ASI174MM/MC is our new camera designed especially for Sun and Moon imaging. Special price for beta tester! Read more …
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New camera – ASI174MC and ASI174MM
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Same nice Jupiter images from Damian Peach with ASI174MM
Here is some nice Jupiter images from Damian Peach with ASI174MM and C14. ASI174 is very suitable for SCT because of its 5.8um pixel size, so different focal ratio can be achieved after combine with Barlow you can tell from the blue image how good is the seeing.
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Jupiter with ASI174MM and ASI174MC from Martin Lewis
Just get a email from Martin Levwis to share the wondeful image token with ASI174MM and ASI174MC
its a great pleasure for us to see such wonderful images from our camera. Thanks for sharing! Here are two images from the 18th April 2015, one with an ASI174MC colour camera and one with an ASI174MM mono camera, in good seeing. I think the former has the edge and processing and effort is so much less.
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Amazing Saturn images from Darryl with ASI174MM
We are glad to see such wonderful images from Darryl and seems ASI174 did a good job than ASI120.
Here is the post from Darryl’s Facebook page:
“Instead of heading out into the countryside we imaged from home 2 mornings ago: I mentioned on a forum that when I was discussing the ASI174MM with Sam we both realised it would be a very good Lunar & Solar imaging camera but were unsure just how good it would be as a planetary camera – based on the limited use due to the weather in the last couple of months I have a brief but simple appraisal…it is SUPERB!!! Thanks Sam…this is probably a personal best from us despite being “Saturn freaks” & to think the seeing was certainly not “top notch” as one can see from the collimation image in the top L.H. corner – what I term a “reasonable” pattern in the seeing but one where wanting to start imaging along with the noticeable turbulence had us decide these DR’s were “fair enough.” Hats off to Sam & the ASI174MM – another step forward in planetary imaging capabilities for sure…we look forward to the next few weeks with Saturn approaching opposition! wink emoticon”
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Jupiter 23rd April 2015 from Martin Lewis
Just get another Email from Martin show his best Jupiter just captured with “good luck” in UK. We always need some some good luck to capture the planet under good seeing if we don’t have a chance to visit Barbados like Damian did.
” if you want to share the attached on the ZWO blog which I think is the best image of Jupiter I have taken this apparition and was taken with an ASI174MC in a period of very good seeing just after sunset. This represents the culmination of a lot of effort in improving my telescope optics and thermal characteristics and of course the use of my newly delivered ASI174MC which I must thank you for Sam. Without your efforts to get me the camera early this would not have been possible. I really think this is a great planetary camera once you adjust for the different pixel size and it worked flawlessly with none of the fixed pattern noise you sometimes see in the ASI120 cameras. It was a pleasure to use especially with the large field size to help me home in on the planet which helps with my equatorial platform tracking system where I have to manual point to the target.”
“I took 10 x 1 minute videos at a gain of 275 and exposure of 16msec in Firecapture. These were quality sorted and cropped and debayered in Pipp and stacked in AS2 using about 100 align boxes of size 50. Of the 10 vids taken during this period of great seeing 5 were the best and these were combined in Winjupos using the image derotate feature. Finishing touches including light noise reduction were done in PaintShopPro and Topaz Denoise.”
and here is the lucky story
“There was a measure of luck in this image too. My son just started a music class that evening and I had to pick him up at the time I would normally be imaging. Consequently I started imaging especially early, only shortly after sunset. Later on at my normal time the seeing had dropped off noticeably.”
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How does Martin use his four ASI cameras?
Maybe you have only one ASI Camera, but Martin has 4. Let’s see how does he use these 4 cameras. Source: Astronomy & Sky website of Martin Lewis – Imaging Cameras
My workhorse planetary digital video cameras for several years were DMK monochrome cameras from The Imaging Source,TIS; most recently these were based on the highly-sensitive 640×480 pixel Sony ICX618 CCD chip. Many of the earlier images on this site were taken with these DMK cameras. Times move on though and I sold the last of my DMK cameras in Spring of 2015 to help fund a move to owning a set of four ZWO, CMOS-based, digital video cameras.
I have found these ZWO cameras to be great planetary imaging cameras due to their ease of use, lower noise, higher speed, larger chip sizes and also the ability to select reduced areas of the chip to image with (so-called ROI operation). The customer and technical support for ZWO cameras is also much superior to that from TIS. ZWO is run by amateur astronomers who understand the needs of their customers and is highly innovative, improving their products and adding new products all the time.
I currently own the monochrome and one-shot colour (OSC) version of the ASI120 as well as monochrome and OSC versions of the ASI174.
Row of parfocal ZWO cameras eager to serve! L to R; ASI174MM and ASI174MC (both with low-profile nose pieces), ASI120MM, ASI120MC/S
ASI120MM (mono) and ASI120MC (colour)
The ASI120MM is a 1.2M pixel USB2.0 monochrome, digital video camera with a 1280 x 960 CMOS chip. The one-shot colour version, the ASI120MC/S, uses a similar CMOS chip but with a bayer colour filter matrix over the front. The S suffix means it a USB3.0 camera, capable of potentially higher speeds than the mono camera. The mono has a clear glass protection filter with a wider bandpass than the one-shot-colour camera- the latter incorporates a UV/IR blocking filter.
For both cameras the pixel size is 3.75um square, quite a bit smaller than the 5.6um of the DMK cameras I was using previously, and increasing the image scale by 50%.
These ZWO cameras are superb performers, great value for money and when Firecapture is used to drive them they are incredibly versatile. They have the following advantages over my earlier CCD based cameras;
- Larger chip size allowing easier homing-in on subjects and larger frame sizes for large objects (moon). It also allows me to increase the image scale to make planets larger than 480 pixels across
- Easy to set a reduced frame size (ROI) and get benefits of increased data transfer rates (fps) as well as reduced file size
- Much faster frame transfer rates when not limited by the exposure duration
- Significantly lower noise levels
- Higher sensitivity in the Green and Blue
I have both cameras fitted with very short 1.25″ adaptors which screw into the T-thread to C-mount adaptor on the front of each camera. A second protection filter is screwed into the front of this as further protection from the ingress of dust. Set up like this the two cameras are effectively parfocal so that I can use the colour camera to set up my ADC and use the same prism settings for the monochrome camera as I just used for the colour camera. This setting step using a colour camera is described on my ADC page
The cameras plug into an imaging chain shown below which includes (from L to R);
- ASI camera- any of the four I have
- 1.25″ adaptor with compression ring to hold 1.25″ camera nosepiece
- Custom modified filter-block to take 1.25″ filters on custom holders. Slot-in filters are generally not used for OSC camera but is always kept in the imaging chain for simplicity. The block is used primarily for quick and easy filter changing for the mono ASI120MM camera for Type IIC Astronomiks RGB filters for colour imaging, without needing disturbing the set-up. I can also use an L filter, IR filter or Venus (UV) filter in here for more specialised imaging with the mono camera.
- Atmospheric Dispersion Corrector. See my ADC page for more details. This is left in place again for simplicity and to keep everything parfocal even if the levers are set parallel to nullify its effect.
- Single or doubled APM 2.7x coma correcting barlow elements as desired, giving 2.7x or 5.9x magnification. For best coma correcting performance the distances to the focal plane and the separation need to be at a specific distances. See the table in the section below for the different image scales I can get with my two Newtonian imaging scopes with the two different barlow configurations.
Imaging chain as described above with a pair of 2.7x APM barlow elements to give 5.9x magnification
As above but with single 2.7x APM barlow element at front (and different spacing to focal plane)
Often I use the OSC camera to help set up the ADC and then also capture with it and follow this with mono RGB imaging. Working like this the ADC is still usually correctly set for the mono camera as the focal position is unchanged when swapping the two cameras over. I can also use the cameras in combination for planetary imaging, such as using the red channel from the mono camera to replace the red channel from the colour camera or using the mono to capture a luminance channel to overlay on a colour image. They are a really versatile pairing when used like this.
These days I find that I am using the colour camera more and more in preference to the mono camera for planetary imaging. In the old days planetary imagers often turned their noses up at one-shot colour (OSC) cameras as their performance was often much inferior when compared to using a monochrome imaging with RGB filters. These days the quality of the colour bayer matrix in has improved to the point that when used with an ADC the colour camera’s performance approaches that of the mono camera. The mono camera always has the potential to produce the highest resolution images- I never got a red from the colour camera as good as the red from the mono camera (see my Jupiter from18th Feb 2014 for example) but the colour camera is much easier to use and in variable seeing, where the optimum focus changes all the time, is more likely to yield successful high quality final images. When you have a good colour video all three colours are ‘in the bag’ whereas for mono you have to hope the other two colour channels are good too- which often they aren’t. In addition, the colour camera is more productive. 10 colour videos produces 10 reds, 10 greens and 10 blues, whereas to capture this many of each colour with the mono camera would require 30 videos in total to be recorded.
Although the processing is much easier and quicker with the colour camera, each image is generally noisier, due to the lower light throughput and higher gain needed. As a result more images need to be stacked to reduce noise. Usually this is a matter of needing to stack 3 images rather than 2 images cerainly not 3x as many. With a colour camera it is important to keep the image scale up to ensure you have sufficient sampling of the image; although Autostakkert debayering claims to overcome this issue when it is used for debayering.
To get the best performance the colour camera needs to be used with an ADC if you want to get images approaching those of the mono camera (more on this on my ADC page). According to Chris Garry, author of Pipp (Planetary Imaging PreProcessing Program), if you want to use some of
these more modern debayer algorithms (not nearest neighbour) then it is essential that the three colour channels are aligned by use of an atmospheric dispersion corrector beforehand.
I also use my ASI120 cameras at the heart of my home-built All-Sky camera which you can read more about here.
ASI174MM (mono) and ASI174MC (colour)
The ASI1174MM/ASI174MC cameras are a pair of ZWO 2.3M pixel monochrome/colour cameras which use the 5.86um pixel Sony 174 chip which has an amazing quantum efficiency of 80%.
With their larger chips, these cameras were originally aimed at the solar and lunar imagers. It turns out, however, that they are also excellent planetary imaging cameras when used with a reduced chip area (so-called ROI [Region Of Interest] mode) to increase frame rate and reduce file size. They are inherently faster and more sensitive than the ASI120s (both are USB3.0) and do not suffer from the ‘fixed pattern noise’ issue, where you sometime get a vertically banded pattern of noise at high gain and high camera temperature for the ASI120’s. Another advantage of the 174 chip is that it has a global shutter rather than a rolling shutter which will be very useful for my attempts at ISS imaging (rolling shutter causes distortions to the shape of the ISS). ZWO have produced a nice information sheet on these cameras which you can see here.
The ASI174 cameras are supplied with front 2″ nosepieces which are 5mm longer than the ASI120s and a different arrangement for the protection window which make it easier to remove to clean the chip. In order to have four parfocal cameras I have removed the longer nosepieces and replaced them with low-profile nosepieces, like those on the ASI120s, where the front of the camera is 12.5mm from the chip (CS-mount distance) rather than 17.5mm (C-mount). This means that I can swap freely between any of the four ZWO cameras without the need to refocus or change ADC settings. The low-profile nose piece does not have a protection window but I have short 1.25″ adaptors with appropriate filters on the ends to keep the dust out. Another advantage of the low-profile nosepiece is the ability to use the cameras with my CS-mount fisheye lenses to try them as large area all-sky cameras.
Mounted in the same optical train as described above with one or two 2.7x barlow elements I get a larger image scale (smaller arcsecs/pixel) than with the smaller pixelled ASI120s. With the two different camera pairs and two different APM 2.7x barlow arrangements I actually get four different image scales which allows great flexibility to select my image scale appropriate for the object I am imaging. These different image scales are shown with other key camera details in the table below.
DSLR Camera
This is my Canon 500D DSLR that I got as a birthday present early in 2011 and which I have started using for astrophotography. The camera is unmodded (IR filter not removed) as I use it for daytime photography too. I currently use the image-stabilised Canon kit lenses that I got with the camera which are 18-55mm and 55-250mm focal lengths. These lenses give surprisingly good results given their low cost.
The camera on its modified Manfrotto tripod can be readily mounted on my equatorial platform for tracked shots such as those seen here. Further information on the equatorial platform including a picture of the tripod on the platform can be seenhere.
I can use an Astronomiks CLS (city light suppression) clip filter to reduce the effects of light pollution when using the DSLR. The clip filter sits in front of the flip mirror but with this in place the EFS lenses cannot be used as they foul the filter. I have the following lenses that can be used when the clip filter is in place;
- 50mm f1.4 Super Takumar manual lens, M42 mount with adaptor
- 28mm f2.5 Vivitar manual, M42 mount with adaptor
- 75-300mm Canon EF II zoom
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The best saturn from earth?
This is the best Saturn image we have seen this year and we are glad to see ASI174MM helped Darryl to make this image come true.
Fantastic Saturn animation made with 14″ S-C and with currently hottest camera on market – ASI174. Do you want capture such Saturn? Order this camera online today!
Source: Blog of Darryl
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ZWO only make cameras?
You are wrong if you think ZWO only produce cameras? We like Newtonian scopes from the start of observing the sky! Newtonian is simple, cheap and easy to get a large diameter mirror than all other type scopes maybe you want to say Newtonian is hard to collimate. But actually we enjoy the process to do something which can make our scope better!
Let’s see ZWO’s first carbon tube Photograph Newtonian:
- Diameter:6″ (153mm)
- Focal ratio: F4
- Weight(including handle, dovetail and rings): 3.8kg (8.3lb)
- Focuser: 10:1 dual speed focuser
- back focus: 65mm (+-5mm)
- secondary size: 64mm
- PV of the primary mirror: < 1/10λ
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First light M16 with ZWO 153F4 newton
First light M16 with ZWO 153F4 newton and ATIK One
ZWO 153F4 Carbon Newton:
Diameter:6″ (153mm)
Focal ratio: F4
Weight(including handle, dovetail and rings): 3.8kg (8.3lb)
Focuser: 10:1 dual speed focuser
back focus: 65mm (+-5mm)
secondary size: 64mm
PV of the primary mirror: < 1/10λ (Surface PV)
Free shipping through EMS now (limited time and limited quantities)
http://astronomy-imaging-camera.com/…/153mm-f4-carbon-newt…/
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ZWO 3 new USB3.0 color cameras have come!
3 new ASI cameras has come: ASI224MC ASI185MC ASI178MC. This cameras have Low Noise, High Sensitivity and Fast Speed.
These cameras are the best planetary imaging camera in the world and the cooled version won’t be far away 
For more info and orders please visit products pages.
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Jupiter in RGB and CH4 with ASI224MC
Martin captured Jupiter in RGB and CH4 with ASI224 camera attached on big 444-mm Dobson. What Martin said about this amazing photos?
The methane image was taken during a period of good seeing with my home-built 444-mm Dobsonian working on my equatorial platform and at f18- a slightly shorter f-ratio than I would use for RGB imaging. I used the IR sensitive ASI224MC camera with a ZWO methane filter and with the R and B balance on the camera both set to 50. Like this the camera amazingly works in this region of the IR like a monochrome camera. With the gain bumped right up to nearly maximum (550) I could image at 30fps with an exposure of 30msec an amazingly short exposure for methane imaging. I took 13 one minute long videos and picked the best 75% of the best 7 videos which were combined in Winjupos using the image derotate feature.
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First Light with ASI1600MM-Cool+EFWmini+ZWO New RGBL
Haven’t been imaging for nearly one year
I joined a star party couple days before
and here is my first light with our new camera ASI1600MM-Cool
This is my new portable and lightweight setup for DSO imaging
Mount: ZEQ25
Scope: 70SA 2kg Only
Imaging and Guiding system: ASI1600MM-Cool+EFWmini+ZWO New LRGB, OAG + ASI290MM for guiding 1KG total
So this imaging setup is only 3kg
All data captured at Unity Gain and 3 mins exposure for single frame
M27 L*12 R*3 G*3 B*3
M27 is very high in the sky, I just combined the RGBL together and did a DDP, don’t even need to adjust the color
ZWO New LRGB Filters are very suitable for ASI1600, EFWmini works great all night too
M8&M20 L*20 R*5 G*5 B*5
M13 L*40 R*10 G*10 B*10
This is the most difficult object!Very hard to do the post processing, anyway this is what I can do
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ZWO in the Star Party of Yunnan in China
December 24 is Christmas Eve in the Western countries.But it is also a nice day for us,because the 7th Yunnan Star Party would be held this night.
In the afternoon,we arrived the Blueberry Manor in Kunming (the provincial capital of Yunnan). On the road, we enjoyed the scenery along the way.
When we got the meeting place ,there have been so many people before the exhibition.And we could see a lot of equipment for astronomy,include the latest products.
The staff of the Party dressing as Santa Claus:
You could encounter lots of equipment that couldn`t see before.
16″ telescope from Meade
Just like a cannon
16″ Newton Reflection Telescope from Jinghua Optics:
Digital Sky Hall
All the cameras from ZWO
ASI071: the first APS-C camera from ZWO
It is charming to the participants
The exhibition of ZWO is popular
Sam Wen ,the CEO of ZWO, was talking about the ASI camera with the founder of Mufu Asrononmy Forum
The opening ceremony was carried out at 7:30 PM.The doctor from Chinese Academy of Sciences astronomical science center stared with the speech ——《Cosmos before the big bang》
Then the President of Amateur Astronomy Association handed the torch,lighted the bonfire.
All the people danced around the bonfire
The whole night was carnival for astronomy amateurs.There you can watch the stars ,capture the deep sky,enjoy the digital sky hall,communicate with the peer…
Yunnan is a nice place for astronomy amateur.You can see the milky way with naked eye in the winter.
The full view of Orion
Oh,what is the red line?
The trace of UFO?
Actually ,it is the unmanned aerial vehicle
Besides that we tested the night vision performance of the ASI1600MM
In the video, the exposure time is 50ms at 20fps.There is no tripod ,so the image is shaking.
But the M42,M45 is obvious.
It proved that ASI1600 have good capability for night vision.
Everyone enjoy the beautiful night .
Thanks for the organizers.
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Running ASI USB3.0 Cameras under Android device
We at ZWO got some great news for you guys, where we announce that the ASI USB3.0 CCDs support Android devices. You attach the camera to the device’s USB and make sure that the device supports OTG.
Although the app is still in Alpha stage, with loads of bugs, crashes and misspellings, we strive to achieve feedback from you to improve the development of this app. You also can provide us some suggestions/wishes that we can apply within it that helps you to capture your shots. In that case, send your thoughts to：feedback@zwoptical.com
Above you can see a preview of a working demonstration between a Vivo X9 phone and an ASI1600MC CCD. You simply attach the cable to the CCD’s USB3.0 port and to your device’s mini-USB port, enable OTG in the settings so the device finds the CCD, installs all the necessary drivers to run it, start the app and start using it.
Follow the link to see a demonstration video of the feature： https://youtu.be/bEHsBHnF8qs
Smartphones are not the only Android devices which this app works with. We are making it possible to run it with a portable projector as well, where you achieve up to a 180 inch resolution of what the CCD captures. No need for large and heavy clumsy monitors or laptops for public displays.
Demonstrations below：
A short video of how it works to run this with a projector： https://youtu.be/KysgIQ7CksE
We are changing the way of astronomy and wide-field photography for public audience with this new technology of ours and we sincerely hope you will enjoy it as much as we enjoy of making it for you. The projector and CCD together weighs approximately 800 grams while the entire set of a monitor, laptop, CCD and all the necessary cables in between 8 to 40 kilograms. That’s a lot of spare weight with this app of ours, don’t you think?
System requirements：
ASI CCD with USB3.0
Android 4.0.3 or later
USB OTG (On-The-Go) support on Android device
Demo downloads：
ASI CCD Android demo
EFW Android demo
SDK download：
ASI Camera SDK & Source Codes
EFW SDK & Source Codes
Known bugs：
- some host devices may experience problems with long exposure photage
- loopholes and scripts may cause crashes
- translation of the app to different languages may be wanted
The following video will show you how to enable OTG on your Android phone or pad：
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Cooled ASI camera setting in ASCOM driver
As we know all ASI cameras enable us small setting adjust through ASCOM camera driver such Gain and Offset. In this short article we will show you few test images how cameras setting affect on your captured image. For this test we used ASI1600MM-Cool and ASI071MC-Cool, two very popular ZWO DSO cameras.
ASI ASCOM camera driver interface is very simple. In this case we tested only predefined settings values for Gain and Offset. We have three options; highest dynamic range (G: 0 O: 10), unit gain (G: 139 O: 21) and lowest read noise (G: 300 O: 50). Which setting is the best for DSO imaging?
ASI1600 camera setting test
First test we made with 30-cm f4 telescope, ASI1600MM-Cool and L filter. We point telescope on very popular target M1, Crab Nebula in the constellation of Taurus. We captured three images with highest dynamic range, unit gain and lowest read noise settings. All three images were exposed 200-seconds at -20°C and bias, dark and flat not used. As we see lowest read noise settings give us very saturated images (stars and nebula). Reason for this is very low full well (bellow 1K) at this gain and offest values. Unit gain give us much better result. We have saturated only brighter/bigger stars. From our point of view the best result give us highest dynamic range. Gain and offest values for this preset give us full well 20K. We got not saturated stars, good background pattern and also very good SNR. If we exposure too long the sky glow will cover the read noise and there is no big difference with low read noise (LRN) and high read noise (HDR) camera settings.
Short exposures with HDR and LRN camera settings on same objects give us much more interesting results. Both images were exposed 10 x 10-seconds at -20°C and bias, dark and flat not used. On this case we see LRN image have less noise and higher SNR.
Another test images were exposed 20 x 5-seconds at -20°C and bias, dark and flat not used. LRN image have less noise and higher SNR.
For final test we compared 1 x 1-seconds exposure image at -20°C and bias, dark and flat not used. Result is very similar. LRN image have less noise and higher SNR.
ASI071 camera setting test
We also made test with 135-mm f2.8 lens, ASI071MC-Cool and L filter (2″ IR-UV CUT ). We point telescope on very popular Virgo Cluster (cluster of galaxies). Also in this test we captured three images with highest dynamic range, unit gain and lowest read noise settings. All three images were exposed at 200-seconds at -20°C and bias, dark and flat not used. As we see lowest read noise settings give us very saturated stars, especially in R in G channel. At this values we have full well only 3K. Unit gain have similar issues, but yes with lees saturated stars. Also in this test we think the best result give us highest dynamic range with full well only 46K.
Short conclusion
Our visually conclusions are, highest HDR settings give better result at longer exposures. We have got not saturated stars, good SNR and also very good or same read noise pattern like images with LRN values. But if you preferred shorter exposures due your “lucky imaging technique” or mount track limit we prefer LRN settings.
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Wide field imaging with ASI cooled cameras and LighTrack II mount
If you are looking for the mount that is small, flexible, quick to assemble, portable and enough precise for wide field photography with lens for trips under the dark sky, here is an article about it. The LighTrack II, a portable mount was made by FORNAX, a Hungarian company who is also running a very successful science project HATNet (hatnet.org). The LighTrack II is the first portable mount with friction drive on the market. The friction strip makes the movement of the mount very balanced and enables high tracking accuracy. FORNAX guarantee tracking error of the LighTrack II less than 2 arcseconds in eight minutes measuring and much more. The LighTrack II is also very interesting due to compact size and light weight (1.3 kg or 2.9 lbs). That characteristics seems to be an ideal choice for portable tracking mount.
We tested the LighTrack II with 135-mm f2.8 lens and ASI cameras, mono ASI1600 + filter wheel and color ASI071. The maximum recommended payload for this mount is 6 kilograms. Assembling the LighTrack II on a tripod is pretty quick and easy. The LighTrack II runs on 12V DC and comes with a cigarette lighter charger cable that can be connected to a power bank (a small power bank with 7 Ah is more than enough). We also tested FMW-200 wedge with polar finder scope which was designed for the LighTrack II. Polar alignment with it has never been easier. FMW-200 wedge is made from a massive aluminum body and is very precise and enables very precise movements in both ways – altitude and azimuth.
The LighTrack II mount is very suitable for imaging with our ASI cooled cameras any type of photo lenses up to 300-mm focal length. The imaging process is very simple and fast. We have to assemble the LighTrack II, ASI cooled camera and all other necessary parts, and then we just point out on a target and start capturing. Very simple! At the moment we run ASI cooled camera under computer control, but very soon you will need only LighTrack II mount, ASI cooled camera, PowerTank and instead of computer our brand new ANDROID application. All these features will bring astrophotography to the next level!
As we know dithering is necessary for astrophotography when we use ASI cooled CMOS cameras. When using a guided telescope mount and CMOS camera we got noise pattern (image bellow) on our final stack image. Most guiding softwares support dithering and simply displace the image for a set amount of pixels by displacing the guiding star after every exposure (for example PHD). In the case of LighTrack II mount with photo lens dithering is not necessary. Why? LighTrack II mount without precise guiding cannot track such precisely like guided mount, FORNAX52 for example. Every captured frame with LighTrack II is slightly different and eliminate this problem very well (every image is a little bit shifted on the sensor). When we stack all our images in one final image stacking process will eliminate this noise pattern very well. But this does not mean that the mount is not precise! With LighTrack II and good polar alignment with 135-mm lens we can do also 400-seconds exposure (the recommended longest exposure duration from FORNAX is 360 seconds or 6 minutes)!
Noise pattern on finale stack image. Images was captured with 20-cm telescope, ASI1600 and OAG.
And the final result? During the winter we were imaging Orion Nebula (also known as Messier 42, M42, or NGC 1976) a diffuse nebula situated in the Milky Way with LighTrack II, 135-mm f2.8 lens, and our ASI071 cooled camera (subexposure time was 200-sec ). Final result is outstanding!
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ZWO showed new features at exhibitions floor NEAIC & NEAF 2017
ZWO team in April 2017 visited two very popular exhibitions, Northeast Astro-Imaging Conference (NEAIC) and Northeast Astronomy Forum (NEAF). On both exhibition floors, we showed our products; planetary and cooled cameras, filters and filter wheels and our wide range of accessories for astrography.
On exhibitions, we also show two new ZWO products. We present our Android application ASICAP which enable ASI USB3.0 full cameras control and our first cooled Full-Frame camera ASI094. ASI094 has 36mp IMX094 CMOS sensor with pixel size 4.88µm. But ASI094 is not only DSO camera! The camera also enables capture speed at 4.75fps.
We thank all the visitors, customers, dealers and agents. See you next year.
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Seeing in DSO astrography does really matter
Astrography under a good astronomical seeing is the main desire for astronomers all around the world. Seeing is the most important factors for DSO or planetary image quality. Practically all professional observatories are located on locations with sub-second seeing, where seeing values are bellow 1 arcsec, but amateur astronomers are doing astrography under the sky where is the common seeing between 2 – 5 arc seconds. What does this mean in the practice? Seeing conditions can be estimated by several types of scales e.g. Antoniadi Scale, Mt. Wilson Seeing Scale, Pickering scale, Tombaugh/Smith Double Star Scale, Environment Canada Scale, etc. One very popular is the Pickering scale which is divided into numbers from 1 to 10. Number 1 shows a very poor seeing and number 10 shows excellent seeing conditions. However, measuring of angular sizes of the almost pointy stars is more professional than measuring seeing by Pickering scales. For example in astrography, seeing can be measured in arc seconds with FWHM (Full Width Half Maximum) method with an appropriate software. FWHM is determined in arc seconds where higher value of FWHM means worse observing conditions.
Let’s see one practical example. At our ZWO observatory we have made one simple test, where we have been capturing a series of Messier 106 (Messier 106 is an intermediate spiral galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici.) images with 30-cm astrograph and ASI1600MM-Cool and LRGB filters. The image resolution was 0.65 arcsec/px and exposure of a single image was 200-seconds. We analyze all of our images with a software and got very interesting values.
The image on the left shows Messier 106 under 3.66 arcsec seeing conditions, and on the right under 1.66 arcsec seeing conditions. At this case we used L filter.
The image on the left shows Messier 106 under 2.55 arcsec seeing conditions, and on the right under 1.49 arcsec seeing conditions. At this case we used R filter.
Final LRGB image Messier 106 in the constellation Canes Venatici made with ASI1600.
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The pixel size comparison of two ASI cameras – Sunspot AR2665
In this short article, we compare two very popular cameras, ASI174 and ASI290. Particularly, we were testing the effect of the pixel size of each ASI camera. ASI174 has 5.86µm and ASI209 only 2.9µm of the pixel size. Why is pixel size so important? Camera with smaller pixel size adjusted at telescope with short focal length gives smother details on the image.
The test comparison was done by imaging the largest sunspot of the year 2017, AR2665 sunspot, at our ZWO observatory on the beginning of the July. Images were taken through 350-mm telescope at focal length 3556-mm. Image taken with ASI174 got scale 0.28 arcsec/px, and ASI290 got image scale 0.17 arcsec/px, respectively.
Despite that image taken with ASI290 has smaller field of view, only 5×3 arcmin, but gives more details, as seen on the image below. As a result of the test, we suggest that if you have moderate observing conditions, use camera with smaller pixel size and telescope with short focal length, then you could expect to get more details on the image.
Sunspot AR2665 with ASI174 (left) and ASI290 (right).
Here is some tehnical details for both compared images and you can also download both raw videos (5 GB). Please, send us your processed images for gallery on info@zwoptical.com.
Camera= ZWO ASI290MM
Filter= Euro EMC photographic Solar Filter ND3.8 + Continuum
Frames captured= 3000
FPS (avg.)= 81
Shutter= 5.836ms
Gain= 0 (0%)
Frames stacked= 50
Filter= Euro EMC photographic Solar Filter ND3.8 + Continuum
Frames captured= 3000
FPS (avg.)= 81
Shutter= 5.836ms
Gain= 0 (0%)
Frames stacked= 50
Camera= ZWO ASI174MM
Filter= Euro EMC photographic Solar Filter ND3.8 + Continuum
Frames captured= 3000
FPS (avg.)= 204
Shutter= 3.821ms
Gain= 0 (0%)
Frames stacked= 50
Filter= Euro EMC photographic Solar Filter ND3.8 + Continuum
Frames captured= 3000
FPS (avg.)= 204
Shutter= 3.821ms
Gain= 0 (0%)
Frames stacked= 50
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Which debayer algorithm is the best for ASI cameras?
At our ZWO lab, we testing very new astro images processing software Astro Pixel Processor (APP). APP has many very interesting features and some of them are very unique. Many our customers bought color DSO cameras and a very first step for all those users during images processing is choosing the right debayer algorithm. APP has a special and unique demosaic algorithm called Adaptive Airy Disc which reduces green and magenta cast in your RGB data, will improve sharpness and will make your stars rounder when compared with other algorithms, for example with well known VNG algorithm. At this test, we compared two debayer algorithms. Left, VNG – Threshold-Based Variable Number of Gradients (Pixinsight software was used) and right, AAD – Adaptive Airy Disc (Astro Pixel Processor software was used). A very clear winner is reference image debayered with APP. Click on image for full resolution!
This image showing the least artifacts in the background, no artifacts at the star borders, best resolution and least chromatic noise in the background!
We absolutely recommend this software for all ZWO camera users. More tutorials and recommendations for ASI camera users coming soon! Try free Astro Pixel Processor (APP)!
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