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INSTRUCTION MANUAL
® ™
Orion StarShoot
Deep Space Color Imager II
# 5 2 0 8 0
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Welcome to a new world of adventure. Your new StarShoot Deep Space Color Imaging Camera II (SSDSI- II) is capable of capturing detailed, full-color images of astronomical objects. Galaxies, star clusters, and nebu- lae, as well as the planets, Moon, and Sun (with optional solar filter) can all be imaged to create spectacular views on your computer (laptop recommended, see “System Requirements”) which can be saved for emailing or printing later. You’ll find that this relatively inexpensive, y
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Computer T-threads A computer is needed. For astro-imaging in the field at night, a laptop com- puter is highly recommended. Maxim DL Essentials requires Windows 2000, Windows XP, or Windows Vista. The following hardware is also required: • Processor – Pentium™ or equivalent, or higher • Recommended minimum memory size is 64 MB. • Disk Space – 67 MB for program installation, 100 MB swap file recom- mended • Video Display – 800 X 600, 16-bit color or higher. 1024x768 or higher is
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Software Installation Tab To install Maxim DL Essentials Edition: 1. Insert the CD-ROM into the drive. The L a u n c h e r will appear. For Windows Vista computers, the AutoPlay window will appear. Select Run Launcher.exe, then the Launcher will appear. 2. Click Install. - + 3. The InstallShield Wizard will start. Click Next. 4. Read the Maxim DL License Agreement. If you agree with the terms, then select I accept the terms in this license agreement and click Next. 5. You a
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Figure 5b. When initially connecting the SSDSI-II to a Windows Vista computer, the Found New Hardware window will appear and guide you through driver installation. Figure 5a. When initially connecting the SSDSI-II to a Windows 7. When the window appears telling you “The software for this device has XP computer, the Found New Hardware Wizard will appear and been successfully installed”, click Close. This completes the driver instal- guide you through driver installation. lation process.
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Obtaining First Images Getting Started During Daylight To obtain first images (in daylight) with the SSDSI-II, follow these step-by-step instructions: We recommend using the SSDSI-II for the first time during the day. This way, 1. With an eyepiece inserted in the telescope, center and focus an object you can become familiar with the camera and its functions without having to that is approximately 1⁄4 mile away. If you cannot focus your telescope this stumble around in the dark. Setup your tel
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Note: The camera’s field of view is fairly small. It is approximately equivalent to the field of view through the telescope when looking through a typical (i.e. not wide-field) 10mm focal length eyepiece. So make sure the object to be imaged is well centered in the telescope before connecting the SSDSI-II, otherwise it may not appear in the field of view of the camera. 10. Once focused, image orientation can be changed by rotating the camera within the focuser drawtube. Simply loosen the thumbs
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Stretch Window. The red slider arrow corresponds to the Minimum value and the green arrow corresponds to the Maximum value. Simply left-click and then drag each arrow to adjust it to the desired level. The best results are obtained by adjusting the arrows (numbers) until the most pleasing display appears. There are also seven automatic settings in the Screen Stretch Window. Typically, Medium will give good results for deep sky objects, so the default screen stretch setting is Medium. Inste
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4. Focus the camera using the telescope’s focus knob. The focus point for the SSDSI-II will be approximately 15mm inwards from the eyepiece’s focus point. If you are having trouble determining best focus, try focusing on a bright star near the planet. Use the Planet setting in the Screen Stretch Window. You can also use the histogram functions for most accurate focus; this will be explained later (see “Focusing”). Click the Stop button in the Camera Control Window when camera focus is achi
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To start: 9. The Combine Images window will appear. For Align Mode, choose Manual 1 star – shift only. (If you have field rotation due to a poor polar alignment, 1. Acquire the deep sky object into the field of view of your eyepiece, and then you can use the Manual 2 stars align mode.) In the Output box, select center it in the eyepiece’s field of view. Focus the eyepiece with the tele- Average. Make sure the Use Centroid and Auto Next boxes are checked. scope’s focuser. Make sure your equatori
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Important Note: Dark frames (Dark Raw 1x1) should only be subtracted from you take dark frames after you have already taken the light images (using Light Light Raw 1x1 images. If you try to subtract dark frames from images that are Raw 1x1), then you can subtract the averaged dark frame from each individual already color-converted (i.e. Light Color 1x1 images) the resultant image color image before you combine them into a single, final resultant image. will be incorrect . To automatically subtr
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1. Open all “light” images to be stacked in Maxim DL Essentials. Do this with Image Processing the Open command in the File menu. After you have captured and combined individual images (with or without dark 2. Click on one of the opened images, and select Dark Subtract from the frame subtraction) into a single resultant image, you may want to perform Process menu. The averaged dark frame has now been subtracted from some additional image processing to bring out subtle details or to make th
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balance with simple weightings. This is where the Color Balance command (in the Process menu, Figure 15) comes in handy to touch up the resultant colors in your images. Use the Preview Image to see how altering these parameters will affect your image (or click the Full Screen button to see the changes applied to your full image). Color images from CCD cameras typically require a background level adjust- ment. This is accomplished by bringing the background level (or bias) in each color plan
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Recommended Processing Sequence What is the best order to apply the processing functions in? Here is a recom- mended sequence: 1. Dark Subtract 2. Convert Raw to Color 3. Make Pixels Square 4. Combine 5. Filter 6. Color Balance 7. Stretch For convenience, you can Make Pixels Square after the combine, unless align- ment requires rotating the images (i.e. Manual 2 stars is used as the Align Mode in the Combine Images window). If you need to rotate the images by more than a small amount, then you
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all saved data will be kept intact. If another Size Format is utilized, there may Using The SSDSI-II As An Autoguider be some loss of data, especially when saving combined images. A great feature of the SSDSI-II is its ability to be used as an autoguider for tele- Batch Process scope mounts. You can use the SSDSI-II to autoguide a mount while images Batch Process can be used to process multiple images simultaneously using are being taken with another camera, such as a DSLR or another SSDSI-II
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Computer to Mount Connection In order for autoguiding with the SSDSI-II to work, you need a way to send commands from the computer to the telescope mount. This is generally done with a cable connecting the computer’s serial (COM) port to the mount’s auto- guider jack; this cable is generally mount specific, so contact the dealer you purchased your mount from for the proper cable for your mount. If your telescope mount is supported by the ASCOM platform, it is a simple task to setup the autogu
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Some telescope mounts, such as the Orion Atlas EQ-G and Sirius EQ-G, uti- 4. Maxim DL Essentials needs to know how fast the telescope moves in right lize an “ST-4 compatible” autoguider jack. For easiest autoguiding with these ascension (R.A.) and declination (Dec.) when the autoguider commands mounts, we recommend purchasing the optional USB Guide Port interface are issued. To do this, the software will Calibrate the mount by moving it (GPUSB). This adapter box will translate the autoguiding
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You are now ready to take a long-exposure image through the main telescope Other Features Of Maxim DL and imaging camera. The SSDSI-II will continuously send small correction factors to the mount’s motor drive to insure steady and accurate tracking Essentials throughout the duration of the exposure, however long that may be. Edit Menu Other Autoguiding Notes: Flip - Flips image orientation. “Folds” image about vertical center. • If you are using a German equatorial mount you must calibrate
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Window Menu If your equatorial mount uses a polar axis finder scope, we highly recom- mend utilizing it for polar alignment. If not, a technique known as the “drift New Window – This creates a second view of the currently selected image. method” of polar alignment has been used for many years, and can achieve The new view can be independently panned and zoomed, but will have the an extremely accurate polar alignment. Unfortunately it is very time consum- same stretch as the original window. i
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Focusing the camera can not. Keep these factors in mind when choosing an observing site for astronomical imaging. One of the hardest things to do in imaging is achieving good focus. You can simply watch the computer screen to focus (Focus in the Camera Control For the best astro-images, we recommend finding a location with dry air, some Window), but you can focus “by the numbers” on a bright star to get the best altitude, and away from city or streetlights. Even a nearby hilltop in the coun-
