You can see the cmos clearly by clicking for a larger image. Yes, I mean very clear and large.
I was so happy to see the QHY5 arrived at my doorstep on 13 July 2007. This CMOS camera is designed by Prof. Qiu Hong-Yun for autoguiding and planetary imaging. Its violet hue metallic casing looks very nice and solid. It has a IR filter attached. Below the filter is the CMOS which has 1.30Mpixels and each pixel has an area of 5.2µm x 5.2µm. It has a guider port and a USB port. There’s a red LED too.
2 ports and 1 LED on the bottom of QHY5
Anyway, review on this cmos camera will be made within one weeks time. The curse of new equipment has come, the weather has changed to hazy. A lot of amateur astronomers have this weather curse (normally, cloudy days) after they got their new equipments but mine is due to the forest burning in Indonesia.
Holyshit… The cable bundled with the LPI is totally a shit. Just after using several times (How many times? I forgot…), the computer told me that the USB device is unable to be recognised. This made me extremely frustrated because I was planning to do the collimation the Monday night. I plug in, plug out, reinstall the driver, uninstall the driver and reinstall again. None of them helped. My experience told me it might be the cable problem so I replaced it with a spare USB cable stored in my drawer. The new cable works.
Why can’t Meade choose better cable for their cameras? Astronomical stuffs are so expensive but they included such a lousy cable in the box. Please, every manufacturer please make everything bundled with your product up to the standard. I just recalled, the diagonal bundled with my Meade 8″ LX90 was down.
To master your imaging platform, you’ll have to know the resolution of your setup. Why should we bother about this? Let’s say, if your setup’s resolution is sub arcsec/pixel (measurement unit for resolution), you need a very stable mount, usually a high end German Equatorial Mount (GEM), for this. As the higher the resolution is (the lower the value of the resolution), any minor defect is easily seen. However, you are able to take high resolution images which are always honoured.
To calculate the resolution, follow the formula:
Resolution (arcsecond) = [CCD Pixel Size (micron) ÷ FL (mm)] * 206
Credit to Webfoot at Cloudy Nights forum for providing this formula. 
Right: New QHY2 case
Yes, I am going to get QHY2 as an imager specially for deep sky imaging. QHY2 is designed by Dr.Qiu Hong Yun, a PhD of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument from Beijing Tsing Hua University.
What makes me choose this over Meade DSI II? Let me reveal it when I have it in my hand. 
The CCD of QHY2 is changeable. Therefore, it’s possible for you to opt a higher sentivity monochrome CCD with filter wheel and filters. Now, I’m going to get it with the original colour CCD. It’s the ICX412, a Sony Super HAD CCD that has 3.3 mega pixels in 1/1.8″ CCD array. Its pixel size is 3.45*3.45 which is small enough to tame the short focal length telescope.
(Hey wait, mine is a long one.. Got to get a focal reducer!)
I will do a review on this imager once I have received it, the estimated arrival time is October May June 07. QHY is designing a new case. The new case is done. It’s the one at the right on the picture above.
Continue reading ‘New Imager: QHY2′
Continuing the Pros and Cons of DSLR Astrophotography, Pros and Cons of CCD Imager is here. The chip of the DSLR is not as great as the specially designed CCD imager’s chip. Let’s look at its speciality!
Cooling system
Operating the imager under low temperature allows you to easily capture a library of fixed-temperature dark frames always needed in serious astrophotography.
Left: SBIG’s STL11000M
Noise is also significantly reduced becaused of the low temperature. There is a form of cooling called TEP (Thermo-Electric Power) fixing the temperature at a certain degree kevin. This is the best cooling system ever used.
Continue reading ‘Pros and Cons of CCD Imager’
I’m sure that some of your know what does DSLR stands for. It’s Digital Single Lens Reflex. Let’s straight into the topic this time.
Dual Use
As you see from the left image, DSLR is just like a conventional camera. Therefore, it’s able to take both your family’s photos and astrophotographs. It’s more valuable!
Continue reading ‘Pros and Cons of DSLR Astrophotography’
Isn’t it a GoTo telescope is capable of tracking celestial objects? Why do I need the autoguiding? ![:-\](http://www.astronomynotes.net/smilies/yahoo_question.gif ":-\")
At first, tracking is just similiar to guiding. For instance in the Autostar Suite from Meade, tracking allows you to define a bright spot (centroid) that it (Autostar Suite) will use to anchor images when combining (stacking) them into one image.
Continue reading ‘Autoguiding By Imager’
Don’t you find that most of the high end imagers are made of monochrome CCD? If you don’t believe, just take a look on Meade Deep Sky Imager II Pro (DSI II Pro) as well as its predecessor, the DSI Pro. Obviously, both of them are made of monochrome CCD sensor.
Isn’t the picture captured tasteless without any colour? What are the advantages of monochrome CCD over colour CCD?
Continue reading ‘The Best Imager: Monochrome CCD Imager’
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