Using a Skywatcher Esprit 80 ED Super APO Triplet refractor mounted on a Celestron AVX mount. A Player-One Mars-C II (IMX662) OSC uncooled camera was placed at the focus. AstroDMx Capture for Windows was used to capture the image data on M8, the Lagoon nebula. The mount was given a simple two-star alignment before it was sent to M8. The scope was focused using a Bahtinov mask and a bright star. AstroDMx Capture for Linux was used to find and position M8. Both a Linux and a Windows computer were used to produce this article.
Click on an image to get a closer view
Focusing an alignment star with AstroDMx Capture, using a Bahtinov mask
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AstroDMx Capture was then used to send the scope (mount) to M8
It can be seen that because only a simple two star alignment, using alignment stars west of the meridian, that when the mount was sent to M8, which was east of the meridian, it located M8, which was mainly off the sensor at the top left of the image.
AstroDMx Capture then took an image, plate-solved the star field, and sent an instruction via the INDI server to the mount, to centre M8 on the sensor.
AstroDMx Capture was then used to nudge the object slightly, into the position required for imaging.
Photograph of the imaging computer
An SV165 guide scope fitted with a QHY-5II-M camera was used for pulse auto-guiding with PHD2.
AstroDMx Capture then captured 40 x 90s FITS exposures of M8 with matching dark frames
Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Lagoon nebula
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The data were calibrated, registered and stacked in Siril and then post processed in the Gimp 2.10
M8, the Lagoon nebula
The new functionality is working well and is edging towards a release of AstroDMx Capture with enhanced capabilities.
