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InStruCtIOn MAnuAl
® ™
Orion Parsec Series
Astronomical Imaging Cameras
Parsec 8300C (Color) #52075
Parsec 8300M (Monochrome) #52077
Parsec 10100C (Color) #52078
#52078
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IN 383 Rev. B 11/11
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table of Contents 1. Introduction ........................... 4 6. Multiple Camera Control for Autoguiding... 34 1.1. The Parsec 8300 .............................. 4 6.1. Autoguider Calibration ......................... 34 1.2. The Parsec 10100C............................ 4 7. Other Features Of MaxIm Dl ............ 37 1.3. Feature Highlights ............................. 5 7.1. Information Window ........................... 37 2. Getting Started ........................ 6 7.2. Night Vision ..
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1. Introduction Welcome to the exciting world of astro-imaging. Your new ™ Parsec Astronomical Imaging Camera is capable of captur- Tripod adapter ing professional quality astro-images of your favorite celestial objects. You can showcase spectacular images on your com- LED 2 puter, share them on the internet, or print them. The camera’s Power port USB port large 8.3 mega-pixel array provides very high resolution imag- es which are great for publishing in large prints. LED 1 Please read this i
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Parsec lED Status Indicators Hard carrying case lED 1 lED 2 On/Idle Solid Blink Exposing Off Blink Reading Solid Solid Parsec 8300 Downloading Solid Blink Figure 2. The Parsec’s LED status indicators USB cable CD-ROM DC power cable with lighter plug 2" nosepiece (camera ships with nosepiece attached) Figure 4. Parts list Figure 3.1. The shutter is free to move Figure 3.2. The shutter resets its when the Parsec is off. position and holds firmly in place when the Parsec is powered on. • LED
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The camera’s pixel size and sensitivity make the Parsec suitable for most tele- Imaging in the field usually requires the scopes. For telescopes with very long focal lengths (2000mm and greater), you use of a portable field battery to sup- can optionally bin 2x2 (see section 2. Astronomical Imaging) to utilize greater ply power, or you can use a 110VAC sensitivity and obtain sharper images at the expense of resolution. Note that the to 12VDC power converter if you have Parsec 8300C (color) ca
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For the most detail regarding all of the features in MaxIm DL, please con- sult the comprehensive help tutorial in MaxIm’s Help Topics. The following section of the manual will walk you through the basic features mostly found in the Camera Control Window. The Parsec includes a free 60-day trial Figure 7. Access the Camera Control Window from the View menu, or pressing Ctrl + Figure 9.1. The Setup tab in the of MaxIm DL 5 Pro. Start by opening W, or selecting the icon. Camera Control Win
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Figure 11. The Expose tab using the Exposure Preset default settings in Find Star. Figure 10. Select Orion Parsec in the pull down menu. telescope’s focus and adjust the exposure time as needed to get a 3. In the Setup tab in MaxIm DL’s Camera Control Window, select Setup focused image. Camera. Locate the Orion Parsec in the dropdown list and click OK 4. Look at the Pixel value in the (Figure 10). Information window while the 4. Click Connect and your Parsec will connect to MaxIm DL. mouse
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arrow button next to the preset name to manage your presets, including Update Current Preset, and Save As New Preset. See MaxIm DL’s Help Topics for more detailed information. readout Mode In the Expose Tab, select Normal for the best image quality, and Fast for a Range of brightness levels quicker image download. Figure 13. The Screen Stretch Frame t ype Window is a histogram that allows you to Choose, Light (Raw or Color for the adjust the apparent brightness levels of an image on you
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4.1. Focusing Focusing the CCD camera is one of the most critical parts of imaging. It can be challenging, but MaxIm DL has some helpful features which will assist you when focusing your Parsec. Before focusing, make sure your mount is polar aligned and tracking. For best results, we recommend focusing on a star at least 30° above the horizon (or higher). Follow these steps to achieve an accurate focus: 1. Find and center a moderately bright star through your finder scope. Try to find a sta
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a fainter star. Paying attention to these values will help you get a very accurate focus, far better than simply looking at the star image on your screen. 7. Click Stop once you reach the best focus and click Reset in the Subframe section at the Figure 17.1. Turn the Coolers on. bottom of the Camera Control window. Before proceeding to take images, switch back to the desired Exposure Preset. Note: Due to atmospheric seeing condi- tions, you may notice significant fluctu- ation in the F
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Figure 18.1. The Autosave Setup window sets all of your options to autosave your image in a sequence. sures of 60 seconds or more also require autoguiding with a separate camera. The Orion StarShoot AutoGuider can be operated with the Parsec in MaxIm DL. To start: 1. Acquire and center the deep sky object into the field of view of your eyepiece. If you are using a mount with an accurate computerized go-to system, you can keep the camera installed in your telescope’s focuser without using th
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Figure 18.2. Select Set Image Save Path. 7. Select the file folder in which you would like to save the images with Figure 20. Set the Type to Dark in the Autosave Setup window. Select Image Save Path found by clicking the arrow in the Autosave (background noise level), read noise (noise introduced during camera readout and Setup window (Figure 18.2) download) and hot pixels (bright dots in the image). All of this noise exists in your and set the name of the file in raw astro-image too, whic
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2. Point the telescope at a uniform and featureless light source, like the sky Flat Fields at dusk or dawn, or a blank white sheet of paper. Make sure the camera A flat field is an image taken with orientation is exactly the same as it is or was for astro-imaging (Although the uniform featureless light entering the telescope is pointing at a featureless surface, the focus and orientation must telescope, such as a blue sky in the be set as it normally would be for astro-images.) early morn
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Figure 22.1. Before your images are Figure 22.2. Combining multiple deep combined, an individual deep space image space images greatly increases the detail will have more noise and less detail. in the resulting combined image Each individual deep sky image is faint and has a noticeable amount of noise. Combining the individual deep sky images eliminates the noise and enhances the detail in the deep sky object by improving the signal to noise ratio. The more imag- es you combine, the better t
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6. The Tree View on the left side of 3. Select Orion Parsec High Quality the Stack dialog will now show all in the Select Camera pull down the image files you have selected, menu (Figure 24). arranged into groups according to 4. Click OK and the image should their FITS header. You can open appear in color. You can make the groups to view the files by several adjustments to the Color clicking on the + sign. If you would Balance if needed (see “Color like to view an individual file, r
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10. You can select one of the images command before opening them with the Open command. Alternatively, you to be the Reference Image, can simply drag and drop them from Windows Explorer onto the MaxIm DL using the right-click menu. This window. image will not be shifted during Tip: Once you have all the settings the way you like them, you can simply dump alignment; all other images will be in the images and click the Go button. aligned to it. If you do not select You can also drag-and-drop
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detail finer than the pixel size of the Preview Image to see how altering these parameters will affect your image the frames being combined. The (or click the Full Screen button to see the changes applied to your full image). technique is described at http:// Note for the Parsec 8300M: Before any color balance adjustment can be made, xxx.lanl.gov/abs/astro-ph/9808087. you must first Combine Color to each individual LRGB or RGB images. Color images from CCD cameras typically require a backgroun
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information from levels 1 to 254 and almost all the brightness information at level 255. Thus a white image results. If you plan to do all image processing within MaxIm DL Edition (or the optional full version of MaxIm DL), saving images in the FITS (.fit) File Format using the IEEE Float Size Format is recommended. This ensures that all saved data will be kept intact. If another Size Format is utilized, there may be some loss of data, especially when saving combined images. 6. Multiple Cam
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does not move, check the Settings. Remember, you have to set up a • On most telescopes, the Right Ascension drive likes to have some load method for sending the autoguider commands to the telescope! pushing against sidereal tracking. If the mount is balanced such that it is pulling the mount forwards slightly, the gear teeth may bounce back and 11. The star should move in an L shape. If it does not move enough, a warning forth resulting in terrible guiding that cannot be corrected by an aut
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Red helps maintain the human eye’s dark adaptation, Blue is the color to which over time must be observed. The basic idea is to let the telescope mount track most CCD cameras are least sensitive, and Dim maintains the color display but while watching a star to see which way the star drifts. Note the direction of the drift, reduces the overall intensity to about one-eighth normal. and correct by moving the mount in the appropriate direction. • In red mode, all menus, dialog boxes, etc., are sw
