New Camera!

I recently bought a few things that were on the wish list in my last post. I now have the SBIG STF-8300M camera, Starlight Xpress 7 position 36mm USB electronic filter wheel, and a new Astrodon 5nm hydrogen alpha filter. After a long wait for the clouds to part I was able to get out and capture a few images with the new equipment.

SBIG STF-8300M and Starlight Xpress 36mm 7 position electronic filter wheel set up with the Astro Physics CCDT67 Telecompressor ready for imaging with the Levenhuk carbon fiber RC telescope.

I decided I would switch from the RC to the Levenhuk 80mm triplet apo for the initial test images. I had to order an 8mm T2 spacer from Agena Astro to get the spacing within half a mm of the recommended 55mm backspacing for the Astro Tech 0.8X reducer/flattener.

The first night out I decided I would target the Seagull nebula (IC 2177). Clouds ended my session earlier than I would have liked but I managed to get in 1 1/2 hrs (9X600sec) on the Seagull and was impressed with what I was able to get with the new equipment. This was also roughly 30 degrees away from a near full Moon.

Compare this to a recent image taken with the same scope on a dark night with my modified Canon DSLR and you will notice a lot more detail from my new CCD with the H-alpha filter.

I had tried imaging the Cone nebula (NGC 2264) before with the DSLR but just could not see anything. I decided I would aim for that a couple night later. This image is 14X600 seconds.

After the Cone moved past meridian, I slewed and refocused the telescope on the Rosette nebula for 14 more shots of 600 seconds.

All of these were shot with the camera sensor set to -15 degrees Celsius. It was very nice to be able to set my temp and then also capture my darks, flats, and bias frames at the same temp. The sensor was kept at a stable temp and varied less than 1/2 a degree. All shots were from -14.8*C to -15.2*C. I captured 24 darks, 30 flats, and 100 bias frames to stack with these images.

There was a problem though. If you will look to the left side of the pictures you might notice a few vertical lines. I was stumped as to why this was but was able to trace it back to my dark frames. I took a set of 12 darks earlier that were fine but my second set of 12 is were the problem came from. The unstretched dark frame appeared to be fine but when I pulled one into Photoshop and did a couple aggressive stretches using levels and curves this is what I found. It fit exactly what I was seeing in my finished images.

The second set of darks were done during the daytime and I thought it could be from light seeping in somewhere. A couple other guys with these cameras however are also reporting these issues so I will just need to keep an eye on things. I will delete this second set of darks and re-take a new set. Hopefully I will then be good to go.

Aside from the issue stated here I am very happy with the new setup and I'm anxious to add the Astrodon LRGB filters as well as the OIII and SII narrowband filters and start getting some color. I will have to be content with what I have for a while longer but I'm excited about the possibilities.

For the full resolution view of these pictures please visit my gallery on Astrobin. http://www.astrobin.com/users/rflinn68/