Nicola has released Version 1.4.2.0 of AstroDMx Capture for Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi OS, and Chrome OS.
Changelog
Fits image files can now be loaded into the real time calibration system.
Fixed: ZWO cooling bug.
Fixed: Bug associated with the average pixel brightness calculation whilst capturing flat calibration frames.
Fixed: Raspberry Pi32 crash in hardware acceleration mode.
Raspberry Pi Camera support has been removed from the main AstroDMx builds; a separate build is now available to support the PiCamera. This has been done because of a conflict between the hardware acceleration mode and the PiCamera SDK. Builds that support the PiCamera only operate in software acceleration. Unless support for the PiCamera is required, it is recommended that the user install the main Raspberry Pi build of AstroDMx Capture.
Updated: ZWO SDK.
Updated: QHY SDK.
Changes will be made for the SV405CC implementation when the SDK is finished
Quick tests with the prototype SV405CC camera from SVBONY
Very bad weather (winds, clouds and rain) has hampered field testing of the camera. However, the small amount of data that we have been able to obtain on some occasions, has shown the camera in very good light.
The tests were done with the SV405CC fitted with a 2" nose-piece and equipped with a 2" Optalong LeNhance dual-band narrowband filter. This filter is transparent to H-alpha in the red part of the spectrum, also H-beta and OIII in the blue-green part. It enables narrowband imaging with an OSC camera.
The telescope used was a 130mm, f/5 Newtonian mounted on a Celestron AVX GOTO mount. The camera was cooled to -20 degrees Celsius.
Just the final processed images will be shown here together with comment and the software used to process the data.
Software used was Affinity Photo for stacking and processing, The Gimp 2.10 for processing, Neat Image for noise reduction, Photoshop Elements 2021 and FastStone image viewer for further processing.
The Orion nebulae
AstroDMx Capture for Windows was used to capture 55 x 25s exposures with matching dark frames.
The Rosette nebula
AstroDMx Capture for Windows was used to capture only 2 x 3 min exposures with matching dark frames and then a shower interrupted capture.
Nevertheless, the 6 minutes worth of data produced a presentable image of the Rosette nebula.
The Horsehead and Flame nebulae
Clouds prevented the capture of more than a single 4 min exposure of the Horsehead and Flame nebula region. However, even the single exposure yielded a satisfactory image.
The prototype SV405CC camera performed very well with AstroDMx Capture and, particularly the last two images above, showed that it is a sensitive and not a very noisy camera. We were very pleased with the results and are looking forward to checking out how it will behave under better weather conditions and auto-guided.
