Mallin Cam II First Light

By Simon Hanmer

Well, my Mallin*Cam II saw first light tonight. I set up the camera on my LX200 10" with a high definition monitor ... took about 5 minutes from scratch 'cos I was a little hesitant first time around. I went for the Orion Nebula ... at f/10 (my f/3.3 focal reducer is still in Toronto right now). What can I say? The Trapezium was sharp as a tack, no blooming whatsoever, yet the nebula itself showed the most amazing detail. I was imaging the core of the nebula because of the magnification, so I couldn't see the "wings". But within the nebula I could see the most amazing detail in terms of texture: holes, rifts, concentrations of gas/dust versus thin wisps. The faintest stars were tack sharp within the clouds!

Then I threaded in a variable polarising filter set to maximum darkness and checked out the terminator on the Moon. Oh my goodness! You have to have seen this to believe it. Peering straight into craters, the Alpine Valley looking as though you might drop into it! I swear that when I get more adept at controlling contrast, gain etc that I will be able to see the squiggly channel in the Alpine Valley rift!!!

Michèle, my wife and benefactor in this case(!), came out to look at the monitor (in the observatory tonight ... still not set up for indoor observing) ... she was thrilled and gave me a big hug, as though I had created this miracle of astronomical observing all by myself. Of course, we all know who is really responsible ... and I think he'll get a big hug too when they finally meet!

Conclusion ... the Mallin*Cam II is fantastic ... what a knockout! M42 and the Moon were equally breathtaking. f/3/3 will give me wide fields of view, but I will continue to experiment with f/10 as well.

Simon ( ....broad grin!)