Orion 52018 StarShoot Solar System Instruction Manual

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Orion® StarShoot™ Solar System

Color Imaging Camera III

#52018

INSTRUCTION MANUAL

Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975

Customer Support (800) 676-1343

E-mail: support@telescope.com

Corporate Offices (831) 763-7000

89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

IN 349 Rev. C 06/10

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Welcome to a new world of adventure. Your new StarShoot Solar System Color Imaging Camera III (SSSSI-III) is capable of capturing detailed, full-color images of astronomical objects in our solar system. The planets, Moon, and Sun (with optional solar ﬁlter) can all be imaged to create spectacular views on your computer which can be saved for emailing or printing later. The SSSSI-IIII can even be used during the day to take images of terrestrial subjects. You’ll ﬁnd that this inexpensive, yet easy to use, camera will enhance all of your journeys with your telescope.

Please read this instruction manual before attempting to use the camera or install the needed software. For the most detailed information on speciﬁc camera and software functions, consult the MaxIm DL Essentials Help menu.

Parts List

• StarShootSolarSystemColorImagingCameraIII

•USBCable

• Parfocalring

• CD-ROM

System Requirements (refer to Figure 1)

Telescope

The SSSSI-III can be used with virtually any telescope that is compatible with

1.25" format eyepieces. The camera simply is inserted into a focuser in the same way as a standard eyepiece (Figure 2). If you use a star diagonal, you should remove it. In order to reach focus, the telescope must have approximately 0.2" (6mm) of inward focus travel relative to where a standard eyepiece focuses. If your telescope does not have enough inward focus travel, you will need to use and optional 1.25" barlow lens to extend the telescope’s focal plane to the camera’s imaging plane.

For most types of astro-imaging with the SSSSI-III, using a telescope with a focal length of at least 1000mm is recommended. Otherwise, the image scale may be too small. To increase the effective focal length of your system, use a barlow lens or other type of tele-extender lens.

Figure 1.

To use the SSSSI-III, a telescope, mount, and computer are required.

Figure 2. The SSSSI-III ﬁts into 1.25" focusers, just like a standard 1.25" eyepiece.

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Mount

An equatorial mount is not absolutely required for imaging with the SSSSI-III, as the maximum exposure time is a fraction of a second, too short for astro-

nomicalobjectsto driftsignicantlyduringthe exposure.Useasturdymount

that is appropriately sized for the telescope tube being used.

For obtaining the best planetary images, however, we do recommend an equatorial mount. Planetary imaging requires combining many individual images, and having an equatorial mount will prevent the planet from drifting out of the ﬁeld of view of the camera during the time it takes to acquire the large number of images necessary. A motor drive (single-axis) is recommended too.

Computer

A computer is also needed. For astro-imaging in the ﬁeld at night, a laptop computer is highly recommended. MaxIm DL Essentials requires Windows XP or Vista.

The following hardware is required:

• Processor–PentiumIII™orequivalent,orhigher

• Recommendedminimummemorysizeis256MB.

• DiskSpace–100MBminimum,500MBormorerecommendedfor

saving images.

• VideoDisplay–800X600,16-bitcolororhigher.1024x768orhigheris

recommended.

• Mouse

• InternetExplorer4orhigherrequiredtodisplayon-linehelp

• HighSpeedUSB2.0port

Software and Driver Installation

Before the camera can be used, software and a camera driver must be installed onto your computer. Turn on your computer and allow the Windows operating system to load as normal. Insert the included CD-ROM into your computer’s CD-ROM drive, and the Launcher will appear (Figure 3). This allows you to install the MaxIm DL Essentials software, and the Orion StarShoot Solar System Imager camera driver.

Software Installation

1. Insert the CD-ROM into the drive. The Launcher will appear. If you are using Windows Vista, the AutoPlay window will appear ﬁrst. Select

Run Launcher.exe.

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 are now ready to install. Click Install. The installation will proceed.

6. Microsoft DirectX 9 or higher is required. Click Yes to install the update.

7. The installation is now complete. Click the Finish button.

Camera Driver Installation

Now that the software is installed, the camera driver must also be installed. Do not connect the SSSSI-III to your computer yet.

1. Return to the Launcher and click Install SS Camera.

2. The InstallShield Wizard appears. Click Next.

3. The installation will commence.

Figure 3.

The Launcher provides an

easy menu for software installation.

Figure 4. When initially

connecting the SSSSI-III to a computer, a Found New Hardware notiﬁcation will appear and automatically install the camera to your computer.

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4. When the wizard is complete, click Finish. This has installed the driver software; next we must install the camera itself.

5. Pluginthecameraintoyourcomputer’sUSBport.

6. A Found New Hardware notiﬁcation will appear in your Windows task bar (Figure 4).

7. Wait a few moments and the camera will automatically install on your computer. When Device Installed Successfully notiﬁcation appears you will be ready to use the camera.

8. Open MaxIm DL Essentials from the icon on your desktop. The Live Video and Camera Control Window should appear.

Once the driver is installed, the computer will recognize the SSSSI-III whenever it is plugged in.

Getting Started During Daylight

We recommend using the SSSSI-III for the ﬁrst time during the day. This way, you can become familiar with the camera and its functions without having to stumble around in the dark. Setup your telescope and mount so the optical tube is pointing at an object at least a couple of hundred feet away. Insert an eyepiece and focus as you normally would.

To obtain ﬁrst images with the SSSSI-III, follow these step-by-step instructions:

1. Plugthecameraintoyourcomputer’sUSBport.NoticetheblueLEDshining on the camera; this LED light indicates the camera is connected and receiving power from the computer.

2. Open the MaxIm DL Essentials icon now installed on your computer’s desktop.

3. Essentials should automatically connect directly to your camera with a

Live Video Window and Camera Control Window. Your Live Video

Window will only show light and dark before the camera is coupled to your

telescope.

4. When the camera is connected to the computer for the ﬁrst time, the Live Video Window (and subsequent images captured with the camera) will display at 640x480 resolution. To change to full resolution mode, click the Setup button in the Camera Control Window and select Video Capture Pin. In the Properties window that pops-up, select 1280x1024 under the Output Size heading, then click OK. The Live Video Window will now display at full resolution, and will occupy most of the computer monitor’s screen. Any images captured with the camera will now also be at full resolution. To move the Live Video Window out of the way, click on the top bar of the window and dragitto the desired locationon the computer screen.Uponsubsequent start-ups, the camera will automatically operate at full resolution.

5. To connect the camera to the telescope, simply replace the telescope’s

1.25" eyepiece with the camera. Make sure the securing thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube is tightened after the camera is inserted.

6. You will now need to refocus the camera for the centered object. Focusing will be the hardest thing to learn in the initial stages. If you are starting out in daylight, as is recommended, you may need to turn the brightness control of the camera down before attempting to focus. This is done by clicking on the Setup button in the Camera Control Window. Select Video Capture Filter, and to the right of Exposure make sure the Auto box is checked. Then adjust Contrast and Brightness. If the daytime image brightness is still too bright to produce an acceptable image on your computer screen, you may need to stop-down the aperture of your telescope.

7. Turn the telescope’s focus knob so the focuser drawtube moves slowly inward. The drawtube needs to go approximately 6mm inward from where the eyepiece focuses (for most eyepieces). Look at the Live Video Window on the computer screen and adjust the focus knob accordingly to determine best image focus.

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.

8. Image orientation can be changed by rotating the camera within the focuser drawtube. Simply loosen the thumbscrew on the drawtube and rotate the camera until the desired image orientation is achieved. Retighten the thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube when done. You may need to slightly refocus (using the telescope’s focus knob) if the focuser drawtube has moved a bit inward or outward when the camera was rotated.

9. Select Light Color 1x1 mode in the Camera Control Window.

10. Set Frames to 1 in the Camera Control Window. You can increase this number to automatically add successive frames into the resultant image for higher image quality. If the object is moving due to poor atmospheric

Figure 5.

The Live Video Window and Camera Control Window both automatically

appear when the SSSSI-II is connected to the computer and the MaxIm DL Essentials program is opened.

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seeing conditions, wind, or a shaky mount, however, increasing the Frames to more than 1 will generally decrease image quality. You can take many individual frames and add them together (“stacking” or “combining”) later, this will be discussed in detail in the “Astronomical Imaging” section.

11. Select the Single beneath the Mode box in the Camera Control Window.

12. Keep the Calibrate box unchecked in the Camera Control Window.

13. Click the Expose button in the Camera Control Window. An image will appear in a window.

14. You can save the image for processing later, if you wish. This is done by selecting Save from the File menu.

You have now taken your ﬁrst picture with the SSSSI-III! This simple method of imaging is exactly how the camera is used to capture terrestrial subjects during daylight hours. Close-up images of birds and other wildlife or faraway vistas can all be obtained in this way with the SSSSI-III. Solar images can also be taken during the day with an optional full-aperture solar ﬁlter over the front of the telescope.

Take some time to use the camera and MaxIm DL Essential software during the day to become familiar and comfortable with their basic operation. For best results, you can optimize your images with the camera controls.

Camera Controls

For best images, you can adjust the camera controls though MaxIm DL Essentials to ﬁne tune the image. You can see how the camera controls affect an image in the Live Video Window.

In the Camera Control Window, click the Setup button, then choose Video Capture Filter and you can access the camera controls. Here you will ﬁnd the Brightness, Contrast (best at 50% or higher), Hue, Saturation (level of color), Sharpness (keep this low as it can add noise), and Exposure controls. The Exposure control is a gain adjustment that allows additional ﬂexibility in adjusting image brightness. You can either manually adjust this by unselecting the Auto box and manually moving the slider, or have automatic adjustment by leaving the Auto box selected. For usual operation, the ColorEnable box should remain checked. For black and white camera operation, uncheck this box. The Cancel Flicker button enables and disables the ﬂicker function. The default has the ﬂicker function disabled, and there should be no reason to use this function with normal usage of the camera. If the image in the Live Video Window begins to ﬂicker on and off, the ﬂicker function has been mistakenly enabled; click the Cancel Flicker button to cancel this function. To return the camera controls to their default settings, click the Default button.

The other camera controls are available by clicking the Setup button, and selecting Video Capture Pin. This accesses the Stream Format property sheet, which allows you to set additional parameters. The Frame Rate, while generally should be left at 15 frames/second for the sharpest planetary images, can be toggled down to 7.5 frames/second for brightest exposures. (You can also use the Video Capture Filter selection described previously to adjust image brightness.) Check the Flip Horizontal box to change the orientation of the image display in the Live Video Window. Color Space / Compression selects the codec used by the camera; in this case it is RGB 24. The Output Size can be used to shrink the image size if desired; the camera defaults to 640x480, but you should raise this to the highest setting (1280 x 1024) for the maximum possible resolution. The other parameters shown with the Video Capture Pin selection cannot be adjusted.

Try several different settings to get a feel of how the camera controls work and affect the resultant image on the computer screen. The Brightness and Exposure controls are the ones you will use the most. The telescope being used, seeing conditions, and object being imaged will dictate how these cam-

eracontrolsshould beset.Usually Exposurewillbesetrst,thenBrightness

is adjusted as needed.

Screen Stretch Window

The function of the Screen Stretch Window (Figure 6) 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 1,300,000 pixels form a single SSSSI-III image) represented as a number depending on brightness. This has to be mapped into the video monitor’s brightness range. It is important to set the screen stretch appropriately, or a great image may look terrible!

Figure 6.

The settings in the Screen Stretch Window greatly determine how an image will appear on your computer screen.

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Note: The Screen Stretch Window does not work for the Live Video Window, only for open images captured by the camera.

In the Screen Stretch Window, you will notice a graph. This is called the “histogram” of the currently displayed image (Figure 7).

A histogram is a simple bar graph that shows the range of brightness in an image. Each bar in the graph represents a level of brightness; the bar to the far left in the histogram represents the dimmest pixels, and the bar to the far right is for the brightest pixels. The height of the bar is the total number of pixels at that brightness level in the image. Every image has a different histogram depending on how much of the image is bright or dark. Directly viewing the histogram of your image in the Screen Stretch Window provides an easy interface for making decisions on how the screen stretch should be set.

In MaxIm DL Essentials, the two parameters entered in the Screen Stretch Window are Minimum and Maximum. A pixel that is at the Minimum value is set to zero (black), and a pixel at the Maximum value is set to 255 (white). An easy way to adjust the Maximum and Minimum values is to move the slider arrows located directly under the histogram of the image in the Screen 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 tweaking the arrows (numbers) until the most pleasing display appears.

There are also seven automatic settings in the Screen Stretch Window. Typically, Moon and Planet will give the best results. The default screen stretch setting is Moon.

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 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.

The problem with stretching is determining exactly how to stretch the image for best effect. Often there are several different possibilities for the same image. Trial-and-error will be the best way to judge what the best screen stretch setting is. Try several different settings until you ﬁnd one you think looks best. When the image is subsequently saved, the screen stretch setting information will be kept when the image is next opened.

Use of the Parfocal Ring

A parfocal ring is included with your camera to help with focusing. The ring is intended to be used with a 1.25" eyepiece (not included), preferably one with a focal length of at least 10mm to provide high enough magniﬁcation for precise focusing. The ring goes on the barrel of the eyepiece. When the ring is properly positioned on the barrel, you can use the eyepiece to focus, replace the eyepiece with the camera, and the camera should be close to focused.

Figure 8a-d. (8a.)

To properly set the position of the parfocal ring on an eyepiece,

ﬁrst focus the camera in the telescope. If you have a focus lock thumbscrew on your telescope’s focuser, tighten it. (8b.) Place the parfocal ring on the eyepiece’s barrel and slide it all the way up. Tighten the thumbscrew on the ring. (8c.) Remove the camera, and focus the eyepiece by sliding it in-and-out of the focuser drawtube. When eyepiece focus is achieved, tighten the thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube to secure the eyepiece in that position. (8d.) Now, loosen the thumbscrew on the parfocal ring, slide the ring all the way forward, and retighten the thumbscrew on the ring.

Focus lock thumbscrew

Parfocal ring

Figure 7.

A histogram is a visual representation of the range and level of brightness in an image.

Brightness level

Brightness range

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To properly position the parfocal ring on the eyepiece barrel, ﬁrst insert the camera into the telescope’s focuser drawtube. Set MaxIm DL Essentials so the camera displays on the computer’s screen in Live Video mode. Focus the camera as precisely as possible by visual inspection of the image on your computer screen. You do not need to actually capture an image, just look at the live preview on the computer. If you have a focus lock thumbscrew on your telescope’s focuser, tighten it ﬁrmly once sharp camera focus is achieved (Figure 8a). Place the parfocal ring on the eyepiece barrel, and slide it up the barrel as far as it will go and loosely tighten the thumbscrew on the ring (Figure 8b). Now, replace the camera with the eyepiece, being careful not to change the position of the focuser drawtube. Bring the eyepiece into focus by sliding it in and out of the focuser drawtube (Figure 8c). Do not use the focus knob of your telescope to focus at this time.

Note: If you cannot obtain a focus with the eyepiece by pulling it out of the focuser drawtube, you will need to try another eyepiece.

When the eyepiece is in focus, tighten the securing thumbscrew on the focuser drawtube to secure the eyepiece in that position. A signiﬁcant portion of the eyepiece’s barrel should be extending out from the focuser drawtube. Now, slide the parfocal ring down the eyepiece barrel, and seat it against the focuser drawtube (Figure 8d). Securely tighten the thumbscrew on the ring. The parfocal ring is now properly positioned on the eyepiece’s barrel.

Now that the parfocal ring is properly positioned, focus the camera by ﬁrst focusing with the eyepiece. Simply insert the eyepiece as far as it will go into the focuser drawtube, and focus with the telescope’s focusing knob. Then, replace the eyepiece with the camera, and the images on the computer

screenshouldbeveryclosetofocused.Usethelivepreviewmodetoachieve

a precise focus with the camera. You’ll ﬁnd that using the parfocal ring on an eyepiece will serve to focus the camera much more quickly.

Astronomical Imaging

Now that you’re familiar with basic camera and software operation, it’s time to take the SSSSI-III out at night under the stars to capture some astronomical images. We recommend starting with the Moon, as it is easy to acquire into the camera’s ﬁeld of view, and typically does not require stacking of multiple exposures as planetary images do.

Imaging the Moon

Imaging the Moon is much like imaging terrestrial objects during the day. Since the exposure is very short, it is not critical that the telescope be precisely polar aligned. Best focusing will be achieved by ﬁrst focusing on a bright star near the Moon.

When the moon is past half full, it is hard to get detail due to the tremendous glare off of the lunar surface. Most detail, even on a sliver of a moon, will be

at the terminator (that tiny thin line between the shadow and light, see Figure

9). To get more of the moon in the image, a focal reducer will need to be used.

For close-upsof craters useabarlow lens (see“UsingFocal Reducers and

Barlow Lenses”).

Imaging Planets

The best planetary images will be obtained by stacking (combining) many individual images in order to improve image contrast, brightness, and detail.

Since you will be taking multiple images over a period of time, it is important you have a decent polar alignment in order to keep the planet within the ﬁeld of view of the camera. To this end, having a motor drive (at least single-axis) will also be helpful. Otherwise, you will periodically need to rotate the R.A. slowmotion knob to keep the planet within the camera’s ﬁeld.

To take multiple images of a planet for stacking:

1. Acquire the planet into the ﬁeld of view of your eyepiece that has the parfocal ring attached to it, and center it in the eyepiece’s ﬁeld of view. Focus the eyepiece with the telescope’s focuser. If you are using an equatorial mount with a motor drive, make sure the motor drive is on and engaged.

2. Remove the eyepiece and replace it with the SSSSI-III. If the parfocal ring was set properly on the eyepiece, the camera should be close to focused.

3. Focus the camera using the telescope’s focus knob. If you are having trouble determining best focus, try focusing on a bright star near the planet. You can also use the histogram functions for most accurate focus, this will be explained later.

4. In the Camera Control Window, set the Mode to Light Color 1x1.

5. Set Frames to somewhere between 1 and 10 to start. This number indicates the number of frames MaxIm DL Essentials will actually put into each individual captured image. Be careful not to set this number too high, especially if seeing conditions are poor. Otherwise, the captured images will be blurry.

Figure 9.

The Moon’s surface detail looks

the best along the terminator.

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Note: The Frames setting is not meant to replace stacking of resultant images. It simply puts more data into each image by overlaying subsequent frames on top of each other. These images are then stacked as described later.

6. In the box beneath the Mode box, choose Autosave. Now set the number of images you would like the camera to take under Autosave, select the ﬁle folder in which you would like to save the images with Folder, and enter in a Base ﬁlename for the captured images. Typically the name of the object being imaged, such as “Mars1”, will be entered here. If “Mars1” is the Base ﬁlename, and you choose to Autosave ﬁve images, then the images will appear in the selected ﬁle folder as “Mars1_0001.ﬁt”, “Mars1_0002.ﬁt”, “Mars1_0003.ﬁt”, “Mars1_0004.ﬁt”, and “Mars1_0005.ﬁt”.

7. Click Expose, and the camera will commence taking the images.

Now that we have multiple images of the planet, we will combine the images to form one high-quality resultant image. To do this:

8. Select Open from the File menu. Find the folder you indicated with Folder, open it, and select all images for stacking using the mouse left-click and the Shift key. All of the individual images selected will open in MaxIm DL Essentials.

9. Select Combine from the Process menu. In the pop-up window, you will see all of the images currently open in MaxIm DL Essentials. Choose the individual images you want to stack and press the >> button, or simply click Add All. Click the OK button when done.

10. The Combine Images window will appear (Figure 10). For Align Mode, choose Planetary. In the Output box, select Average.

11.UsetheNext and Previous Image buttons to see how each individual image looks. If you see an image that looks poor, you can reject it from the stack by clicking the Reject Image button.

Note: At least one image must be used as the reference image for the stacked images to be overlaid upon. The default uses the ﬁrst image for the reference

image. If you reject the ﬁrst image or otherwise want to use another image as the reference, click the Set As Reference button when the desired reference image is actively displayed. If the image currently chosen as the reference is rejected from the stack, and another reference image is not selected, you will not be able to Overlay All Images.

12. Click the Overlay All Images button. All of the selected images will stack on top of each other to form one resultant image. Click OK. You have now composed yourrstplanetary image. Use Save under the File menu to save your image at this time. To make it look its best, you will want to adjust the Screen Stretch Window to Planet. You may also want to do some image processing, see the section entitled “Image Processing” for more information.

Imaging Planets: Recording Video

In the prior section, individual images of a planet were auto-saved for subsequent stacking later. Another way to obtain images for stacking is to take several seconds of video of the planet, then break the video into individual frames for stacking. Since the SSSSI-III has a maximum frame rate of 15 frames per second at maximum resolution, you can literally obtain hundreds of images for stacking in seconds! You save time by taking one video instead of dozens of individual pictures!

To record a video of the planet:

2. Remove the eyepiece and replace it with the SSSSI-III. If the parfocal ring was set properly on the eyepiece, the camera should be close to focused.

3. Focus the camera using the telescope’s focus knob. If you are having trouble determining best focus, try focusing on a bright star near the planet.

4. In the Camera Control Window, set the Mode to Video. Set Seconds to correspond with the video length. Remember, the camera takes 30 frames per second. So if you want 150 individual frames for stacking, set Seconds to 5.0.

5. Click the Setup button in the Camera Control Window. Choose Output File from the pop-up menu and select the ﬁle location where you want the .avi video saved to. Type in a name for the ﬁle in File name. Click Save.

6. Click Expose, and the SSSSI-III will commence taking the video. The image as it appears in the Live Video window is exactly what will be recorded. If you wish to play back the video, click on the .avi ﬁle from its recorded ﬁle location. Now that we have a video of the planet, we will break the video up into its component images for stacking. To do this:

Figure 10.

The Combine

Images window allows

“stacking” of individual images into one high-quality resultant image.

Page 9

7. Choose Open or Convert AVI File from the File menu. The Open or Convert AVI File window will appear (Figure 11).

8. Select the ﬁle location of the .avi video saved prior. At the bottom left of the Open or Convert AVI File window, in the Action box, select Open as individual images. (Alternatively, the Convert to BMP ﬁles selection in the Action box breaks the video into individual frames and saves them for opening and processing later.) At the bottom right of the Open or Convert AVI File window you can select the video frame number to start with (usually will be 0) and the number of frames to break out into individual images.

Use caution, however; opening many hundreds of frames at once can

be confusing and burdensome. Click Open. Now that we have multiple images of the planet, we will combine the images into a single image. To do this:

9. Select Combine from the Process menu.

10. In the Select Images window, click Add All. Then click OK.

11. The Combine Images window will appear. For Align Mode, choose Planetary. In the Output box, select Average.

12. You can see how each individual image looks by using the Next Image and Previous Image buttons. If you see an image that looks poor, you can reject it from the stack by clicking the Reject Image button.

Note: At least one image must be used as the reference image for the stacked images to be overlaid upon. The default uses the ﬁrst image for the reference image. If you reject the ﬁrst image or otherwise want to use another image as the reference, click the Set As Reference button. If the image currently chosen as the reference is rejected from the stack, you will not be able to Overlay All Images.

13. Click the Overlay All Images button. All of the selected images will stack on top of each other to form one resultant image. Click OK. Adjust the

Screen Stretch Window to Planet, and use Save under the File menu to save your image. You can now perform any wanted imaging processing.

Dark Frames

A way to coax additional image quality out of the SSSSI-III is to eliminate unwanted camera “noise” from captured images. While this will generally not be needed for most types of imaging with the SSSSI-III, it may help to improve image contrast in some cases.

To do this, “dark frames” must ﬁrst be captured and averaged. Dark frames are taken with no external light entering the camera. The image produced is a map of the actual noise in the frame being produced by the camera. When a dark frame is subtracted from a regular (“light”) image, the noise in the resultant image is reduced. You will ﬁnd, however, that the short exposures that can be taken with the SSSSI-III will not contain much camera noise to begin with. So, subtracting dark frames from images (prior to combining) will not have a great effect on resultant images.

Note: To most effectively use dark frames to subtract noise out of resultant SSSSI-III images, it is important to take dark frames close to the actual time of taking the “light” images. This is because temperature changes will cause the noise pattern in the SSSSI-III to change over time. So, it is best to take some dark frames immediately before or after the “light” images are taken.

To take dark frames for subtraction from “light” images:

1. In the Camera Control Window, set the Mode to Dark Color 1x1.

2. Set Frames to whatever you set it to for taking actual (“light”) images.

Note: When taking dark frames, do not change any of the settings in the Setup button from what they were (or will be) when “light” images are taken.

3. In the box beneath the Mode box, choose Autosave. Now set the number of dark frames you would like the camera to take under Autosave (three to ten will generally sufﬁce, these will be averaged together), select the ﬁle folder in which you would like to save the dark frames with Folder, and enter in a Base ﬁlename for the captured dark frames. Typically the name of the object being imaged with the word “dark” added, such as “Mars1dark”, will be entered here. If “Mars1dark” is the Base ﬁlename, and you choose to Autosave ﬁve images, then the images will appear in the selected ﬁle folder as “Mars1dark_0001.ﬁt”, “Mars1dark_0002.ﬁt”, “Mars1dark_0003.ﬁt”, “Mars1dark_0004.ﬁt”, and “Mars1dark_0005. ﬁt”. Using the word “dark” in the Base ﬁlename will help you distinguish between light and dark frames when combining later.

4. Click Expose, and MaxIm DL Essentials will indicate that the camera needs to be covered to take a dark frame. Cover the front of the lens you are imaging through, and then click OK. The camera will commence taking and saving the dark frames. Now that you have acquired several dark

Figure 11.

The Open or

Convert AVI File window breaks

video into individual images for subsequent stacking.

Page 10

frames, you will combine them into a single averaged dark frame for subtraction from subsequent “light” images.

5. In the Process menu, select Setup Dark Subtract.

6. In the window that pops-up, click Remove All if any ﬁlenames appear in the window.

7. Click Add, and select the ﬁle folder location for the dark frames taken. Select the dark frames and click Open.

8. The selected dark frames will now appear in the pop-up window. Click OK. We are now ready to subtract the averaged dark frame from “light” images. This should be done to individual light images BEFORE combining them together. There are two ways to do this. If you take dark frames ﬁrst, before taking “light” images, then you can automatically subtract the averaged dark frame from each individual “light” image as it is captured. If you take dark frames after you have already taken the “light” images, then you can subtract the averaged dark frame from each individual image before you combine them into a single, ﬁnal resultant image.

To automatically subtract the averaged dark frame from images as they are captured, ﬁrst setup the averaged dark frame as outlined previously. Now, in the Camera Control Window, simply click the Dark Subtract square so it is checked. Once this box is checked, every subsequent light frame taken with the camera will have the averaged dark frame automatically subtracted. These images are ready for stacking.

If you have already taken your “light” images or obtained individual images by recording video, then you will need to manually subtract the averaged dark frame from each image prior to stacking them into one combined image. To do this, ﬁrst open all “light” images to be stacked in MaxIm DL Essentials. Do this with the Open command in the File menu. Now, click on one of the opened images, and select Dark Subtract from the Process menu. The averaged dark frame is now subtracted from the “light” image. Repeat this process for all of the “light” images opened in MaxIm DL Essentials. The individual images are now ready for stacking. You can save each image after the dark frame has been subtracted (using Save from the File menu), or you can just save the ﬁnal combined image once the individual images have been stacked.

Image Processing

After you have captured and combined individual images (with or without dark frame subtraction) into a single resultant image, you may want to perform some additional image processing to bring out subtle details or to make the image appear more pleasing overall. MaxIm DL Essentials contains several functions which serve to do this.

Make Pixels Square

Make Pixels Square is not needed for the SSSSI-III. The camera’s pixels are already square. This function is used with some other cameras, such as the StarShoot DSCI II to interpolate the aspect ratio to 1:1.

Unsharp Mask

An Unsharp Mask is fairly simple in concept. First, a copy of the original image is smoothed (low-pass ﬁltered) to create the mask. This mask is then scaled down in intensity by some factor (usually 50-95%), and then subtracted from the original image. The result of subtracting a blurred copy of the image from itself is to make a sharper image. This works because you are partially removing parts of the image that are smoother, while leaving untouched the

parts ofthe image with nedetail. Usually the mathisadjusted so thatthe

average pixel values in the ﬁnal image are the same as the original.

ToapplyUnsharpMasktoanimage:

1. Select Unsharp Mask from the Process menu.

2. In the pop-up window (Figure 12), the Low-Pass Filter can be set to Mild or Strong.

3. The Mask Weight is used to control the strength of the mask. The mask weight is in percent; the higher the number, the stronger the mask.

4. Click on the Auto Full Screen preview button, and adjust the settings. This allows you to rapidly adjust the settings until you are satisﬁed with the results.

5. Click OK when the preview images looks its best. It is best to use a light touch with this command, to avoid over-processing the image. Overprocessing can create artifacts; i.e. features in the image that are not real. It also ampliﬁes the noise in the image.

Figure 12.

The Unsharp

Mask function can help bring

out subtle detail in an image.

Page 11

Color Balance

The sensitivity of most CCD cameras as a function of wavelength (color) is different from the response of the human eye. The ﬁlters used for creating color composites also have their own characteristics, as do the telescope optics. Although “perfect” color rendition is an elusive if not impossible goal (all individuals see colors slightly differently), it is straightforward to get “good” color balance with simple weightings. This is where the Color Balance command (in the Process menu, Figure 13) 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 plane down to zero. Each of the Background Level values is subtracted from every image pixel in its color plane. Any pixel values that become negative are forced to zero. The Auto button automatically determines the settings necessary to equalize the image background in all three color planes. The Reset button resets the background level subtraction to zero on all planes.

Scaling adjustment (percent) allows you to compensate for transmittance differences between the ﬁlters used to acquire the three color planes. Values of 100% result in no change. The scaling percentages can be typed in or adjusted using the “spin” controls (small up and down click arrows to the right of the scaling numbers). The Preview Image is particularly helpful in monitoring the results when using the spin controls. The Reset Scaling button resets to 100% on all three planes.

The Click On White Area to Set Scaling check box enables the operation of the mouse to set the scaling. Set the Background Level ﬁrst (you can use Auto), then click on a white object (e.g. a neutral-colored star) in the image (not the Preview Image) with the mouse. The Scaling settings will automatically be adjusted to make the selected point appear white. If an area of the image

is known to be white (or gray), this is an easier way to determine the scaling factors, and can be used to instantly color balance the image.

Stretch

The Stretch command (located in the Process menu, Figure 14) modiﬁes the brightness and contrast, and optionally the range (maximum and minimum

pixel values) of an image. Unlike the screen stretchsettingsin the Screen Stretch Window, which only affects the how an image appears on the display,

the Stretch command actually changes the image data pixel values in the memory buffer. In reference to the histogram, the Screen Stretch Window changes how the histogram is displayed on the computer screen, the Stretch command alters the histogram itself.

There are three elements which must be set: the Permanent Stretch Type, the Input Range, and the Output Range. You can use the Preview Image to see how changing these parameters will affect the resultant image (or click the Full Screen button to see the changes applied to your actual image). You can also open the Screen Stretch Window to see how changing these param- eters change the histogram.

For the Permanent Stretch Type, the Linear Only mode is useful for adjusting the range of pixels to match a particular ﬁle format. The Log mode is useful for compressing the dynamic range of the image, but can be rather harsh. The Gamma mode allows you to selectively emphasize bright or dim parts of the image by entering a suitable Gamma Value. A Gamma of 1 has no effect - less than 1 will emphasize faint details, while a value greater than 1 will emphasize bright details.

The Input Range can be set to Screen Stretch, which in Linear Mode produces an output matching the current screen appearance. This is useful in producing ﬁnal images for output to 8-bit image formats which have limited range. Note that the minimum and maximum values are always taken from the screen stretch settings for the original image. These can be adjusted dynami-

Figure 13.

The Color

Balance command allows

weighting of each color plane to improve the overall color appearance of an image.

Figure 14. The Stretch

command modiﬁes the data contained within the image in order to improve contrast and brightness.

Page 12

cally using, for example, Quick Stretch. The Max Pixel selection sets the input range from 0 to the brightest pixel in the image. This prevents any image pixels from being saturated in the ﬁnal result, but may produce images with low contrast. You can also manually set values with Manual Settings in a similar fashion to the Screen Stretch Window.

The Output Range is used when preparing a ﬁle to be saved in a format that has limited range. The Output Range maps minimum input to zero, and maximum input to 255 (8 bit), 4095 12 bit), or 65535 (16 bit) depending on the settings. Any values that exceed the limits are clipped. The Unlimited setting disables all limiting and is recommended when performing Gamma and Log stretches; it is appropriate when the image will be saved in ﬂoating point format.

Batch Process

Planetary imaging can require processing hundreds of images. Fortunately, Batch Process can be used to process multiple images simultaneously using the various commands available in MaxIm DL Essentials Edition. Select Batch Process from the Process menu (Figure 15).

Procedure for basic batch processing:

1. Select the image ﬁle you want to process from your computer using the

Select Files button.UseCTRL-clicktoselect individualles,andSHIFT-

click to select a range of ﬁles. You can see the path for the selected ﬁles by turning on the Show Path check box. Or you can select images already open in MaxIm DL Essentials Edition by clicking the Select Images button. The window that pops-up will indicate all the images currently open.

2. Select the processing task you want done in the Processing Commands box. Choose up to 6 processing commands which will be executed in sequence.

3. Use the same recommended processing order for batch processing as

you would normally do manually. You should 1. Calibrate, 2. Adjust Color Balance, etc.

You can remove selected images and ﬁles from the Batch Process list by selecting them with the mouse and clicking the Remove button.

4. Select the location for the saved ﬁles using the Path button, or click Write Output to Source Folder to cause the ﬁles to be saved back into the folder from which they were loaded. (This option cannot be used when an image has never been saved, for example, one freshly acquired from the camera.) In the event that saving a ﬁle will cause it to overwrite an existing ﬁle, you can select skip save, overwrite it, or move to subfolder. You can specify the subfolder name in the adjacent eld. Use Size Format to select between 16-Bit Integer and 32-Bit IEEE Float formats for the processed images. To keep all processed image data intact (especially for stacked images), we recommend using the 32-Bit IEEE Float format. If you need to open the resultant ﬁles in another program, however, you may need to use the 16-Bit Integer format.

5. Click OK to start the Batch Process operation. Successfully converted and saved ﬁles are removed from the list box. If an error occurred the ﬁle will remain in the list. Point the mouse cursor at an image left in the list. The appropriate error message will appear in the Status Bar at the bottom of the MaxIm DL Essentials Edition main window.

Recommended Processing Sequence

What is the best order to apply the processing functions in? Here is a recommended sequence:

1. Dark Subtract

2. Combine

3. UnsharpMask

4. Color Balance

5. Stretch

Once you have the combined frames, there is a lot more room for experimentation and tinkering. Be sure to save a copy of the combined image; otherwise you might have to go back to the beginning and stack individual images again!

Note on File Format

When saving images (using Save or Save As in the File menu), you have a choice of ﬁle formats. The default produces .ﬁt ﬁles, but .tif, .jpg, .png, and .bmp ﬁle formats can also be selected. Having a choice of output ﬁle formats is useful, especially if images will be exported to other software programs for additional image processing (like Adobe Photoshop, for instance).

Figure 15.

Page 13

If you save to a ﬁle format other than .ﬁt, you will need to check the Auto Stretch box, or otherwise Stretch the image to change the Output Range (in the Stretch command window) to match the Size Format (in the Save As window). Otherwise, the Output Range will likely exceed the Size Format, and the saved image will be ruined (will turn all white).

For example, say the Output Range is set to create image brightness values in 16-bit format, while the Size Format of a speciﬁc ﬁle format (.jpg, for example) may only support 8-bits. Since the 16-bit format sees 65535 brightness levels, and the 8-bit format can only support 255 levels, all of the levels above 255 in the 16-bit image (i.e. the vast majority of the 16-bit brightness levels) will be saved at the maximum 8-bit value of 255. So the saved .jpg will have very little brightness information from levels 1 to 254 and almost all the brightness information at level 255. Thus a white image results.

Other Features

Flip –Flipsimageorientation.“Folds”imageaboutverticalcenter.

Mirror–Createsmirrorimageofcurrentimageorientation.

Zoom – Increases or decreases level of image magnication on computer

screen. When you zoom in too much, you will start to see the squares of individual pixels. When zoomed in, you can use Quick Pan; simply hold down the

Ctrl key, then left-click and drag the mouse on the image.

Night Vision–TogglesNightVisionmode.Theredbackgroundhelpspreserve

your night vision.

Window menu– Thesefunctionsalter theway multiple openimage frames

are arranged and displayed within MaxIm DL Essential. These functions are very useful for organizing the visual display when processing large numbers of images for stacking.

Tips

Focusing

One of the hardest things to do in planetary imaging is achieving good focus. You can simply watch the Live Video window to focus, but you can focus “by the numbers” on a bright star to get the best focus possible. To do this:

1. In the Camera Control Window, select Light Color 1x1 mode.

2. Set Frames to 1.

3. Turn off Dark Subtract.

4. Pick focus beneath the Mode selector and then click Expose. The camera will take repeated exposures, until you click Stop.

5. If you point the telescope at a bright star, you can focus more accurately “by the numbers"

MaxPixel is the value of the brightest pixel in the image. When you are in focus, it will be at its highest value. You will need to look at the value for several images in succession, because the number will bounce around with the seeing.

Note: If the MaxPixel reaches 255 (in 1 frame capture mode), the image is saturated and all three focus numbers will be inaccurate. Either pick a fainter star, or adjust the camera’s Exposure settings using the Setup button.

FWHM, or Full-Width Half Maximum, is the width of the star half-way down the sides. This provides a highly accurate measurement when you are close to focus. When you are at focus, it will be at its lowest value. This number will vary due to seeing, so it is best to look at several images before decided.

HFD, or Half Flux Diameter, is similar to FWHM, but works much better than FWHM when the star is badly out of focus. It can produce a usable number

even when the star looks like a donut. Refocus often throughout your imaging session. This ensures at least some of your images will have an excellent focus. It is also not uncommon for telescope movements to alter the focus slightly, so be sure to refocus for any new astro-imaging targets.

Choosing a Site for Astro-imaging

Once you have a focused image, you may ﬁnd your image shifting and washed out. This can be caused by many environmental factors. Poor seeing (movement of molecules in the air, such as heat rising) and poor transparency (moisture, smoke, or other sky contaminants) will all serve to reduce image quality. That is why most major astronomical telescopes are on high mountains in thin air, to get above much of the seeing and transparency problems. Also, wind will move your telescope and affect images. Your eyes viewing through an eyepiece can change slightly to compensate for disturbances like these, but the camera can not. Keep these factors in mind when choosing an observing site for astronomical imaging.

For the best astro-images, we recommend ﬁnding a location with dry air, some altitude, and away from city or streetlights. Even a nearby hilltop in the countryside can provide better viewing conditions than many convenient backyard locations.

Loss of Camera Connection

If the computer connection to the camera is interrupted, you will need to re-establish connection. This can happen due to several reasons; if a cable becomes unplugged, the computer “freezes”, or the software/hardware otherwise temporarily loses the data coming from the camera.

To re-establish camera connection, ﬁrst close the MaxIm DL Essentials program on your computer. Then, unplug and re-plug the camera into the

computer’sUSB port. Now,open MaxIm DLEssentials, and theLive Video Window should appear indicating re-established connection between camera

and computer.

Page 14

Using Focal Reducers and Barlow Lenses

Focal reducers serve to decrease the focal length of your telescope. This increases the ﬁeld of view seen by the camera (decreases camera magniﬁcation). This can be useful for obtaining images of wider objects, such as the full Moon or a landscape vista.

Barlow lenses, or other tele-extenders, increase the focal length of your telescope, which makes the camera ﬁeld of view narrower (increases camera magniﬁcation). This is useful for high-power planetary images. Keep in mind that when the focal length is doubled, the image will become four times dimmer, so a longer exposure may be necessary.

For best planetary imaging, you should shoot with an effective focal ratio (telescope focal length ÷ telescope aperture) of F/20 or greater. This will give you a good combination of image brightness and image scale for planets. For most telescopes, a barlow lens will be required to obtain this focal ratio. For example, Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes usually have a focal ratio of F/10. A 2x barlow lens doubles the effective focal length of the telescope, which makes the focal ratio f/20. Similarly, a 3x barlow lens will yield of focal ratio of F/30. You can also try using multiple barlows to obtain even greater effective focal ratios. There is a limit to how large a focal ratio your telescope and seeing conditions can handle, however. Experimentation will be needed to see what your telescope is capable of in the seeing conditions on a given night. If the image appears somewhat dim and fuzzy on the computer screen, you may want to consider removing the barlow lens.

USB Extension Cable

In many instances, it is likely that a longer cable for the SSSSI-III will be needed in order to comfortably setup telescope, camera, and computer. We rec-

ommendpurchasinga 10’USBextensioncableifyouneed morecordlength

(available through Orion, check the catalog or www.OrionTelescopes.com).

Speciﬁcations

Sensor: MT9M001 Color CMOS progressive scan

Sensor size: 1/2"

Number of pixels: 1.3 million, 1280x1024 pixel layout

Videoframerate: Upto15frames/secondatfullresolution

A/D conversion: 8 bit

IR ﬁlter: Yes

Connection: HighSpeedUSB2.0

Gain (brightness) control: +10 dB

Barrel: 1.25"

This device complies with Part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) this device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation.

Changes of modiﬁcations not expressly approved by the party responsible for compliance could void the user’s authority to operate the equipment.

Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation. If this equipment does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception, which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or more of the following measures:

Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.

Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.

Connect the equipment into an output on a circuit different from that to which the receiver in connected.

Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.

A shielded cable must be used when connecting a peripheral to the serial ports.

Page 15

One-Year Limited Warranty

This Orion StarShoot Solar System Color Imaging Camera III is warranted against defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of purchase. This warranty is for the beneﬁt of the original retail purchaser only. During this warranty period Orion Telescopes & Binoculars will repair or replace, at Orion’s option, any warranted instrument that proves to be defective, provided it is returned postage paid to: Orion Warranty Repair, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076. If the product is not registered, proof of purchase (such as a copy of the original invoice) is required.

This warranty does not apply if, in Orion’s judgment, the instrument has been abused, mishandled, or modiﬁed, nor does it apply to normal wear and tear. This warranty gives you speciﬁc legal rights, and you may also have other rights, which vary from state to state. For further warranty service information, contact: Customer Service Department, Orion Telescopes & Binoculars, 89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076; (800) 676-1343.

89 Hangar Way, Watsonville, CA 95076

Customer Support Help Line (800) 676-1343