In the last few weeks I’ve:

• Installed the Atik 16ic as the main imaging camera
• Installed the QHY5 as my guide camera with all the driver issues associated with it!
• Adjusted the primary collimation on the main scope

It may not sound like much but those few changes have taken time to get right and I’ll need more clear nights before I’m happy with the results.

I’ve found that if I keep my guide camera exposures to 0.5 seconds I don’t get too much movement and I’ve been able to take images as long as 5mins.  After stacking the 5min exposures in DSS (Deep Sky Stacker) I thought the focus was out but it seems there’s just too much movement and the resulting stack looks more blurred than the individual frames.

I may suggest on the EQMOD forum that the software could include a timed shutdown option as I leave the system imaging overnight and hope the scope doesn’t get jammed against anything before I awake and rescue it.  So far I haven’t had any issues but if I could issue a “Park at 4:30am” command I’d feel a lot happier and may even sleep longer :).

Images

So here are a few images from the last 2 or 3 nights. All have been stacked in DSS with curves and levels in Photoshop:

This was 20 seconds with the lens cover on. I was hoping for a completely black image and was very surprised to find this light area across the image. I ran several test frames using  ArtemisCapture and this image was one of the last when the camera had been on for several minutes. The image was taken indoors, the room temperature was around 20°C any feedback would be very helpful.

As well as the Atik 16IC I was surprised to have another SPC900NC under the tree which is just what I need for planetary work. Since modifying my first SPC900 I’ve found it’s great for the long exposure work but a bit hit and miss in video mode. I think this is down to me not connecting the ground of the camera to the ground of the parallel port – but that’s another story.

Anyway, in order to get the camera into the 1.25″ eyepiece tube I need to fit an adapter, which I happen to have from my first camera which is now rehoused. The process is very simple and I’ve taken some photos to demonstrate how:

Firstly I removed the stand from the back of the camera by gently twisting it.

Next you need to remove the light grey cap which surrounds the lens.

Ease a small screwdriver into the gap between the cap and the camera body and it’ll pop out.


This picture shows the grey cover removed and the black lens assembly in place. The lens is unsrewed with your fingers, no fancy tools required.

You can see a scratch where I wasn’t too careful with the screwdriver – oops.

Here the lens has been unscrewed clearly showing the IR filter which looks pink on the back of the lens.

I’ve tweaked the image to show the CCD.

Finally screw the 1.25″ eyepiece adapter into the camera. Don’t forget the CCD is now exposed so if you have a cap to cover the end of the adapter now would be a good time to fit it. I don’t have a cap but my balow lens does so I leave it attached to the camera when not in use.


This is not a “modded” camera in the true sense as the circuitry hasn’t been moddified but with the simple alteration the camera is now ready to point at Mars on the next clear night.

I lifted the lid on the camera and removed the 1.25″ eyepiece adapter to release the camera board from the housing. There’s only one wire soldered to this board which is variable boost as documented elsewhere on this site. This yellow wire connects to a switch then through a variable resister and fixed resister to ground.  I checked the solder joint by picking at it with a pointy probe. No movement detected. I then inspected the connector I use to link the yellow wire to the wire which comes from the switch, again everything looked ok.

I powered up the camera, linked it to K3CCDTools and got the same image I had the other night. Covering the CCD causes the light areas to darken so it looks like something is going on. A quick check with the multimeter confirmed 12v at the power connector, so the issue is on the board rather than with the connections. I use the same frame grabber with my ICE camera so I know that’s ok.

I powered off and set about reconnecting the board to the case using the eyepiece adapter. I now noticed the camera board was very hot to touch, not just the lens holder which acts as a heat sink, but the whole board. I think I just found my problem. Now I reconnected the power while watching the output on the screen, the image appeared normal for a split second then returned to a smudgy blur.

So it seems like the camera is unusable. There’s been a thread on QCUIAG lately regarding peltier coolers, I wonder if the camera would work if I could keep the temperature down.  Seems like another project has just taken shape

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I’ve also ordered a Baader UV/IR Blocking filter from Rother Valley Optics which should arrive early next week. I chose RVO as there was no delivery charge and the item was the same price as most other outlets.

I’m hoping this filter will help with planetary detail although it seems my original reason for wanting it, to reduce star bloat, is not an issue with a Newtonian scope.

Star bloat occurs when lenses cannot focus all frequencies (colours) of light to a single point with IR being the main cause of this. Mirrors, as in the Newtonian scope, are able to focus all frequencies to a single point and therefore are not prone to “bloat”. I’ve been advised that an IR filter will however help me to capture more realistic colours and will certainly help if I put it onto the guidescope. Although this again is a contentious issue with some people preferring a bloated star to guide on as it’s easier to track.

As soon as I found this I resoldered the joint replacing the stiff wire with a more flexible multi strand type to prevent stress on the joint. This is important as the solder pad is now damaged and there’s not much left to solder the wire onto.

I managed to reassemble the camera without introducing further faults and a quick test showed the issue has been resolved.

The SPC900NC is my best planetary camera as well as being my only LX camera, so now that it’s workingI hope I get a clear night to try for Jupiter again. I had a look at the collimation on my scope last night and adjusted the secodary which appeared to have been a little off centre. I think the last time I adjusted it was during a late session and I must have got it close and left it. The collimating cap I have with a small central hole that fits into the eyepiece holder requires your eye to be placed very near to the hole in order to check for concentric circles in the secondary reflections. As I wear glasses this is not possible and without the glasses I can’t see to the bottom of the telescope tube! Perhaps I should collimate with a camera in the eyepiece holder?

Anyway, I’ll document my next visit to the patio and I’ll let you know if the mirrors are aligned or not.

I finally plucked up the courage to open the Philips SPC900NC and had a good look at the insides before deciding to go ahead with the mod. The instructions I followed here were very good but left me with a few questions. It’s not clear how the connection to the parallel port is made and half way through the instructions there’s a mention of a manual switch which again is not very clear.

I’ll draw up a cicuit diagram when I get a minute to help others who get this far then panic. Luckily I’ve done some work with parallel interfaces before, an intruder detection system and a robot controller, but that was years ago. I found a 25 pin D connector amongst the many bits of junk that I’ve collected over the years, it was actually an old COM2 face plate of an ancient PC, and I dug out some CAT5 cable that I had left over from cabling the house.

Making the LX mod involved soldering 6 wires onto some easy to see pads which turned out to be very easy indeed. The tricky part was trying to get everything back into the original case, but I got there eventually. I’ll get a bigger box soon to rehouse the camera which hopefully will allow me to add some cooling. I’ve not connected the switch wires as unplugging the parallel cable restores the camera back to video mode. If you do the same then you only need to solder the pin and pad 8/13 and +5v and gnd.

Testing the mod was another matter, I was using the free version of K3CCDTools but had some trouble getting the camera to produce any image and started to worry that using the 4016 instead of the 4066 was not a good idea. I ordered the full version of K3CCDTools3 from Peter Katreniak and he sent the unlock codes the following day.

I’ve changed this image from the original after experimenting with the settings

Having played with the mount the last time out I’m optimistic that next time I will be able to get some images without worrying about how to align, balance, track etc etc.

I’m using this wet weather to allow me to investigate a long exposure mod for the Phillips SPC900. I’ve found this site really useful:Mathias Meijer, and have built the dead bug using a 4016 I had already. Before implementing the mod I’m trying to find out if I need to make any further changes because I’ve used the 4016 and not the 4066. The chips are pin compatible but I believe the 4016 has a higher “on” resistance. I also had a rummage around for a 25pin D-type connector to make the parallel port plug, but couldn’t find one. As soon as I have the all the parts I’ll post something here.

I’ll let you know how I get on.