Feature-Maintenance release of AstroDMx Capture

 Nicola has made a Feature-Maintenance release of AstroDMx Capture for all operating systems: Version 1.6.2.0.

Mutatis mutandis

This release comes before a major release incorporation the first of a set of advanced features.

In Version 1.6.2.0 the SDKs have been updated for almost all cameras

Support for some cameras other than the SVBONY family of cameras has been implemented in AstroDMx Capture for ChromeOS. However, something that we have feared may happen, has happened. With the recent update to ChromeOS that introduced pass through of USB devices to Android, whereas previously there was only pass through of USB devices to Linux (running in Crostini), Google seem to have broken USB 3.0 pass through for some, but not all cameras. Where a camera is affected, a workaround is to use a USB 2.0 cable and the camera works again. This is something that we have been hoping would not happen but has always been a possibility. The new SV505C camera will not work in the ChromeOS virtual Linux environment.

Support for some of the older Linux distributions has been discontinued (although by running an older version of AstroDMx Capture, someone running an old distribution will be able to continue using things as they are). This decision has been forced on us by the latest SVBONY SDK which is now tracking a newer version of glibc.

This is not unreasonable at the moment, as older distributions are rightly, eventually deprecated; but we will liaise with SVBONY to make sure that they do not unwittingly preclude any other Linux distributions which do not track the newer glibc versions in their future SDKs. The minimum glibc requirement is now 2.27.

The next major release of AstroDMx Capture Version 2.0 will add INDI mount-control (with plate-solving functionality), camera, filter-wheel and focuser support together with other improvements. However, it is entirely possible that an intermediate maintenance release may have to be made in the meantime.

Version 2.0 of AstroDMx Capture will be released when all bench and field testing of the functionality has been completed.

AstroDMx Capture can be downloaded HERE.

The Eastern Veil nebula with an SVBONY SV405CC

Another session testing advanced features of AstroDMx Capture being developed by Nicola. The image was acquired, centred and imaged with AstroDMx Capture. Auto-guiding was done with PHD2. The feature being tested was to do an imaging run with the object on the east of the meridian, capture an image for plate-solving, perform a meridian flip, plate-solve the image previously captured, send the mount to the coordinates specified by the plate solve, plate solve a fresh image and automatically centre the object. To get the image orientation the same as in the original batch of images, the preview (and hence the captured images) must be flipped and flopped. When dark-frames are eventually captured at the end of the session, they must be copied and flipped and flopped to be used to calibrate the first set of images (The equivalent of rotating through 180 degrees). (This is because any amp-glow will have to be in the correct position relative to the captured images). This procedure worked perfectly in the tests.

Nicola is preparing a program to flip and flop FITS or TIFF images to facilitate the use of a single set of dark-frames with meridian-flipped data.

The equipment used

We used an 80mm f/5 Apochromatic Triplet  refractor with a field flattener on an AVX mount, an L-eNhance narrowband filter in an Altair magnetic, 2" filter holder and an SVBONY SV405CC OSC camera. The guide-scope was an SVBONY SV165 fitted with a QHY-5II-M camera.

The FITS data were calibrated and stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and post processed in the Gimp 2.10.

Click on the image to get a closer view

Stack of 1 hour 15 min, of 3 min exposures of the Eastern Veil nebula.

The next release of AstroDMx Capture will be a simple feature-release to expand the range of supported cameras, update SDKs and fix issues.

The next major release will contain some of the advanced features that have been discussed in previous posts. Nicola has decided to update AstroDMx Capture for all operating systems incrementally as the advanced features are implemented. This is instead of implementing all of the planned changes before a major release is made, and extending the time period before they are available for use.

This is a major undertaking and is being done in available time. When a major release is imminent, it will be reported here.

The SV505C, a new planetary camera from SVBONY and AstroDMx Capture

Nicola has been implementing the prototype of a new SVBONY camera, the SV505C in AstroDMx Capture.

SV505C OSC camera

The SV505C is an OSC camera with a Sony IMX464 sensor. It has a built-in 128MB DDR III buffer.The sensor is 4.0MP with a diagonal of 9mm. The pixel size is 2.9μm x 2.9μm. It has a 12 bit ADC, supports ROI and binning to 2x2.

The SV505C is a planetary camera but these experiments also tested its potential as an uncooled bright-deep-sky-objects camera.

The SV505C was used with a variety of telescopes: (80mm apo refractor, Skymax 127 Maksutov and 130mm Newtonian) as part of the testing of the advanced functionality in AstroDMx Capture, and testing the implementation of the camera.

Lunar and planetary data were captured as SER files and deep sky data were captured as 16 bit FITS files.

Some of the setups used for Deep sky imaging

80mm apochromatic triplet refractor

130mm Newtonian reflector

We shall simply list here some of the results that we have obtained with the SV505C

Planets

Saturn

Jupiter

Deep Sky

M13

The Western Veil nebula

Lunar

The SV505C aquitted itself quite well both for its intended application as a planetary camera, and outside its comfort zone as an uncooled deep sky camera. Significant diagonal systematic noise recorded during deep sky imaging means that the camera will definitely benefit from dithering during capture.

A feature release of AstroDMx Capture will be released with support for the SV505C, but as yet, without the advanced features under development and reported previously, as soon as our testing of the camera implementation is complete.