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InStruCtIOn Manual
® ™
Orion StarShoot Pro
Deep Space Color Imager
#52084
Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975
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Welcome to the exciting world of astro-imaging. Your new StarShoot™ Pro Deep Space Color Imaging camera is capable of capturing impressive celestial objects like galaxies, star clusters, and nebulae, as well as the planets, Moon, and the Sun (with an optional solar filter). You can showcase spectacular images on your computer, share them on the internet, or print them. The camera’s large 6 mega-pixel array enables full-sized 8"x10" prints, suitable for publishing. Please read this instructi
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Filter.......................................... 26 Color Balance .................................. 27 Stretch ........................................ 28 Recommended Processing Sequence............... 29 Note on File Format.............................. 30 Batch Process.................................. 30 4. using the StarShoot Pro as an autoguider ...... 31 Computer to Mount Connection.................... 33 Autoguider Calibration ........................... 35 Multiple Camera Control For Au
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Figure 1. To use the StarShoot Pro, a telescope, mount, and computer are required. An autoguiding system is recommended. 1. Getting Started Parts list • StarShoot Pro Deep Space Color Imager • 10' USB cable • 12' DC power cable with lighter plug • CD-ROM • Hard carrying case System requirements (refer to Figure 1) telescope The StarShoot Pro can be used with most telescopes compatible with 2" for- mat eyepieces. The camera is simply inserted into a focuser in the same way as a standard eyepiec
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Securing Telescope thumbscrew T-threads 2a 2b Figure 2a. The StarShoot Pro fits into a 2" focuser, just like a standard 2" eyepiece. Firmly tighten the thumbscrew that secures the StarShoot Pro in the focuser. Figure 2b. If your telescope has T-threads, remove the nosepiece from the StarShoot Pro and thread the camera directly onto the telescope. This provides the most secure connection. If your telescope has T-threads for direct camera attachment, a more secure connection can be made. Fir
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Cooling fan Power input USB cable jack Figure 3. The 12VDC power cable and USB cable turn the camera on when plugged in. Mount Deep sky imaging with the StarShoot Pro requires an equatorial mount with a right ascension (R.A.) motor drive. The goal for your mount is to seamlessly track the apparent movement of the sky as the Earth rotates. The tracking must be very accurate, or the object you want to image will drift and blur across the camera’s field of view while the exposure is taken. Ev
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Figure 4. The Launcher provides an easy menu for software installation. • Video Display: 1024 X 768 or higher, 16-bit color or higher • Mouse • Internet Explorer 4 or higher required to display on-line help • High-speed USB 2.0 port Power The StarShoot Pro requires 12 volts DC (12VDC) with approximately 1 ampere of current. Power to the entire camera, including the thermo-electric cooler (TEC), and fan is supplied by the included power cable when plugged into a 12VDC power source (Figur
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5a 5b Figure 5a. When initially connecting the StarShoot Pro to a Windows XP computer, the Found New Hardware Wizard will appear and guide you through driver installation. Figure 5b. When initially connecting the StarShoot Pro to a Windows Vista computer, the Found New Hardware window will appear and guide you through driver installation. 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
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The Camera Control Window Figure 6. automatically appears when the StarShoot Pro is connected to the computer and the Maxim DL Essentials program is started. Note: The StarShoot Pro will not work with USB 1.1. Your computer must have a high-speed USB 2.0 port available. 4. Select No, not this time when Windows asks to automatically search for drivers online and click Next. 5. Select Install from a list or specific location (Advanced) and click Next. 6. Select Search removable media (flopp
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7. A Windows Security window will appear and mention that “Windows can’t verify the publisher of this driver software”. Choose Install this driver software anyway. 8. When the window appears telling you “The software for this device has been successfully installed”, click Close. This completes the driver instal- lation process. 9. Start MaxIm DL Essentials. The camera should be automatically recog- nized, and the Camera Control Window (Figure 6) will appear. Once the driver is installed, the
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Figure 7. Because the StarShoot Pro is sensitive to light, an aperture mask is needed on the telescope for any imaging during daylight. For a refractor, the hole should be centered on the aperture mask. For a reflector, the hole should be off to one side of the aperture mask. 4. Open Maxim DL Essentials by clicking on the icon installed on your com- puter’s desktop. Once open, Essentials should automatically connect to your camera and display the Camera Control Window. 5. Remove the eyepie
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Figure 8. The settings in the Screen Stretch Window greatly determine how an image will appear on your computer screen. screen, you may need to stop-down the aperture of your telescope further. Try making another aperture mask with a diameter of only 1⁄4". 10. Turn the telescope’s focus knob so the focuser drawtube moves slowly inward. The drawtube needs to go approximately 18mm inward from where the eyepiece focuses (for most eyepieces). Look at the computer screen and adjust the focus
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Figure 9. A histogram is a visual representation of the range and Range of brightness levels levels of brightness in an image. Screen Stretch Window The function of the Screen Stretch Window (Figure 8) is to properly map the image brightness levels captured by the camera into corresponding image brightness levels on the computer screen. A typical camera image has each pixel (light detecting site, over six million pixels form a single StarShoot Pro image) represented as a number (from 1 to
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of the mouse. To do this, hold down the Shift key, then left-click and drag the mouse on the image. You’ll find this feature to be a great convenience when fine adjusting the screen stretch to get an image to look its best. Instead of using the Screen Stretch Window, it is faster to use the Quick Stretch facility. This allows you to modify the image appearance instantly with small up/down and left/right movements of the mouse. To do this, hold down the Shift key, then left-click and drag th
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Figure 10. Draw a small box around the star to focus on with your mouse. The next exposure will download a “subframe”, using only the small area you selected which greatly decreases the download time. Focusing Focusing the CCD camera is one of the most critical parts of imaging. It can be challenging, but MaxIm DL Essentials has some helpful features which will assist you when focusing your StarShoot Pro. Before focusing, make sure your mount is polar aligned and tracking. For best r
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Figure 11.The FWHM and Max Pixel in the Camera Control Window help determine the best focus. 8. In the Camera Control Window, in the box below the Mode box, select Focus. Click Expose. The camera will only download the area you previ- ously selected, which makes each image download significantly faster than the whole frame. Note: If the StarShoot Pro is grossly out of focus, no object will appear in the image, not even a blur. Increase the exposure time if needed and patiently move through
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Figure 12. Click Reset in the Subframe box after you have achieved focus. Caution: Once you have achieved focus, be sure to click the Reset button at the bottom of the camera control window, otherwise the camera will crop all your images into a small square! Imaging Deep Sky Objects Capturing impressive images of deep sky objects, such as galaxies, nebu- lae, and star clusters, require long exposures. You will take several individual images and stack them together to form one high-quality re
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5. Select Single in the box under the Mode box and take a 10-20 Second exposure of the deep sky object to ensure it is centered well in your cam- era. Adjust the camera orientation if needed, keeping in mind that you may have to refocus the camera after making the adjustment. Reposition the telescope if needed to center the deep sky object. 6. Select AutoSave in the box under the Mode box in the Camera Control Window. Set the number of images you would like the camera to take under Autosave
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Figure 13. A dark frame contains the background noise. The same background noise appears in your “light” images. Dark frames isolate the noise so it can later be subtracted from your “light” images. 3. Choose Autosave in the box beneath the Mode box. 4. Set the number of dark frames you would like the camera to take under Autosave (3 to 10 will generally suffice, as these will be averaged together) 5. Select the file folder in which you would like to save the dark frames with Folder, a
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Figure 14a. Larger format CCD cameras like the StarShoot Pro reveal vignetting through most telescopes. Vignetting occurs when the edge of the image plane has less illumination than the center. Figure 14b. Dust or other particles on the camera’s optical window can show up as distracting dark shapes in your images. Vignetting Vignetting (Figure 14a) in a telescope reveals edge-darkening in the astro- image. The large CCD chip in the StarShoot Pro can easily detect vignetting through almost an
