Atik 460 EX Arrived Today

[jcm]

The drivers loaded OK (Xp Machine) and the MaximDL plug in works as well.
The new version of Nebulosity (V3) will also operate this new Atik camera.(tested)
It also works with Nebulosity V 2.2.6 - but not yet tested full functionality.

Hope to have some test images as soon as there is a clear night.

Will post all info into this thread.

John

[Roger]

Nice one John shall look foward to the results on this one

[jcm]

Hi Rog,

I have been waiting for this camera to be released.

Pouring with rain at the moment

Did have chance to check the set point cooling.
Obs temp was about 9 deg C so set the camera to cool to -10 deg C
It cooled much quicker than I thought it would - about 6 mins.
Seemed very stable at -10 but will have another check when I take my
first image which looks quite a way into the future according to the local
weather forecast.

John

[DaveS]

Pouring with rain at the moment

Well, that makes a change John

I managed to squeeze in a bit of imaging last night, which was the first time in weeks.

Good luck with the new camera, and I look forward to hearing you views on it, as and when you get the chance to use it.

Dave

[jcm]

M3---FirstTest460EX.jpg

Managed to use the 460EX for the first time last night.
Very poor conditions so decided to go for M3.

Download time for each image is about 5 secs. ( 11 for the 16HR )
This camera is definitely more sensitive than the 16HR. In fact it showed a
light leak that I did not realise I had .( not on the camera). I have
corrected this but the image above was taken with the light affected frames.

GSO 8" RC working at f5.6 using AP Focal Reducer.
8 X 1 min exposures.
No dark frames or flat frames only bias used.

John

[Dennis]

Looks like a good start, nice and sharp. Full calibration can only help.

Dennis

[DaveS]

As Dennis said, a good start John

Dave

[Roger]

Nice one John , looks the business.

[perfrej]

Nice!

Cooling time... Is that a serious figure? My SBIG cools from +10 to -30 in under a minute... Do you have enough power?

/p

[johnrt]

It does seem like a long time to cool, my Atik 314l+ drops to -25 in about a minute or so. Impressive start with the new camera though. Good luck at getting any imaging time at the moment, the weather is a disgrace!

[jcm]

Hi perfrej/johnrt,

I will have a more accurate check on cooling , though doing a check in the obs yesterday it
seemed to be about 3/4 mins to get from 15 deg to -10 deg.

Power supply is 5A regulated so should be OK

John

PS - Just found out something - not sure the "cooler" is working properly in Nebulosity! It does not give you a read out
showing the temperature drop. MaximDL does show the temp dropping quickly.

[jcm]

Hi All,

Update - cooler does work with Nebulosity ( Atik Unversal driver) you just don't get a continuous read out.
No futher images - Rain Stop play

John

[ncjunk]

does it matter if it is slow? how quickly does cooling/warming have to take to start making thermal shock an issue?

lovely test image, looking forward to seeing some more :mrgreen:

[jcm]

I sent some Bias Frames and Flat fields to be analysed by some one who
knows more about CCD cameras than me. This is the analysis.

ATIK460EXM

reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_001.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_002.tiff
gain#1 = 0.25309
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_002.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_003.tiff
gain#2 = 0.25355
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_003.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_004.tiff
gain#3 = 0.25373
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_004.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_005.tiff
gain#4 = 0.25330
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_005.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_006.tiff
gain#5 = 0.25320
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_006.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_007.tiff
gain#6 = 0.25326
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_007.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_008.tiff
gain#7 = 0.25391
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_008.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_009.tiff
gain#8 = 0.25388
reading FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_009.tiff and FLAT frame 460EX-Flat_010.tiff
gain#9 = 0.25360
Gain = 0.25350
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_001.tiff
StdDev#1 = 19.21338ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_002.tiff
StdDev#2 = 19.23607ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_003.tiff
StdDev#3 = 19.25667ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_004.tiff
StdDev#4 = 19.31313ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_005.tiff
StdDev#5 = 19.38236ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_006.tiff
StdDev#6 = 19.35470ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_007.tiff
StdDev#7 = 19.36212ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_008.tiff
StdDev#8 = 19.33059ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_009.tiff
StdDev#9 = 19.32967ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_010.tiff
StdDev#10 = 19.32583ADU
StdDev = 19.31045ADU
Readout Noise = 4.89525e-
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_001.tiff
StdDev#1 = 20.65450ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_002.tiff
StdDev#2 = 20.59157ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_003.tiff
StdDev#3 = 20.53475ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_004.tiff
StdDev#4 = 20.52348ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_005.tiff
StdDev#5 = 20.48559ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_006.tiff
StdDev#6 = 20.52590ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_007.tiff
StdDev#7 = 20.49647ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_008.tiff
StdDev#8 = 20.51786ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_009.tiff
StdDev#9 = 20.53213ADU
reading BIAS frame 460EX-Bias--1_010.tiff
StdDev#10 = 20.56396ADU
StdDev = 20.54262ADU
Total System Noise = 5.20761e-

CCD Camera Measurement:
-----------------------
Gain = 0.25
Readout Noise = 4.90e-
Total System Noise = 5.21e-


John

[jcm]

You can get a CCD temperature reading with Nebulosity 3 by going to Edit / Preferences/Misc click on the line that
says clock TEC display and select CCD temperature from the drop down then save.

The temperature of the CCD appears on the lower right of the screen
This info came from a member on the Atik camera forum.

John