. The last thing you want to do when you're trying to cool down your camera is add a dew heater to the front end of it..

[citivolus (Ric)]

How difficult is it to find a suitable guide star with these systems? Also, I can't find any indication of clear aperture.

How does it fit into the imaging chain when a reducer/flattener is used?

[zipdrive (Dave)]

wow... more toys from orion, wonder how long before some reviews of it come out.. can't wait

[AlexN]

Ric, in my (very limited) experience, guiding with AO is fairly easy provided the light isn't filtered. I had some experience with the SBIG AO-7 unit..

On the orion site, it mentioned that it had a 40mm clear aperture from memory, big enough to not vignette a DSLR sized sensor.. Yes, you could use it in conjunction with a reducer, however their current specs say the unit takes up 90mm of inward focus travel... If you were to use a corrector, it would have to be behind the AO, then the required 54~56mm spacing to the sensor from the corrector. you would also then need a large extension for your guide camera.. On an SCT, because the distance between the reducer and the chip should be closer to 100mm, you should be right.. I don't see many people using these in refractors, Adaptive optics really lies in the domain of long focal length imaging..

[citivolus (Ric)]

OK, thanks for that. Assuming guiding at somewhere between 4 and 40hz, I wonder how well these damp out their own induced vibration? IE, if you were near your mount weight limit and had this on the end of a long imaging train (scope/crayford/AO/cameras), I wonder if it could induce more problems than it would solve? Mount quality as always would likely be a major consideration.

[AlexN]

Mount quality is generally smoothed out by an AO system, again, from my limited experience with the SBIG AO7, I know that with my EQ6 loaded up with the C11 I had at the time, I could guide out to about 2 minutes with other setups before the weight of the whole shebang brought in problems, PE was too serious at 2800mm focal length etc.. with AO I had no problems extending this out to 5 to 10 minutes. The SBIG AO unit didn't induce any vibrations that you could detect.. I don't know how well constructed or how smooth the motion of the Orion AO unit will be, however I strongly doubt it will have any negative affects caused by its own motion.. In your ACF scope I dare say it would be the difference between pulling your hair out and successful imaging.