User manual SBIG ST-5C

[. . . ] Operating Manual for the Model ST-5C Advanced CCD Camera Santa Barbara Instrument Group Santa Barbara Instrument Group 1482 East Valley Road · Suite 33 PO Box 50437 Santa Barbara, CA 93150 PHN (805) 969-1851 (FAX) (805) 969-4069 Email: sbig@sbig. com Home page: www. sbig. com Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate radio frequency energy and if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. [. . . ] Under DOS you use the Create Directory command in the File menu to make a new directory for our images. Execute the command and when it asks you for a directory name type CCD. 4 Hit Enter to create the directory. Finally, get back to the main menu and use the Save command in the File menu. Type a name for the image (that follows your OS naming convention). Then use the Open command in the File menu and look for your name there. Notice the displayed header data has the file name you gave it, the date and time setting of your computer as well as exposure time and temperature, etc. Some other parameters were not yet set by you 3 4 You might think the pixel values would be clustered around 0 counts but instead they are clustered around 100. That's because the CCDOPS software adds 100 counts to the dark subtracted image to stop pixels from going below zero when the two images are subtracted. Just remember that 100 counts represents zero signal. As a convenience the software makes up directory names for you by adding the current month and day to DATA. You can use this name or type in your own name. Page 16 Section 2 - The First Day with the Camera and may be incorrect. Refer to the CCDOPS manual and the Telescope Setup and Edit Parameters commands for more on this. This data will always be connected with the saved image as long as it is viewed by any CCDOPS software such as a friend's or a magazine's. 5 Repeat the above procedures to capture, display and save images until you are confident enough to take the next step of coupling your CCD camera to a telescope at night. This time, before you exit the software, use the Shutdown command in the camera menu. You want to do this before you pull the power to the CPU so that it has a chance to let the cooler warm up a bit before the power is turned off. After using the Shutdown command give the CPU 30 seconds or so before pulling the power. If you try to exit the software with the cooling on, the software will prompt you to shut it down first. 2. 2. The First Night with the Camera Focusing a CCD camera can be a tedious operation, so a few hints should be followed. Before using the software to focus the camera the first time, you should place a diffuser (such as scotch tape, wax paper or ground glass) at the approximate location of the CCD's sensitive surface behind the eyepiece tube and focus the telescope on the moon, a bright planet , star, or a distant street lamp. This preliminary step will save you much time in initially finding focus. The approximate distance behind the eyepiece tube for your CCD camera is 0. 660 inches as shown in the figure below. Diffuser Telescope 0. 660 Back Focus 0. 660 CCD Camera Figure 2. 2 - Camera Back Focus Your CCD camera has a T-Thread on the front and is supplied with a screw-in 1. 25 inch nosepiece. Most users will find simply inserting the nosepiece into the telescope focuser in place of the eyepiece the most convenient. Using the camera with other T-Thread accessories like eyepiece projection adapters is also possible. [. . . ] 1, 6 Double Correlated Sampling (def). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 dynamic range. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Establish COM Link Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 eyepiece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 eyepiece projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 field operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 film. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 finding objects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 FITS format (def) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 flat field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Flat Field (def). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Focal Reducer (def). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 focus Dim mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Planet mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Focusing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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