Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Starlight Xpress Ltd SXVF-H16 CCD camera user manual Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress CCD camera. We hope that you will be very satisfied with the results. The SXVF-H16 is a high-resolution cooled CCD camera, especially designed for astronomical imaging. The SXVF-H16 uses a Kodak Interline CCD, with 2048 x 2048 pixels in a 15.1mm x 15.1mm active area.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Please take a few minutes to study the contents of this manual, which will help you to get the camera into operation quickly and without problems. I am sure that you want to see some results as soon as possible, so please move on to the ‘Quick Start’ section, which follows. A more detailed description of imaging techniques will be found in a later part of this manual.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Connect the miniature 4 way power plug to the socket on the rear of the camera and screw the retaining ring into place. The LED on the rear of the camera will light a dim yellow. The other connections should not be attached until after the software has been installed. Installing the software: Switch on the computer and allow it to ‘boot up’. Once you have the system ready to run, insert the program disk into your CD drive and select ‘Setup.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 You now need to set up the camera control defaults (shown above), as follows: Start SXV-H16 by clicking on the icon and select the ‘File’ menu. Now select ‘Set program defaults’ and a window, which contains the various software settings, will appear.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 2) Create a ‘Pin hole’ lens by sticking a sheet of aluminium baking foil over the end of the 1.25” adaptor and pricking its centre with a small pin. If you use a normal lens, then stop it down to the smallest aperture number possible (usually F22) as this will minimise focus problems and keep the light level reasonable for daytime testing. The pin hole needs no such adjustments and will work immediately, although somewhat fuzzily.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Point the camera + lens or pinhole towards a well-lit and clearly defined object some distance away. Now click on the camera icon in the toolbar of the SXV-H16 software and the camera control panel will appear (see above). Select an exposure time of 0.1 seconds and press ‘Take photo’. After the exposure and download have completed (between 1 and 3 seconds) an image of some kind will appear on the computer monitor.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 3) If you cannot find any way of making the camera work, please try using it with another computer. This will confirm that the camera is OK, or otherwise, and you can then decide how to proceed. Also check on our web site to see if there are any updates or information about your camera software that might help. The message board might prove useful to ask for help with getting your camera operating properly.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 enough to optimise the focus setting. An additional complication is the need to add various accessories between the camera and telescope in order that the image scale is suitable for the subject being imaged and (sometimes) to include a ‘flip mirror’ finder unit for visual object location. A simple, but invaluable device, is the ‘par-focal eyepiece’.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 be made, so that the image can be centred properly in the eyepiece and CCD fields, which are not necessarily coincident when you first buy your unit! Opinions vary as to the utility of flip mirrors. They are a convenient way to find and focus, but they add quite a bit of extra length between the camera and telescope. This can be very inconvenient with Newtonians, and not a lot better with SCTs, especially if the assembly is somewhat flexible.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 In the case of the SXVF-H16 and a 2 arc seconds per pixel resolution, we get F = 0.0074 * 205920 / 2 = 762mm For a 200mm SCT, this is an F ratio of 762 / 200 = F3.8, which is too short to be achieved with the Meade F6.3 converter, but a slightly longer focal length will not be a problem. Any F ratio from about F4 to F6 will give good results and you might try experimenting with the camera to reducer spacing to optimise the performance.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 now display a continuous series of 100 x 100 pixel images in the focus window and you should see your selected star appear somewhere close to the centre. A ‘peak value’ (the value of the brightest pixel) will also be shown in the adjacent text box and this can be used as an indication of the focus accuracy. Although the peak value is sensitive to vibration and seeing, it tends towards a maximum as the focus is optimised.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 take another 60 second exposure. This image will be a picture of the dark signal generated during your exposure and it should be saved with your image for use in processing the picture. The SXVF-H16 generates very little dark signal and so dark frames are not essential for short exposures of less than a few minutes, but it is a good idea to record at least one for each exposure time used during an imaging session.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 2) The resulting image will probably look faint and dull, with a bright background due to light pollution. It is now time to process the ‘luminance’ (brightness and contrast) of the image to get the best visual appearance. First, use the ‘Normal’ contrast stretch to darken the background by setting the ‘Black’ slider just below the main peak of the histogram.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 image. Strong ‘High Pass’ filters are usually not a good idea with deep sky images, as the noise will be strongly increased and dark rings will appear around the stars, but a ‘Median’ filter can remove odd speckles and a mild ‘Unsharp Mask’ (Radius 3, Power 1) will sharpen without too much increase in noise. Another thing to try is the summing several images for a better signal to noise ratio.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 very nice images of large objects, such as M31, M42, M45 etc. If you cannot obtain a large IR blocker for the front of the lens, it is often quite acceptable to place a small one behind the lens, inside the adaptor tube. Taking pictures of the planets: Planetary imaging is in many ways quite different from deep sky imaging.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Processing a planetary image: Planetary images have one major advantage over deep sky images, when you come to process them – they are MUCH brighter, with a correspondingly better signal to noise ratio. This means that aggressive sharpening filters may be used without making the result look very noisy and so some of the effects of poor seeing can be neutralised. A raw image Try applying an ‘Unsharp Mask’ filter with a radius of 5 and a power of 5.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 As a finishing touch, the application of a Median filter or a Weighted Mean Low Pass filter can be useful to smooth out the high frequency noise after a strong Unsharp Mask. As with deep-sky images, it is advantageous to sum planetary images together to improve the signal to noise ratio. In this case, the ‘averaging’ option should always be used, or the result is likely to exceed the dynamic range of the software and saturate the highlights.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 show some vignetting at the edges of the field, especially when focal reducers are used. This causes a brighter centre to show in images, especially when there is a lot of sky light to illuminate the field. If dust motes are your main problem, it is best to clean the camera window, rather than to rely on a flat field to remove the do-nuts. Flat fields always increase the noise in an image and so physical dust removal is the best option.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 ******************************************************************** The accessory ports The SXVF-H16 is provided with two ports for use with accessories. The Autoguider output port is a 6 way RJ11 socket, which is compatible with the standard autoguider input of most telescope mounts. It provides 4 active-low opto-isolator outputs and a common return line, capable of sinking a minimum of 5mA per output.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 an 80mm aperture F5, inexpensive refractor as a guide ‘scope, but a shorter focal length lens will make more guide stars available in any given region of sky (See the picture below). To use the autoguider, first orient it so that the connector plug is roughly parallel to the declination axis of your mount.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 To use the autoguider, please proceed as follows: 1) Having started the SXVF-H16 software, open the autoguider control panel by clicking on the autoguider menu button. The autoguider control panel with a guide star selected 2) Press the ‘Start’ button and a series of 1 second exposure guider images will begin to appear in the picture frame.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 calculations. The training will also determine the angle at which the guide camera is oriented with respect to the RA and Dec axes. If you do not wish to train the system at this time, the default values of 6 pixels per second will serve as a starting point. 9) Now press ‘Go to main camera’ and the guider control panel will be replaced by the camera control panel.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 ********************************************************************* Camera maintenance: Very little maintenance is needed to keep the SXVF-H16 in excellent operating order, however two problems, which are common to all CCD equipment, are likely to show up on occasion. These are dust and condensation. Removing Dust: 1) Dust can be deposited on either the optical window (not a big problem to cure), or on the CCD faceplate (difficult to eliminate entirely).
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 2) Remove the two M3 screws from the camera back plate and ease the plate out of the camera body. You may need to press down with a finger on the USB socket while pulling up on the camera barrel to overcome the friction. 3) Withdraw the body cylinder and unscrew the two long spacer pillars from the heat sink plate assembly. The SXV-H9 is shown, but all the SXV cameras are similar in design.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Dealing with condensation: The SXVF-H16 is designed to avoid condensation by minimising the volume of air trapped within the CCD cavity. This normally works well, but storage of the camera in a humid location can lead to the trapped air becoming moist by diffusion through the optical window mounting thread etc. and result in condensation on the CCD window.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 ********************************************************************* Some details of the camera and CCD characteristics CCD type: Kodak KAI 4021 interline CCD imager. CCD size: Active area 15.1 x 15.1mm Pixel size: 7.4 x 7.4uM QE peak: approx. 55% at 500nM Spectral response: Dark signal: Typically 0.01 e per sec at 10C body temperature Power consumption: 220v / 110v AC @ 12 watts max.
Handbook for the SXVF-H16 Issue 1 August 2006 Dear User, Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress CCD Imaging System. We are confident that you will gain much satisfaction from this equipment, but please read carefully the accompanying instruction manual to ensure that you achieve the best performance that is capable of providing. As with most sophisticated equipment a certain amount of routine maintenance is necessary to keep the equipment operating at its optimum performance.
