First light with Atik 383L+ mono

[Kbramley]

Finally got to try out my 383L+ mono, long frustrating 4 weeks of cloud and rain, then last night half a chance of clear sky so chanced it and got a good session in before the fog rolled in.

Had some initial problems with frost on the chip, even though I had replaced the dessicant with a fresh set kindly supplied by Vince at Atik a vouple of days ago, however after allowing the chip to warm up again and then cooling it in 5 deg stages, I managed to get it to -20deg without any frost.

First target was M42, decided to see what I could get in Ha

10x300s (-20) Ha 1x1 bin

No flats, or darks, just bias

BIG version here --> http://astrob.in/full/29761/

Then I hit the meridian limit so changed target, decided it was about time I tried M1 The Crab, never had much success here, but armed with the mighty Atik and resonable guiding I decided it was time to take it on.

Went for narrowband SII,Ha and OIII

10x300s (-20) SII 1x1 bin

10x300s (-20) Ha 1x1 bin

10x300s (-20) OIII 1x1 bin

Mapped SII,Ha,OIII to RGB

No flats, or darks, just bias

Cropped

Cloud spoiled any further deepsky imaging so I thought I would point the Atik at Jupiter, now although its not a planetary cam it does show some potential, heres a short stack of about 100 x 0.001s frames, Im half tempted to give it another go with a 3x barlow next time with the RGB filters

[fwm891]

That's great, not even thought of trying my 383 as a planetary cam....

[SimonfromSussex]

Great first light, particularly like the crab in narrowband, are you using 1.25" filters?

[Kbramley]

Cheers Simon,

I'm actually using 2" filters although the 383L+ is reported to work ok with 1.25's as long as you take flats. I was quite lucky with this session as the optical chain is quite clean so no dust motes, plus I have no major vignetting with the 2inchers and so I saved a bit of hassle .

I think when I have more time I will still take flats for completeness on full frame targets, but anything small like the crab I may not bother.

[todd8137]

Nice images the crab as some vivid color

pat,

[Mark72]

Great start, good luck with the camera.

Mark

[Kbramley]

Not sure if I have the colour right,I suppose with a false colour image it's open to interpretation anyhow. I think to do this target justice I need some RGB and clear skies, lots of clear skies

[todd8137]

It's a good image lots of fine detail ,it makes a change from the norm,

pat

[RAC]

For anyone wanting a cheap filter setup with the Atik 383, you can use 1.25in filters with the TS filter drawer and have no added vignetting right down to f2.8.

[Chris Rowland]

How are you getting 1/1000s exposure with a 383L+? I thought the minimum exposure with the shutter was 0.2 sec.

Chris

[Kbramley]

The Artemis software allows you to set 0.001s , however the true speed maybe slower. Also I suspect in a full frame image there would be shutter shadow evident, this however is not as much of a problem on such a small target.

[Gina]

Lovely shots M1 is superb

[fwm891]

The Artemis software allows you to set 0.001s , however the true speed maybe slower. Also I suspect in a full frame image there would be shutter shadow evident, this however is not as much of a problem on such a small target.

You can go down to 0.001s but if you look at the full frame then you will see the shutter part way across the frame. As you increase the exposure the shutter gradually moves off the edge. For planetary where you only use a small part of the frame the shutter probably doesn't show

[NickK]

You can go down to 0.001s but if you look at the full frame then you will see the shutter part way across the frame. As you increase the exposure the shutter gradually moves off the edge. For planetary where you only use a small part of the frame the shutter probably doesn't show

Precisely.. also if you use a sub frame (in the clear section of the sensor) then it decreases the download time too! Faster fps without a shadow

The 383L can take very short exposures. However if I want to avoid the shutter then I go for a minimum of 3 seconds - my experience with flats shows this is about the minimum before you see some impact of the shutter. It's possible to drop below 3 seconds but you need flats.

[stellawolf]

Lovely images well done :)

[Coco]

Well done that lad from Preston! When did you find the time?

[r3i]

Great images - looks like the 383L+ is an excellent camera.

[Kbramley]

Cheers fellas. Only scratched the surface with this wonderful piece kit atm. I'm hoping to give it a go on some galaxies and some globulars next to see how it fares with some LRGB.

[alpal]

Those results are amazing .

You picked up faint areas of Orion easily with only 5 minute subframes & your stars are sharp.

You're going to do well with your setup.

[stem1989]

great images