Friday 30 September 2022

The SVBONY SV705C OSC camera, AstroDMx Capture and M33

Sicut telescopio tendo, dico: "Nox caelum, ostende thesauros tuos".

An SV705C camera was attached to a 130mm, F=650mm Newtonian fitted with a coma corrector. The scope was mounted on a Celestron AVX GOTO mount. The hand controller was connected to a Raspberry Pi computer running an INDI server for controlling the mount.

The Raspberry Pi was connected by a CAT 6 Ethernet cable to the network.

The mount was given a 2 star alignment and AstroDMx Capture was connected via a USB 3.0 cable and active extension cable to the imaging computer in the house, running AstroDMx Capture with added control features.

A Bahtinov mask was used to finely focus the scope on the last alignment star using AstroDMx Capture to view the Bahtinov diffraction spikes.

The mount was controlled via AstroDMx Capture and PHD2 for autoguiding via Ethernet. The Guide-scope was an SVBONY SV165 fitted with a QHY-5II-M camera. The camera cables from the SV705C and the QHY guide camera were connected directly to the imaging computer and guide computer respectively. The SV705C was running natively in AstroDMx Capture.

AstroDMx Capture was then used to send the mount to M33, the Triangulum galaxy, plate solve and then centre the galaxy in the field of view.

AstroDMx Capture was then used to capture 25 x 2min 30s FITS exposures of M33. 

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture saving FITS files of M33


Matching dark-frames were captured but were not used. The SV705C has a Sony IMX585 sensor with 2.9μm square pixels and displays no amp glow.

The FITS images were registered and stacked in Deep Sky Stacker and post-processed in the Gimp 2.10 and Neat Image.

M33, the Triangulum galaxy with an SV705C


Once again, the uncooled SV705C OSC camera has proved that it is a capable deep-sky imager. The experimental control features in AstroDMx Capture worked well and bring closer the time when they will be released incrementally as various sections are considered stable.


Wednesday 28 September 2022

Two for the price of one and a little history

 This article is about an experiment combining operating systems and software, and other things:

The Fedora Linux laptop that we normally use for imaging has a 17” screen and a 9th generation CORE i7 processor, also runs a Windows 10 Virtual Machine. The Virtual Machine runs in one of the 4 Linux workspaces. The Win 10 VM has access to all of the Linux directories (folders).

We ran Deep Sky Stacker Live on the VM and AstroDMx Capture on one of the other Linux workspaces. It is easy to switch between them.

Screenshot showing the four Linux workspaces, with the Win 10 VM running in the bottom left one with DeepSky Stacker Live running in it and the top left one running AstroDMx Capture capturing data on the Orion nebula

AstroDMx Capture was set up to place captured images in the directory (folder) that we called ‘MONITORED’ on the Linux desktop.

Screenshot of the Stacked image tab of DSS Live where the stacked image (in this case, the Orion nebula) is accumulated

Screenshot showing the Win 10 VM running DSS Live with the setting tab open

The Settings tab is fairly intuitive and also includes the possibility to set rejection parameters that would prevent a given image from being added to the stack depending on its properties such as the brightness of the background or the number of stars detected and/or other criteria.

DSS Live works here by monitoring a directory (folder) that we have called ‘MONITORED’ on the Linux desktop, as each new image is deposited by AstroDMx Capture into the ‘MONITORED’ folder it is registered and stacked by DSS Live, and the accumulating stacked image is placed by DSS Live in a directory that we have called ‘STACKED’ on the Linux desktop.

Another tab in DSS Live shows the current stacked image and there are levels controls to apply to the stacked image to make it bright and well visible. Yet another tab shows the last image to come in and has similar levels controls. By comparing these two tabs, the difference in noise between an individual image and the stacked image soon becomes evident.

Screenshot with AstroDMx Capture in the top left Linux workspace and the DSS Live stacked image tab in the bottom left Linux workspace (desktop)


Screenshot of the Stacked image tab accumulating the image of M33


Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Triangulum galaxy M33



Although this was all done on a Linux computer with a Win 10 VM running DSS Live, it is just as easy to do this all on a Windows computer with AstroDMx Capture and DSS Live running on different workspaces (desktops). This was done as a demonstration, however, it should be noted that while Deep Sky Stacker will run under Linux in Wine, DSS Live will NOT run in Wine.

Live Stacking and its history

Live stacking can be used to good effect for outreach and is an important component of EAA (electronically assisted astronomy); EEA (electronically assisted astronomy); EEVA (electronically enhanced visual astronomy) or OA (observational astrophotography). All of these terms mean exactly the same thing, that is, a camera is used instead of an eyepiece, and the results are viewed on a computer screen. Some people distinguish this from Video astronomy (I don’t accept this distinctinction) Video astronomy uses a video camera (usually an analogue TV camera, and frequently a frame-accumulating video camera) that accumulates frames on board the camera and releases them as a steadily updating video stream, effectively live-stacking on camera. These cameras such as the Mintrons, Samsung SDC-435 (SCB-2000) and LN300 video cameras can be used without a computer as they produce composite video or S-Video that can be played directly on many monitors. If the signal is passed through a capture card, the video is digitised and is then available for playing via capture software such as AstroDMx Capture. The video frames can then be captured and stacked like any other frames and can be used to produce quite pleasing astronomical images, both deep sky and planetary/Lunar/Solar. The burden of these TV cameras is that they have the relatively low resolution of PAL or NTSC and can usually be captured at VGA resolution (640 x 480) via capture cards. Most of the TV video  cameras were CCD devices and have rapidly gone into disuse as sensitive CMOS based cameras have become available and the manufacture of CCD sensors has essentially stopped.

An LN300 frame accumulating CCD video camera fitted with a UV/IR cut filter and a light pollution filter was placed at the Newtonian focus of a Star Discovery, f/5, 150P Newtonian on a Star Discovery AZ GOTO mount and used to produce this image of M27

The difference between the old video frame-accumulating astronomy and EAA is that now, the frame-accumulation (stacking) is done on the computer via software, rather than on the camera itself. It is my belief that a CMOS camera could be built that accumulates frames (bright with less noise) on camera into an accumulating buffer and then releases a video stream that could be viewed on the computer, or used as the basis of image capture. (In fact, there are HD camera modules that can possibly do this, but like the old video surveillance cameras they produce a CVBS signal. It is my intention to build a camera from one of these modules and test its suitability for EAA and imaging. These cameras have OSD functionality, but whether they have a functional SENS-UP frame integration remains to be seen) There was a huge paradigm shift away from on-camera image summing to off-camera image-summing simultaneous with the demise of CCD cameras after Sony’s decision in 2015  to phase out CCD production.

Interestingly, at the turn of the century we in the international imaging group QCUIAG, and others, were producing deep sky images from very low-lux (as low as 0.0001 lux) surveillance cameras by literally summing thousands of video frames (at 50 frames per second) via capture cards into 32 bit FITS files using software such as AstroVideo written by Bev Ewen-Smith of the COAA observatory for the Windows operating system. It is important to realise that the sensor has to be sufficiently sensitive to be able to detect the photons from very faint objects in a short period of time. This was before the introduction of frame-accumulating video cameras such as the Mintrons etc. The process of off-camera image summing was developed and programmed in Java by Jürgen Leismann. He produced versions for Linux, Solaris (a version of UNIX initially developed by Sun Microsystems), and Windows. With the introduction of frame-accumulating video cameras, the off-camera frame summing was used to even greater effect. This is why I regard the distinction between video astronomy and EAA as being semantic rather than substantive.

One of Jürgen’s early images from 2000 was of M13 and was produced by summing 23,500 video frames.

At this moment in time, live stacking is not one of the features of AstroDMx Capture. However, as we have demonstrated here and in a previous article, AstroDMx Capture works seamlessly with DSS Live in a Windows environment (even in a Windows VM within Linux). The Live-stacking used here was purely for viewing or EAA and played no part in the production of final images (although it could have been if real time dark-frame correction had been used during capture). The reason that we don’t usually use real time calibration is that there is always the danger of losing precious imaging time whilst capturing dark-frames, having previously determined the correct exposures etc for the current session. We believe that (particularly in the UK climate) it is preferable to capture image data first, and capture dark-frames when image data have been captured.

The FITS files captured on M42/M43 and M33 during the EAA session were calibrated, registered, stacked and post-processed to produce the following final images, independent of the live stacking procedures.

M42/M43 The Orion nebula with AstroDMx Capture and an SV405CC

M33 The Triangulum galaxy with AstroDMx Capture and an SV405CC



A few words about QCUIAG that I set up in 1998, where much of this started.

In 2004 I was invited to give a lecture to the European Astrofest on The Video Astronomy Revolution

Here is a quote from a lecture that I gave to the European Astrofest in 2004

'In 1998 QCUIAG was set up as a forum to bring people together in order to solve impossible problems.
For example, it was impossible to take significant images of deep sky objects with webcams or surveillance cameras

This was a statistical exercise. Bring together enough people and you might end up with individuals or cooperative groups that could solve the impossible problems.

You also needed people who didn’t know that the problems were impossible to solve.'

By about 2007 QCUIAG had largely fulfilled its purpose and at its height, it had more than 9000 members worldwide. Hardware and software innovations came from the membership and contributed enormously to the development of astronomical imaging. The QCUIAG website is now hardly maintained, with an increasing number of broken links as time passes. However, it remains, largely for historic reasons.
Here is a link to one page on the website that was written when QCUIAG was at its height.


Some software innovations from QCUIAG

Processes
  • Video Integration with registration
  • Hot pixel removal
  • Drift Integration
  • Finding the sharpest frame in an AVI
  • Increasing the signal/noise ratio from many frames.
  • Wavelet image processing
  • Colour correction in captured images
  • Network control of telescopes for image acquisition

Software
  • Astrovideo (Bev Ewen-Smith)
  • Vega (Colin Bownes)
  • K3CCD tools (Peter Katreniak)
  • Icatch; Imerge (Jon Grove)
  • Registax (Cor Berrevoets)
  • Network telescope controller (Andrew Sprott)
The list is not exhaustive.

Since those days, camera manufacturers have sprung up, many in China, but also Atik here in the UK and Portugal. More software has become available for capture and some has become obsolete as is also the case for stacking software. AstroDMx Capture is one of the newer additions to the software list and seeks to make image capture available to all operating systems.

Tuesday 20 September 2022

AstroDMx Capture using the SVBONY SV705C as an uncooled deep sky camera

An SVBONY SV705C OSC CMOS camera with a 2" Optalong LeNhance narrowband filter was placed at the Newtonian Focus of a Skywatcher 130 PDS Newtonian fitted with a coma corrector. The mount/scope was given a 3 star alignment and was focused with the camera on Altair, the last alignment star, using a Bahtinov Mask and AstroDMx Capture. The telescope assembly was mounted on a Celestron AVX mount. The mount was connected via the hand controller to a Raspberry Pi computer running an INDI server. The mount was then controlled via AstroDMx Capture and PHD2 for autoguiding via WiFi. The Guide-scope was an SVBONY SV165 fitted with a QHY-5II-M camera. The camera cables from the SV705C and the QHY guide camera were connected directly to to imaging computer and guide computer respectively. The SV705C was running natively in AstroDMx Capture.

The equipment used



Imaging the Western Veil Nebula

AstroDMx Capture was used to send the scope to the Western Veil nebula, to plate solve, centre the object and then nudge it into the best position for the image composition.

AstroDMx Capture then captured an hours worth of 2m 30s FITS exposures of the Western Veil nebula plus matching dark-frames


The camera has a Sony IMX585 sensor with 2.9μm square pixels and displays no amp glow. The sensor has a deep well depth of 38.8ke- which allows for a good dynamic range. There is no need to use dark-frames, however, we did use dark-frame correction in this experiment for completeness. However, it should be noted that with some stacking software/procedures, dark-frame subtraction can actually introduce an element of noise.

The data were calibrated, registered, stacked and partly processed in Deep Sky Stacker running in a Win10 virtual machine on the Fedora Linux computer used for imaging.

Post processing was completed in the Gimp and Neat Image.

The Western Veil nebula with an SV705C OSC camera




Imaging the Crescent Nebula

The imaging computer running AstroDMx Capture, imaging the Crescent nebula


AstroDMx Capture was used to acquire, plate solve and centre the Crescent Nebula. Then one hour's  worth of 4min FITS exposures were captured plus matching dark frames.


The data were calibrated, registered, stacked and partly processed in Deep Sky Stacker and post processing was finished in the Gimp and Neat Image.

The Crescent Nebula with an SV705C OSC camera


Again, the SVBONY SV705C OSC CMOS camera has proved to be a capable deep sky imager and is now supported in the latest version of AstroDMx Capture.

Future tests will be done with 2x2 binning. The 2.9μm pixels are small enough to bin into effective 5.8 μm binned pixels that may increase the apparent sensitivity and either decrease required exposure times or allow more photons to be registered per effective pixel in a given time.

AstroDMx Capture can be downloaded HERE

Sunday 18 September 2022

AstroDMx Capture using a Player One Mars-C II USB3.0 Color Camera as an INDI camera for uncooled deep sky imaging.

Using a Player One Mars-C II USB3.0 OSC camera as an INDI camera for uncooled deep sky imaging.

The Mars-C II camera uses a Sony IMX662 CMOS sensor which has no amp glow. Dark-frames are advisable because the camera does have a few coloured hot pixels, but very few. The equipment used was an F=440mm, 80mm ED refractor, mounted on a Celestron AVX GOTO mount. A Raspberry Pi 4B and Goodmans 5v power supply were mounted dorsally on the scope and a Pegasus Focus Cube Version 2 was attached to the focuser, powered by a 12 power pack and controlled by the Raspberry Pi INDI server. The Guide-scope was an SVBONY SV165 fitted with a QHY-5II-M camera.

The setup was controlled by a Fedora Linux laptop indoors (but it could just as easily have been a macOS or Windows machine). Wifi was used in this case, but hard wired ethernet control could have been used.

Click on any image to get a closer view

The control computer imaging the Crescent nebula


The equipment used


The mount/scope was given a 3 star alignment and a Bahtinov mask was used to facilitate focusing and the scope was focused on the last alignment star. Here the star is almost perfectly focused.


Imaging the Crescent nebula. (An LeNhance narrowband filter was used.)

AstroDMx Capture was used to control the INDI server, to locate, plate-solve and centre the object in the field of view.


The Player One Mars-C II camera was used as an INDI camera. It was noticed that the driver defaults to 8 bits, so it is necessary to change this to 16 bits for Deep Sky imaging. 

It should be noted that INDI cameras would never be used for solar system imaging, as they are very slow compared with the same cameras directly implemented.

Auto-guiding was by PHD2 running on a server on a separate Linux computer. This is our usual configuration for sharing the processes during imaging. There are those who prefer to start everything off and just leave the equipment to capture the images. However, we find it preferable to monitor the auto-guiding. As time passes and the balance changes imperceptibly, or sky conditions change, or when one is imaging in a particular part of the sky, it is sometimes necessary to intervene and make small changes to aggressiveness, for example, in order to optimise the guiding as much as possible.

AstroDMx Capture was used to capture an hour’s worth of 1 minute FITS exposures  of the Crescent nebula along with 20 matching dark frames.

The data were calibrated, registered and stacked in Siril and post processed in the Gimp.

The Crescent Nebula


Imaging the Ring nebula. (An IR/UV cut filter was used.)

AstroDMx Capture was used to acquire, centre the object and then capture 30 minutes worth of 15s exposures of M57 along with matching dark frames.


The data were calibrated, registered and stacked in Siril and post processed in the Gimp.

M57, the Ring nebula


Imaging M27, the Dumbbell nebula. (An LeNhance narrowband filter was used.)

This time the INDI server running on the Raspberry Pi was also used by PHD2 for auto-guiding as well as controlling the mount and the Pegasus Focus Cube Version 2 motor focuser and controlling the Player One Mars-C II camera as an INDI camera.

AstroDMx Capture was used to acquire, centre M27 and capture on hour’s worth of 90s FITS exposures plus 10 matching dark frames.


The data were calibrated, registered and stacked in Siril and post processed in the Gimp.

M27, the Dumbbell nebula


These tests performed over two nights without any problems. AstroDMx Capture did it’s job perfectly and the Player One Mars-C II camera was a good match for the telescope, giving a good image scale for the objects imaged and proving to be a very capable uncooled deep sky camera, performing well as an INDI camera.

More field tests have to be performed and some changes to the code will be required before a new release of AstroDMx Capture will be made implementing some advanced features. 


Feature release of AstroDMx Capture with support for the SVBONY SV705C camera

 Nicola has made a Feature release (Version 1.7.1.0) of AstroDMx Capture for all platforms.

Mutatis mutandis.

Changes

  1. The new SVBONY SV705C is fully supported in this release. The SV705C is an uncooled OSC camera which uses the Sony IMX585 sensor with no amp glow. It proves to be a competent uncooled deep-sky camera with a large sensor.
  2. A new method to generate a list of predefined region of interest resolutions. The list is now has the higher resolution presets listed first followed by the lower resolutions. The new code prevents invalid resolutions from being shown in the resolution drop-down list. It is, of course, still possible to define a custom resolution by either using the mouse to draw around an object or by using the custom resolution dialog window.
This release does not include any of the advanced features that have been written about on this blog. However, substantial progress is being made both with code implementation and field testing, bringing the first incremental release with advanced features closer.

AstroDMx Capture can be downloaded HERE.

Sunday 11 September 2022

Using INDI cameras with AstroDMx Capture.

For the purposes of this article, an INDI camera is defined as a camera for which there is an INDI (Instrument Neutral Distributed Interface) driver. Some INDI camera drivers are very good, whilst others are less so.

In the experiments done here, the INDI server for controlling the mount, focuser and camera is running on a Raspberry Pi that we have attached to the scope.

The equipment used


The scope was an 80mm ED refractor F=440mm, the mount was a Celestron AVX GOTO mount. The Raspberry Pi was powered by a Goodmans 10000mAH power pack. The AVX mount and Pegasus Astro focuser were powered by two separate 12v RAC Jump Start power packs.  The guide-scope was an SVBONY SV165 fitted with a QHY-5II-M camera. The INDI camera was an Atik 314E OSC CCD camera.

For this experiment, PHD2 auto-guiding was running on a separate Fedora Linux Laptop; however, there is no reason why this could not have been running on the Same Linux laptop that was running AstroDMx Capture. AstroDMx Capture was running in debug mode to collect data on everything that was happening, including any anomalies that might have occured. There is no reason why the computers involved could not have been Windows or macOS computers. Everything was done over WiFi; however, if possible, it is better to hard wire the Ethernet when large amounts of data are being transferred.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture gathering FITS data from the Atik 314E which was running as an INDI camera.


The mount was initially given a three star alignment and the last alignment star, Deneb, was used to focus the telescope using a Bahtinov mask with the focuser controlled by AstroDMx Capture. AstroDMx Capture then sent the scope to M27, an image was captured for plate-solving and the object was then placed in the centre of the field of view.

14 x 5min FITS exposures were captured of M27 along with matching dark frames.The images were calibrated, registered and aligned with Siril, and post processed in the Gimp.

M27


This test worked perfectly and it is intended to carry out similar tests on other INDI cameras. If an INDI driver does not control a camera in a stable manner or handle its controls properly, it is possible that a supplementary INDI driver may have to be written for cameras we are working with.

The next release of AstroDMx Capture will not contain the advanced features being tested here, it will however contain support of the SV705 camera along with changes to the ROI system.


Tuesday 6 September 2022

Exploring SVBONY cameras with AstroDMx Capture

This article covers tests on AstroDMx Capture using some advanced functionality, but it also covers the testing of Two SVBONY cameras. The first that we shall report on is the SV705C OSC CMOS camera; a prototype of which Nicola has implemented in AstroDMx Capture and support for which will be in the next release of the software. The second is the SV405CC cooled camera that we have been exploring since its implementation in AstroDMx Capture, and which has featured in a number of previous articles over the past several months.

Testing our implementation of the SV705C as an uncooled Deep Sky Imager

Testing an SV705C prototype uncooled camera fitted with an Optalong LeNhance narrowband filter, using an 80mm, f/5, Apochromatic refractor with no field-flattener. The camera has a Sony IMX585 sensor with 2.9μm square pixels and displays no significant amp glow. The sensor has a deep well depth of 38.8ke- which allows for a good dynamic range.

AstroDMx Capture was used to acquire the objects and position them, capturing 2 min FITS exposures of the Crescent nebula and the Eastern Veil nebula. Auto-guiding was with PHD2; all using an INDI server. One hour's worth of 2 minute exposures were captured of the Crescent nebula and 20 minute's worth of 2 minute exposures were captured of the Eastern Veil nebula.

Matching dark-frames were captured, but were not subsequently used in this experiment.. The data were registered and stacked in Siril and post processed in the Gimp 2.10 and Fitswork 4.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Crescent nebula



The Crescent nebula and surrounding nebulosity



Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Eastern Veil nebula


The Eastern veil nebula


No field flattener was used because we wished to test whether one is needed with this camera. It is concluded that future use of this camera with the same scope will benefit from the use of the field flattener, as the sensor is quite large (11.18mm x 6.32mm), affording a wide angle of view. 

These tests revealed no problems with the SV705C, which proved to be quite a capable uncooled deep sky imager. There are many more tests to perform, with different scopes.

In future sessions we shall field-test with the f/5, 80mm apochromatic refractor using a field flattener and an f/5, 130mm Newtonian using a coma corrector. We shall also test the camera for Lunar and planetary imaging using a Skymax 127 Maksutov + barlows.

The total absence of amp glow puts the SV705C in a class of cameras that, due to the sensitivity, 90% QE and 38.8ke well depth of the sensor used, are suitable for use as uncooled deep sky imagers, apart from their more obvious use as planetary, solar and lunar imagers.

Another factor to be considered is the relative sizes of the sensors in the various SVBONY cameras and, with a given scope, the field of view captured.



Further tests of the SV405CC OSC colour camera with AstroDMx Capture.

First of all we shall consider the fields of view captured by these cameras and shall use the SV305, the first proper SVBONY astronomical camera capable of doing both planetary and long exposure imaging, as our yardstick.

With a given telescope, the SV405CC captures 14.32 times the field of view of the SV305, 7.12 times the field of view of the SV505C and 3.35 times the field of view of the SV705C.

This means that below the SV405CC, the SV705C captures a very significant field of view which is suitable for deep sky imaging as shown above.

For completeness we can record that the SV705C captures 2.13 times the field of view of the SV505C and 4.28 times the field of view of the SV305. Lastly, the SV505C captures 2.01 times the field of view of the SV305.


SVBONY produces a range of cameras with sensitive, capable sensors of a range of sizes, suitable for a number of imaging scenarios.

The SV405CC cooled camera uses a SONY IMX294 backlit CMOS sensor with a well depth of 63ke-, a quantum efficiency of 75% and a 14bit ADC.

The North American nebula with an SV405CC OSC camera

A 2-pane mosaic of the North American and Pelican nebulae was captured. Each pane is a one hour stack of 90s exposures acquired, positioned and captured by AstroDMx Capture, whilst testing advanced functionality; Using an f/5, 80mm apochromatic refractor with a field-flattener and an SV405CC OSC camera with an Optalong L-eNhance narrowband filter.

Screenshot of AstroDMC capture capturing FITS data of the North American Nebula


The data were stacked in Siril and post processed in the Gimp 2.10

The North American Nebula

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Pelican nebula

After stacking and post processing:
The Pelican nebula

The two images were then stitched into a 2 pane mosaic using Hugin panorama creator

The image was then further enhanced, rotated and flipped into its familiar orientation
The North American and Pelican nebulae


The Crescent nebula and surrounding nebulosity with an SV405CC OSC camera

Stack of 1h 12min of 3 min exposures of the Crescent nebula and surrounding nebulosity, acquired, positioned and captured by AstroDMx Capture, whilst testing advanced functionality. Using an f/5, 80mm apochromatic refractor with a field flattener and an SV405CC OSC camera with an Optalong L-enhance narrowband filter.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Crescent nebula region

The data were stacked in Siril and post processed in the Gimp 2.10

The Crescent nebula and surrounding nebulosity

The Western Veil nebula with an SV405CC OSC camera
AstroDMx Capture, 80mm f/5 apochromatic Triplet with field flattener, L-eNhance narrowband filter. SVBONY SV405CC OSC camera. Stack of 1h 15min of 3min exposures of the Western Veil nebula.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture capturing FITS data on the Western Veil nebula.

The data were stacked in Siril and post-processed in the Gimp and Neat image

The Western Veil nebula

All of the imaging done here was part of a wider testing of AstroDMx Capture as more functionality is being added, rather than being pure imaging sessions per se. Nevertherless, both of the cameras used in this article gave a good showing of their capabilities with AstroDMx Capture.