My new MCX2 IC428ALL EXView HAD mono CCD Video camera

[Astrogate]

Hi Group

I just wanted to thank all of you who joined me last night during my very first black & white (mono) Mallincam video camera broadcast on NSN.

My new MCX2 EXView HAD video camera was used last night for the very first time. I have never used a Mallincam mono (black & white) vide camera before and I am extremely impressed with the sensitivity, resolution, contrast and Sharpness. I used my same scope VRC10" at my usual focal ratio f/3.2. I was using at first an Astronomik UHC for M27, M16 & M17 because of the 52% phase of the moon up high.and later switched to an Orion 7nm Ha filter to try this camera in Hydrogen Alpha.** The Peltier cooler was on full for M27, M16 & M17 but was only at # 6 for NGC 6888 because I was getting some dew issues when I switched the filters**. The transparency was average with 64% humidity.

From my calculations I would say the sensitivity is twice as much as my MCX2 ICX418AKL color video camera and 60% to 70% more sensitive to a MCX2 EXView HAD ICX428 color video camera. The resolution was twice as much when using the Ha filter with this camera compared to my MCX2 ICX418AKL video camera because all pixels are being used rather then just the Magenta and Yellow pixels. I used the miloslick last night and out of the four images posted, I had to only use the amp glow mask on the NGC 6888 Ha image due to the longer 150 sec exposure. This is how we were seeing these images last night live on NSN and NO post processing was applied!

Rock all I can say is thank you very much for this truly amazing camera!! You mention to me that Sony has maintained the sensitivity but lower the amp glow and you are 100% right. I did not even need to use any amp glow mask up to 60 seconds. I do not know how Sony maintained the sensitivity but lowered the amp glow?

For an example of how sensitive this camera is I could not use contrast at 100% like I can with my color MCX2 ICX418AKL camera. Also when I was using the Ha filter on the camera using the same scope and focal ratio f/3.2, it took my 300 seconds on NGC 6888 and last night under very similar conditions same AGC 4 it took me 150 seconds with the Ha filter and the detail is way more, so I will post a side by side comparison. Also when looking at M14 using the Astronomik UHC filter it only took me 20 seconds AGC4 compared to 40 seconds AGC4 with my color MCX2 ICX418 camera. I am predicting that using my IDAS-P2 or Lumicon Deep Sky LP filters which are not as narrow as the UHC filter, the integrations will be at 15 seconds only for M17 and for me here in mag 3.5 to 4 Toronto light pollution skies, I would never have imagined this!

Ken in Australia asked me if I have tried this camera yes without filter and I said no but I truly believe that this camera will be way too sensitive in my skies to go without a LP filter.

Here are the images from last night

NGC 68888 in Ha

M27 in UHC

M17 in UHC

M16 in UHC

**You maybe wondering why did I not get any Ha for M16 & M17? When I changed the filters manually from UHC to Ha after completely powering down the camera and for the 3 minutes for the sensor to stabilize, I turn on the camera and went to full cooling way too fast and developed dew. After setting in Miloslick cooling back to 0 (dew removal) all was well , so I slowly went back to full cooling and dew came back again after trying this several times. I was only able to go to # 6 for the cooler and by that time these nebulas were into my telephone/hydro pole.**

I am really looking forward to using this camera on some really faint DSO's such as Abell, Hickson and PGC galaxies using my IDAS-P2 filter on the next new moon.

Thank you for reading and having a look at my results.

Cheers to all!!

Chris A

Astrogate

[DoctorD]

Hi Chris

Some superb results there - the new Sony sensor is really making an impact!!!

What reducer are you using to get the VRC10 down to F3.2?

Clear skies

Paul

[Astrogate]

Hi Paul

This Sony CCD sensor is the original ICX428ALL EXView HAD mono installed in the MCX2. Rock just got it a few weeks ago and he said that the sensitivity was kept the same where is was very good but the amp glow has been reduced quite a bit. I was using the 2" RC Apo .75x reducer along with the longer section of the MFR-5 only and a 5 mm spacer. The FOV is very flat with no coma and the focal ratio is fast at f/3.2. Thank you for having a look and the great feedback.

Cheers,

Chris A

Astrogate

[Astrogate]

Captured 3 x 75 second Ha sub-images for M17 AND 3 x 120 second Ha sub-images for M16 that were stacked on the fly using Miloslick while broadcasting live on NSN. Transparency was average with a slight haze and a 86% phase moon up high. I used my VRC10" scope at f/3.2 and my new MCX2 mono camera (EXView HAD). I was using an Orion 7nm Ha filter. Absolutely no post processing but I used the histogram very heavy live in Miloslick. I used my VRC10" scope at f/3.2 and my new MCX2 mono camera (EXView HAD). I was using an Orion 7nm Ha filter. Absolutely no post processing but I used the histogram very heavy live in Miloslick. ** I did not realize that I had the Miloslick zoom set to 105%, so I lost 5% of the FOV.

I will post the images also comparing the color MCX2 to the mono MCX2 when using Ha

www.flickr.com/photos/47296963@N08/14392158914/

www.flickr.com/photos/47296963@N08/14413382273/in/photostream/

Chris A

Astrogate

[Astrogate]

Last night was clear with a slight haze and average transparency but I was very eager to try out this MCX2 EXView HAD Mono CCD video camera on two of my favorite nebulas while the 86% moon was up high. I am extremely happy with the results when using an Ha filter (Orion 7nm Ha) under conditions like last night presented.

Showing the difference when using a very narrow Ha filter on both the MCX2 ICX418ALK Color and MCX2 EXView HA ICX428ALL Mono CCD video camera. I had the saturation set to zero using the color camera. Notice that the mono camera has much more resolution and detail than the color camera when observing in Hydrogen Alpha. The exposure was decreased by 47% with the M17 image and 43% with M16 image using the mono camera and still much more detail is seen.

M16 in Ha Mono verses Colour

www.flickr.com/photos/47296963@N08/14390071161/in/photostream/

M17 in Ha Mono verses Colour

www.flickr.com/photos/47296963@N08/14206848280/in/photostream/

Chris A

Astrogate

[Paul81]

Really great shots Chris! I have been toying with getting a Ha filter at some point. My main quandary is how much benefit I will get over the CLS filter. Perhaps the more narrow Ha filter would be the one to go for?

[Astrogate]

Thank you very much Paul. The Ha filter is strictly for emission and a few planetary nebulas (not galaxies or star clusters) while one is in heavy light pollution or during a full moon up high. On these objects under those conditions there is no comparison to an Ha verses a CLS LP filter. The Ha filter will provide much better details and contrast compared to your CLS (or my IADS-P2 or Lumicon Deep Sky filter).

Cheers,

Chris A