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New Video CCD Camera Design
By Rock Malin
This is going to be a bit long, please bare with me.
Amateur astronomy covers many aspect of the hobby,. Some like visual more
than others. Some like astrophotography using conventional film, and some
like ccd imaging. In the past few years, video ccd has made a limited impact
on the astronomy communities. Video ccd is very limited to lunar, solar, and
planets only. The advantages of video ccd, is no computers are generally
required unless a specific image wants to be saved on hard disk, then a
video frame grabber is required. None the less, video ccd is really simple.
No hard work in focusing is required as the image is being seen live and in
real time making it easy to focus while watching a conventional t.v. monitor
or a high resolution video monitor.
Regular ccd imagers, requires dark frames, flat field frames, processing,
not to mention an average of a few hours to find your focus, and
experimenting with ccd chip temperature which can varies from - 10 Deg. C.
to about -40 Deg. C. Not to mention a flare for computers, and lots of
patience among other headaches generally associated with ccd imaging.
Results are generally disappointing on first few nights of doing ccd imaging
if some one is new at it.
For years I have written articles on the subject of video ccd. It would be
nice to have a camera which we could basically "plug and go". The result has
been a series of video articles presently on http://www.oaog.ca under
articles and hints and on the Ottawa RASC AstroNotes Magazine which I
explain how to built a effective way to have a basic video ccd imager to be
used for lunar, planetary, solar uses. I have posted on how to built such
camera in basic explanation. Some modifications of the circuits had to be
perform to increase the overall gain of the ccd chip in the video camera.
Some results have been very limited in deep space imaging until now....
For years, I have been working on a model in which will allow an astronomer
to virtually simply use any telescopes including dobsonian type to do some
spectacular imaging. Last night I have tested my latest design in video ccd
imaging where anyone can do awesome imaging with no computers generally
required, any major knowledge of science of ccd imaging is not required. I
had visitors last night, and they all witness live images of M 13, m3, m81,
m64, a more while watching a regular monitor. The result of this amazing new
camera is truly cutting edge in technology, and will impact amateur
astronomy like no other camera has. The results of some of these images are
on this list, in the files section. We actually observed live, more than 40
objects available within our reach from my location downtown Ottawa. Using
an LX 200 12" with a focal reducer of F/3.3, it was a breeze for the
telescope to find the objects since they were very difficult to see
visually. Thanks to goto technology!
No more are required dark frames. No more are required flat field frames. No
more hard focusing is required. No more frustration is needed to have
spectacular results. No more headaches in acquiring the target on the ccd
chip. No more chip temperature is required to monitor. No more special
expensive software are required. No more long time to setup and calibrate
your ccd camera with telescope, and computers. No more waiting for an image
to appear on the computer screen. No more ... I could go on forever about
ccd imaging on how difficult it can be for many. This camera is the answer
to all our imaging needs. This camera can be used for meteors watch if
fitted with a proper lens. It can also be ideal for double stars, comets
watch, occultation, and a whole lot more.
I used a Snappy frame grabber to digitize the images posted, then I used
Photoshop to convert from TIFF to JPG. My old Snappy frame grabber is so
old, it does not have a save mode for JPG!! All images are 8 bits due to the
age of my frame grabber. The images posted were taken last night with the
moon out, under extreme hazy condition, and we could barely see the object
in the eyepiece! These image are taken under the worst condition possible,
from downtown Ottawa! Anyone who want to see these in live observation can
do so by contacting me. I would be happy to have visitors at my observatory
to see how the system works. It is a truly a different experience to be able
to observe live using a camera as such. These images are in raw form
unprocessed. Check out a sample of this stuff at:
Mallin*Cam Pictures |