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Testing out an Atik 490EX on C8 Hyperstar: IC 1805 Ha

Ikonnikov

By Ikonnikov
in Imaging - Deep Sky

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Ikonnikov

Ikonnikov

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Just got a new Atik 490EX to put on my Hyperstar and had the chance for a test yesterday evening with first clear night in months. Was using a 428EX before so my upgrade gets me about twice the chip size and also lowers arcseconds per pixel from 2.2 to ~1.8 hopefully giving slightly crisper images. Also switched from Baader 7nm to Astronomik 12nm Ha filter as it passes a bit more light at Hyperstar speeds. Still using an aperture mask to increase the F ratio a bit (F2.6ish) and keep stars under control.

The framing of the nebula is a bit random and I haven't properly collimated the Hyperstar with the new camera yet so the top left hand corner is quite far out of focus (very apparent at full resolution!) and Melotte 15 has come out a bit overcooked with my rough and ready processing. Also I've not had time yet for flats so just used DBE as a quick substitute for now, but overall am quite encouraged with first results using this camera.

Image and details on Astrobin, as ever comments/criticisms welcome!

Paul

http://www.astrobin.com/full/137579/0/

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Ikonnikov

Ikonnikov

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Cheers for the positive comments folks.

Looks petty good to me. That's quite a lot of exposure for the F ratio but the signal's nice and strong.

Olly

Definitely agree about the exposure time; even though I've masked the scope down a bit (from F2.1 to F2.66) it still doesn't seem to grab quite as much light as you might expect. I suspect I'll get more signal for NB if I switch to the Baader F2 high speed filters which account for the wavelength shift caused at these speeds (though that would be my third for H alpha in the last 6 months after getting the Baader 7nm then the Astronomik 12nm before the new Baader was released :eek: ). 

I think I remember reading somewhere that interline/micro-lensed sensors such as the ICX674 and ICX814 get less efficient with very steep light cones so maybe this has something to do with it too?

Paul

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  • 6 months later...
ammonthenephite

ammonthenephite

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Ikonnikov, sorry to reurrect a dead thread, but I recently came into a c8 with hyerstar and had seen reference to a few people using a mask to stop down the aperature, but I haven't seen any info on what size that mask should be.  I don't suppose you could take a quick measurement for me so I could try one out on my c8?  I have to focus by hand (no auto focuser nor focus assist software, all manual:) so the increased critical focus range would come in handy for me I think. 

Using the mask, how much of an increase did you notice in your exposure times?  Loving the hyperstar so far, tons of fun to very quickly grab images that would otherwise take 23 times as long to get!  I'm a sad product of the "I want it now" generation, heh:)

Thanks in advance!

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Ikonnikov

Ikonnikov

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Ikonnikov, sorry to reurrect a dead thread, but I recently came into a c8 with hyerstar and had seen reference to a few people using a mask to stop down the aperature, but I haven't seen any info on what size that mask should be.  I don't suppose you could take a quick measurement for me so I could try one out on my c8?  I have to focus by hand (no auto focuser nor focus assist software, all manual:) so the increased critical focus range would come in handy for me I think. 

Using the mask, how much of an increase did you notice in your exposure times?  Loving the hyperstar so far, tons of fun to very quickly grab images that would otherwise take 23 times as long to get!  I'm a sad product of the "I want it now" generation, heh:)

Thanks in advance!

Hi, the mask is a ring of black foam board 200mm on the outside diameter and 160mm on the inside diameter, it fits quite snugly in the end of the scope without quite  touching the corrector plate (although I peeled the plastic off the back so it's only soft foam facing the glass). I didn't change exposure times and got maybe 20% smaller FWHM on the stars (the numbers may be somewhere in one of my previous posts) and the extended objects were noticeably sharper. I'm moving on now to a new little yellow toy from Takahashi, needless to say it eats the Hyperstar for breakfast when it comes to star FWHM and isn't much slower (but still a pain set up initially). 

Paul

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  • 1 month later...
Guest

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ATIK 490M wow.. Very nice Picture!

I still use the OLD SXV-M25C with my SC9.25 + Hypetstar.. would also be great to move to a MONO CCD.. like  ATIK 490M..

regards

Martin

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