How To Use As Imager for DSO

general_t

Hi,

Total Newb!

I have used the ASI120MC-S for some planetary shots. I would like to try it on DSO's but cannot figure out how to use it for this? How do you set it to do a simple 20 - 30 sec exposure of a DSO?

I can only find settings for planets/solar.

Many Thanks

riklaunim

20-30 sec is not a good idea for such planetary camera. Instead you would do hundreds if not thousand 1-few sec exposed frames. The camera is uncooled, high gain camera and very long exposures is something it won't do very nicely or at all.

Pick a globular cluster or very surface bright planetary nebula and try it :)

general_t

Thanks Riklaunim,

I'm using FireCapture. So do you just use one of the presets for Planetary (ie Jupiter) and just adjust the exposure/gain to 1-2 secs and start recording?

Thanks

riklaunim

You can use it or via ASCOM driver one of DS capture applications.

If you want to process it with planetary apps then use SER (or AVI) in FireCapture. If you want to process it with DS apps then capture a folder of TIFF/FITS files.

You will also need dark and flat frames to limit the camera noise.

general_t

Thanks Riklaunim :)