Making the most of an old Coronado CaK PST (Ca K-line Personal Solar Telescope).

Coronado was a premier manufacturer of solar telescopes and filters and ceased operations in July 2024.

Coronado was owned by Optronic Technologies, the parent corporation who also owned Orion Telescopes and Meade Instruments. Optronic Technologies ran out of capital following a costly antitrust lawsuit in 2019 and severe supply-chain issues as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In July 2024 the parent company shut its California offices, laid off its entire staff and ceased all manufacturing. The remaining physical assets were liquidated at auction. In early 2025, the remaining inventory was acquired by retailers like High Point Scientific.

Coronado produced two versions of the PST: The H-alpha PST introduced in the early 2000s and the CaK PST released in the mid 2000s and discontinued it after a short production run due to practical and physiological problems. 

These telescopes were relatively low cost making them affordable to many amateur astronomers, but their cheap designs were a severe burden. They have severe back focus problems meaning that the H-alpha PST was primarily a visual instrument. In order to bring a camera to focus a Barlow lens or a lens such as the Magnimax could be placed at the end of the camera’s nosepiece to increase the focal length and allow the image to be brought to focus on the camera sensor. The CaK PST was slightly easier to bring to focus on some astronomical camera sensors, and due to the physiological problems associated with the scope had to be marketed as a photographic scope. 

The problem being that any person over the age of about 30 would be unlikely to see anything through an eyepiece when the CaK PST was pointed at the Sun, whilst a much younger person would be able to see a bright blue image of the Sun. This is because as people age, the cornea and lens of the eye naturally take on a yellowish tint which blocks near UV light and renders the Sun invisible to the eye when viewed through a CaK PST.

Notwithstanding these problems, both types of PST suffered from degradation of elements of the optical train due to the effects of atmospheric moisture. The H-alpha scopes suffered from the oxidation of ERF coatings and the Induced transmission filter (ITF) producing dim and blurred images rendering the scope unusable. Much like the H-alpha PST, the internal blocking filters and ITFs of the CaK PSTs were highly prone to the effects of moisture and edge-delamination over time. One of the consequences is that due to continuum light ingress, the image as seen on a camera sensor is totally lacking in contrast and impossible to focus. Due to the fact that the manufacturer no longer exists, it is very difficult to get such compromised telescopes repaired.

Both of our PSTs, which were among the first of their kind to be imported into the UK, have developed these problems. With respect to the CaK PST we have found that placing a Ca K-line narrowband solar filter on the nosepiece of the monochrome camera being used, restores the contrast and once again yields acceptable images that in contrast, surpass simply using a Ca K-line filter with a normal refractor fitted with a Baader photographic grade solar filter or using a CaK solar wedge with a normal refractor. The nosepiece Ca K-line filter is filtering out all of the leaking continuum light and is at the moment, able to restore the scope to usefulness. However, it seems likely, that with time, the internals will continue to degrade until the scope is once again unusable. To try to delay this process, desiccant sachets are placed in the case with the CaK PST, although this has always been done. Another fact that is noteworthy is that for both PSTs, the change from a perfectly functioning scope to a severely compromised one took place over the relatively short time of about a year.

The equipment used

A CaK PST mounted on a Skywatcher Solar Quest solar finding and tracking mount and an Altair 678M camera with 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution was for these tests and fitted with a Baader stacked Ca K-line filter on July 2, or a 3nm FWHM Ca K-line filter on July 6. AstroDMx Capture was used to capture a 500 frame SER file on July 2 and a 1000-frame SER file on July 6.

The best 95% of the frames in each SER file were stacked in Autostakkert!4, wavelet sharpened in waveSharp3 and further processed in Gimp3.

Results

The results are presented as colourised images in two common hues plus a monochrome image

July 2, 2026, Baader stacked Ca K-line filter

July 6, 2026, 3nm FWHM Ca K-line filter 

It is clear that by putting a Ca K-line filter before the camera at the end of the optical train, the CaK PSTs performance has been restored at least in the short term.

An un-cooled, high resolution image of the Eagle nebula

An un-cooled, high resolution experiment was carried out using a Stella Mira 66mm ED APO refractor with a field flattener. The scope was fitted with a ZWO EAF motor focuser and an Altair V2 magnetic 2” filter holder containing an Altair Quadband filter. A 12 bit ZWO ASI585MC OSC uncooled camera was attached. AstroDMx Capture for Linux x86_64 running on an Ubuntu Linux mini computer was used to capture 78 minutes worth of 3 minute exposures of the Eagle nebula (centred on the star HIP89743) as FITS images with  matching darks, flats and dark-flats.

An SVBONY SV165 guide scope with a natively connected QHY-5II-M guide camera was used for PHD2 multistar pulse auto-guiding via an INDI server running on a Fedora Linux mini computer. The auto-guiding was controlled by a separate Linux laptop indoors. AstroDMx Capture sent the scope/mount to the star Arcturus which was used to focus the scope with a Bahtinov mask. The ZWO EAF was controlled by AstroDMx Capture via the INDI server. AstroDMx Capture then sent the scope to the star HIP89743 within the Eagle nebula to optimally place the nebula in the field of view.

The equipment used

The ZWO ASI585MC uses an IMX585 sensor which is BSI, and built on Sony's STARVIS 2 technology. It has a full well depth of 40k to 47k electrons and a Read noise of 0.7 to 5.5 electrons depending on gain. It has a high QE of 91% at 500nm and 80.9% at 656nm.

The ADC bit depth does not determine the physical dynamic range which is calculated as: 

Dynamic range = Full well capacity / Read noise

A 12-bit ADC offers 12 stops  212 = 4,096 of digital container. If one shoots at the optimized HCG gain setting where dynamic range increases and read noise falls to extremely low values every digital step represents genuine, photon data.

The ADC bit depth determines how much charge CAN be stored, but as long as the full well capacity is not met by the incoming photons producing charge, a 16 bit ADC depth has no advantage over a 12 bit ADC.

What the 12 bit ADC does limit is the exposure time. The exposure must be limited so that the full well capacity is not reached or the centres of stars will be saturated and blown out.

Stacking Nullifies the 12-bit Limitation. While a single 12-bit sub-exposure might technically show minor step-like gradients in very smooth nebulae, stacking images permanently breaks the 12-bit ceiling. When deep-sky stacking software averages many 12-bit sub-exposures the mathematical integration recalculates the data into 32-bit floating-point files. The fractional differences created by the noise floor create very smooth gradients that can equal native 16-bit files. The advantage of the 16 bit ADC is that much longer exposures are possible before the stars become saturated.

This thinking is behind the practice of EAA which frequently uses cameras such as the ZWO ASI585MC and short exposures with live-stacking, to build up an acceptable image, often for outreach but also as an observational technique not using an eyepiece.

Another point to note here is that if a number a short exposures are captured with the aim of preserving the fidelity of the star colours, then the stars from the stack of these images can be used to replace possibly-saturated stars in the longer exposures. These short exposures might ideally be made through a UV/IR cut filter so that the star colours cannot be influenced by a filter such as a quadband or dualband. This is a technique that we shall explore in the future and is analogous to the standard technique of using RGB stars in narrowband images.

AstroDMx Capture saving 3 minute exposures of the Eagle nebula

Negative preview

The data were Stacked and part processed in PixInsight and further processed in SetiAstroSuitePro, and Gimp3. 

The Eagle nebula

The experiment showed that it is possible to get acceptable deep sky results from a 12 bit OSC camera such as the ZWO ASI585MC which has an 8.29 MP sensor of dimensions 11. x 6.3 mm and a resolution of 3840 x 2160. When the ZWO ASI585MC is paired with a Stella Mira 66mm ED APO refractor with a field flattener, it produces high resolution detailed images.

We look forward to working more with this setup and exploring the use of short star exposures as discussed above.

Meanwhile Nicola continues the work on Version 3 of AstroDMx Capture whilst still maintaining the code-base of Version 2.

The Trifid, Lagoon and Chinese dragon nebulae region with an SVBONY SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera.

For this test we used an Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic astrograph refractor paired with an SVBONY SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera. The scope was fitted with an iOptron iEAF motor focuser and an Altair V2 magnetic 2” filter holder containing an Altair Quadband filter. AstroDMx Capture for Linux x86_64 running on an Ubuntu Linux mini computer was used to capture the image data as FITS images with  matching darks, flats and dark-flats. 24 x 5 minute exposures centred on the star HD165132 (in order to frame the image) were captured. The data were stacked and part processed in PixInsight and further processed in GraXpert, SetiAstroSuitePro and Gimp3. The image includes the Trifid, Lagoon and Chinese dragon nebulae as well as a number of other NGC and IC objects.

Click on an image to get a closer view 

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture saving 5 minute FITS files using the newly implemented Autostretch (MAD/MTF) preview stretch

Negative preview

Final image of the imaged region centred on the star HD165132

The image is rotated into a more familiar orientation.

Annotated version of the image

This imaging session session demonstrated again that the SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera is extremely capable and is a good match for the Askar 71F. The field was flat right to the corners of the image.

Feature release of AstroDMx Capture Version: Version: 2.18.1 ( All platforms )

Nicola has released a Feature release version (2.18.1) of AstroDMx Capture

For Linux x86-64 • Linux ARM • macOS x-86 • Apple silicon • Windows 

Mutatis mutandis

• Added: Full support for the SVBONY SC571CC (true 16-bit camera).
• Added: CPU core count warning. A warning is now shown if a computer has fewer than 4 cores (this warning can be switched off).
• Added: Low memory warning. A warning is now shown if a computer has less than 4GiB of RAM (this warning can be switched off).
• Added: IMAGETYP FITS keyword. See release notes for more information.
• Added: Ability to add a manual filter name which will be applied to the capture log and the FITS metadata. This can be set in the main Capture dialog.
• Added: MAD/MTF 16-bit stretch transform (this is now the default 16-bit transform).
• Changed: Most of the preview renderer has been completely rewritten to improve performance.
• Changed: The Preview performance setting has been renamed “Preview Quality”
• Fixed: PlayerOne exposure problem.
• Fixed: ZWO Offset control issue.
• Fixed: Touptek binning issue.
• Fixed: Issue where SVBONY cameras would fail to connect due to being locked into long exposure.
• Updated: QHY SDK.
• Updated: SVBONY SDK.
• Updated: Altair SDK.
• Updated: Toupcam SDK.
• Updated: OmegonPro SDK.
• Updated: Starshoot SDK.
• Updated: OGMA SDK.
• Other bug fixes and improvements.

Nicola will be implementing Windows ARM shortly. We are just waiting for some manufacturers to produce appropriate SDKs. Meanwhile work on the version 3 code base carries on apace.

First Light for the SVBONY SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera

Nicola has implemented the SVBONY SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera in AstroDMx Capture.

For this first light test we used an Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic astrograph refractor paired with an SVBONY SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera. The scope was fitted with an iOptron iEAF motor focuser and an Altair V2 magnetic 2” filter holder containing an Altair Quadband filter. 

The equipment

An SVBONY SV165 guide scope with a natively connected QHY-5II-M guide camera was used for PHD2 multistar pulse auto-guiding via an INDI server running on a Fedora Linux mini computer. The auto-guiding was controlled by a separate Linux laptop indoors. AstroDMx Capture sent the scope/mount to the star Arcturus which was used to focus the scope with a Bahtinov mask. The iOptron iEAF was controlled by AstroDMx Capture via the INDI server. 

AstroDMx Capture for Linux x86_64 running on an Ubuntu Linux mini computer was used to capture the image data as FITS images with flats and matching darks, dark-flats and bias frames. The SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera produces images of dimensions 6224 x 4168 pixels and has square 3.76 micrometre pixels. It has a 26MP APS-C IMX571 BSI sensor with dimensions of 23.4mm x 15.7mm (28.3mm diagonal), dual-stage TEC cooling and zero amp-glow as well as a variable heater for the sensor optical window.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing RAW FITS data of the Eagle nebula

Negative preview

11 x 5 minute exposures of The Eagle nebula were used. (The quantity of data was limited by clouds moving in). The data were stacked and part processed in PixInsight and further processed in GraXpert, SetiAstroSuitePro and Gimp3.

Final image of the Eagle nebula

Click on the image to get a closer view.

This first light session demonstrated that the SC571CC 16 bit OSC camera is extremely capable. It is a good match for the Askar 71F and the field was flat right to the corners of the image. We look forward to testing the implementation in AstroDMx Capture for Windows x86_64, Windows ARM, macOS x86_64 and Apple silicon as well as x86_64 Linux and Linux ARM.  All of these versions should be released within days.

Imaging the Sun with a Dwarf mini smartscope

There are two very low cost smart scopes that use the same form-factor, similar optics and the same sensor. These are the ZWO Seestar S30 and the Dwarflabs Dwarf mini.

Both have 30mm objectives and focal Lengths of 150 mm at f/5. They both use the Sony IMX662 (1920x1080) sensor. The Seestar S30 presents the image in portrait format whereas the Dwarf mini presents the image in landscape format. Both scopes are primarily intended for deep sky imaging, but both are capable of imaging the Moon and the Sun (using the provided solar filters). The solar (and lunar) images produced are rather small, but because at this focal length, the image is under-sampled. During stacking, a 1.5 x drizzle can be beneficial, and produce a more useful sized stacked image.

The philosophy of solar and lunar imaging with the Seestar S30 and the Dwarf mini are completely different. The Seestar S30 captures an 8 bit RAW AVI which can be several thousand frames and the Dwarf mini captures 16 bit RAW FITS files. The Dwarf mini defaults to capturing a mere 20 frames, although this can be increased arbitrarily, but because it is a slower process, inevitably far fewer frames will be captured. The Seestar approach is more suited to stochastic or so-called 'lucky imaging' that enables the selection of the best moments of seeing during frame selection and stacking.

There are a number of ways of approaching the analysis and stacking of the FITS files produced by the Dwarf mini. However, we believe that the following is the most economical and suitable method.

We did the data capture on a very poor day through gaps in the clouds. We captured just two sets of 20 FITS files with a number of them being affected to some extent by clouds. (on a better day, larger numbers of frames could be captured to the benefit of the quality of the final image).

The gain was set to zero and the shutter speed to 1/800s which produced a correctly exposed preview on the tablet screen. (With better transparency, faster shutter speeds may be more suitable).

The 40 FITS images that were captured were placed in a single folder (directory) and Autostakkert! 4.0.13 was used to debayer and stack the best 50% of the files.

The problem is that Autostakkert! expects the origin of an image to be top left, whereas the Dwarf mini places the origin at the bottom left. The FITS Keyword "ROWORDER" in the FITS header can be set to "TOP-DOWN" (origin top left)  or "BOTTOM-UP" (origin bottom left). This means that although the bayer pattern of the Sony IMX662 is RGGB, Autostakket! will by default debayer the image incorrectly. To correct this the image needs to be effectively flipped vertically, which in Autostakkert! can be achieved by forcing GBRG as the bayer pattern.

The problem is that the ROWORDER keyword is a non-standard but widely adopted FITS header extension in the amateur astronomy and astrophotography community. It is used to clarify whether an image's pixel data is written from the bottom of the image upward (BOTTOM-UP) or from the top downward (TOP-DOWN), preventing flipped images and incorrect color matrix (Bayer pattern) decoding. The rub is that neither the Seestar S30 nor the Dwarf mini write the ROWORDER into the FITS header. However, both of them write the bayer pattern into the Header. The Dwarf mini writes this: FITS Header.BAYERPAT,RGGB, FITS Header.TELESCOP,DWARF mini which is the correct bayer pattern for the Sony IMX662. The Seestar S30 on the other hand writes: FITS Header.INSTRUME,Seestar S30, FITS Header.BAYERPAT,GRBG which is not correct for the Sony IMX662. In the case of ZWO's Seestar S30, the combination of sensor orientation and their file-writing process shifts the indexing by exactly one row. A vertical shift of one row turns an RGGB pattern into a GRBG pattern. ZWO's standard driver architecture writes FITS images with a BOTTOM-UP row order. To ensure that processing programs debayer the colors correctly when loading these bottom-up files, the driver automatically translates the header's BAYERPAT string to GRBG.

The ROWORDER keyword was introduced in late 2020. While the official professional FITS standard (governed by the IAU) explicitly states that the first pixel in a FITS file should represent the lower-left corner (BOTTOM-UP), a massive influx of modern CMOS camera drivers, ASCOM, and INDI developments defaulted to writing data from the top-down. This discrepancy created massive problems for astrophotography software trying to automatically process color data. 

The ROWORDER keyword was co-created and introduced by Cyril Richard and team, the developers of Siril and Patrick Chevalley of CCDCiel and Cartes du Ciel.  They introduced ROWORDER (a string type keyword that takes the values TOP-DOWN or BOTTOM-UP) to allow capture software and processing software to handle image geometry seamlessly without forcing software developers to break compatibility with legacy data or calibration frames. Shortly after its introduction, other software developers—such as Han Kleijn (creator of ASTAP)—integrated and promoted its use across the amateur astronomy community.  It is a shame that neither of these smart telescopes incorporate the ROWORDER keyword into their FITS headers.

The best 50% of the RAW FITS files being debayered and stacked in Autostakkert!

Cropped square in GIMP3

The stacked, cropped image being white-balanced and wavelet sharpened in waveSharp 3, software developed by Cor Berrevoets et al to replace the wavelet functions of Registax.

The final image being temperature colourised in GIMP3

The final image having been flipped vertically to its correct orientation and given a gentle sharpening in ACDSee

Final words on 1.5x drizzling in Autostakkert!

In AutoStakkert! the 1.5x Drizzle option isn't a native 1.5x pixel-drizzling math routine. Instead, Emil Kraaikamp designed it as a two-step process to maximize alignment quality while keeping file sizes reasonable. How It Works When you check the 1.5x Drizzle box in AutoStakkert! the software performs the following pipeline: 

1) Native 3.0x Drizzle Stacking:  AutoStakkert! takes the aligned sub-frames and executes a true 3.0x Drizzle algorithm. It shrinks the sub-pixel "drop size" and maps the data onto a grid that is 3 times the native resolution of the sensor. 

2) Downsampling: Once the 3.0x stack is completely generated in memory, the software applies a Bicubic downsample to shrink the entire image by exactly 50%. The software outputs a file that is exactly 1.5x the dimensions of the original native resolution. It does this because true fractional drizzling (like 1.5x) is mathematically sloppy to compute because sub-pixel "drops" don't cleanly divide into fractional pixel grids. By performing a clean integer drizzle of 3.0x first, the software achieves much tighter, higher-quality pixel alignment during the sub-pixel stacking phase. Downsampling afterward gives the image scale required.

Even with a small amount of data captured under less than ideal conditions, it was possible to produce an acceptable image of the Sun with a Dwarf mini.

A Bresser Messier AR 120xs f/4.51 achromatic ED refractor configured as a Ca K-line telescope

We configured a Bresser Messier AR 120xs f/4.51 achromatic ED refractor fitted with a skywatcher motor focuser and mounted on a Skywatcher Solar Quest solar finding and tracking mount, as a Ca K-line telecope by attaching an Antlia Solar Herschel Wedge with an integral 3nm Ca K-line filter. An Altair 678M camera with 3840 x 2160 pixel resolution was used. This gives a Dawes Limit of 1.14 arc/sec, a field of view of 0.96 x 0.54 degrees and a resolution of 0.9" x 0.9"/pixel. AstroDMx Capture was used with live flatfield correction to capture two overlapping 1500-frame SER files. The best 70% of frames in each SER file were stacked in Autostakkert 4, stitched with MS ICE, wavelet sharpened in waveSharp 3 and finished in Gimp3.

Bresser Messier AR 120xs f/4.51 achromatic ED refractor fitted with a skywatcher motor focuser and mounted on a Skywatcher Solar Quest solar finding and tracking mount

Antlia Solar Herschel Wedge with an integral 3nm Ca K-line filter

The Sun in Ca K-line light monochrome image

The Sun in Ca K-line light colourised image

Although the A Bresser Messier AR 120xs is a fast achromat, the fact that it is dealing with only a 3nm bandwidth in the UV means that the Ca K-line light is not subject to chromatic aberration when used in this configuration. Substantial amounts of the chromospheric network are visible.

Uncooled, magnified, deep sky imaging

For uncooled, magnified, deep sky imaging we used an Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic astrograph refractor paired with a Player One Mars-C II OSC camera. The scope was fitted with an iOptron iEAF motor focuser and an Altair V2 magnetic 2” filter holder containing an Altair Quadband filter. An SVBONY SV165 guide-scope fitted with a QHY-5II-M guide camera was mounted on the imaging scope. The whole rig was mounted on a Celestron AVX GOTO EQ mount.

The Player One Mars-C II camera pairs excellently with the Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic refractor. 

Because the Mars-C II features a small 1/2.8-inch Sony IMX662 sensor (5.6mm x 3.2mm), it will heavily crop the telescope’s native field of view. This configuration turns the wide-field telescope into a high-magnification setup suitable for small targets. 

The Askar 71F has a focal length of F=490 mm and an f ratio of f/6.9

The Player One Mars-C II camera with 2.9µm pixels at 1.22 arcseconds per pixel fits perfectly into the ideal sampling range (0.67"–2.0") for average atmospheric seeing with this telescope.

The field of View (FOV) of 0.66° x 0.37° is ideal for framing small deep-sky objects.

The Askar 71F provides a 44mm flat image circle. Since the Mars-C II sensor uses only the centre of the image circle (6.44mm diagonal), stars are perfectly pinpoint and aberration-free from corner to corner. 

The Mars-C II features STARVIS 2 technology with a 54ke- full-well capacity. This allows for long exposures during imaging without clipping star cores. The IMX662 sensor has zero amp-glow.

AstroDMx Capture for Linux x86_64 was used to capture the image data as FITS images with flats and matching darks.

53 x 1 minute exposures of M16 were used. The data were stacked and part processed in PixInsight and further processed in GraXpert, SetiAstroSuitePro and Gimp3.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing M16 data

M16 HOO rendering

M16 RGB rendering

The 'pillars of creation' were magnified with this setup providing a good close-up of this feature.

45 x 1 minute exposures on each of M3 and M13 were used. The data were stacked and part processed in PixInsight and further processed in GraXpert and Gimp3.

AstroDMx Capture capturing M3 data

M3

AstroDMx Capture capturing M13 data

M13

The combination of the Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic astrograph refractor and the Player One Mars-C II OSC camera proved to be a good combination for imaging small objects.

 

First light for a Windows ARM, Snapdragon powered laptop for astronomical imaging

 

Nicola has implemented AstroDMx Capture for Windows ARM natively on a Snapdragon powered laptop.

 The computer used was a Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 3x 15in Snapdragon X1-26-100 powered Windows ARM computer.

The imaging equipment used

For deep sky imaging we used an Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic astrograph refractor paired with an SVBONY SV605CC OSC camera. The scope was fitted with an Altair V2 magnetic 2” filter holder containing an IR/UV cut filter and an iOptron iEAF motor focuser. An SVBONY SV165 guide-scope fitted with a QHY-5II-M guide camera was mounted on the imaging scope

Snapdragon X1-26-100 specifications

• Core Count: 8 Oryon CPU cores
• Clock Speed: Up to 2.97 GHz - 3.0 GHz
• Graphics:  Qualcomm Adreno GPU (1.7 TFLOPS)
• AI Performance:  45 TOPS Hexagon NPU

At the time of writing, the Snapdragon ARM processors have started to gain traction in the laptop and mini computer markets. Snapdragon laptops are characterised by being very power efficient and by being able to run for extended periods on battery power. From the astronomical imaging point of view, this is new technology and very few camera manufacturers have produced Windows ARM drivers or SDKs. This situation is bound to improve as these computers become more popular. 

For deep sky imaging we used an Askar 71F quadruplet apochromatic astrograph refractor paired with an SVBONY SV605CC OSC camera. The scope was fitted with an Altair V2 magnetic 2” filter holder containing an IR/UV cut filter.

In our deep sky imaging experiments we used AstroDMx Capture on the Snapdragon Windows laptop and controlled the SV605CC OSC camera as well as the mount and iEAF focuser via an INDI server running on a Fedora mini computer. Guiding was done by PHD2 autoguiding running on a separate Fedora Linux laptop. In our H-alpha solar imaging experiment we used a Touptek GPCMOS01200KPF OSC camera running natively and a Coronado Solarmax II 60, BF 15, H-alpha telescope.

Deep Sky Imaging

Screenshots of AstroDMx Capture imaging deep sky objects

Markarian's chain

M3

One hour's worth of 3 minute exposures was captured on each of the objects as FITS files. The data were processed in PixInsight, SetiAstroSuitePro, GraXpert and Gimp3

Markarian's Chain

M3

Solar H-alpha imaging

Lenovo Snapdragon powered laptop connected to the H-alpha imaging equipment

H-alpha scope and Touptek camera mounted on a Skywatcher Solar Quest solar finding and tracking mount.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture streaming H-alpha solar data

Two overlapping 1000-frame SER file panes were captured. The best 50% of the frames were debayered and stacked in Autostakkert!4, wavelet processed in waveSharp 3 and finished in Gimp3

The Solar disk in H-alpha

In conclusion, the first light tests of the Snapdragon powered Windows 11 computer were successful and showed that these relatively low cost, powerful and energy efficient laptops are very suitable for astronomical imaging, and would be very useful for imaging in the field. It seems to us that the future of laptop computing could lie with ARM powered machines. When astronomical camera manufacturers produce ARM drivers and SDKs it is likely that more astronomical imagers will switch to these types of machines as they upgrade their computing equipment.