Pier-5 Equipment List
Telescope | Takahashi Epsilon 180 F/2.8 Astrograph |
Mount | Paramount MX |
Camera | ZWO ASI 2400MC Pro Colour CMOS 35mm Sensor |
Filter Wheel | ZWO 5 Position 2" |
Filters | N/AHA/OIII & SII/OIII Dual Band |
Guide Camera | N/A |
Guider | N/A |
Focuser | Moonlite Stepper Motor |
Power & Dew Control | Mount Hub pro V4 |
Telescope
The Epsilon 180 is a blisteringly fast F2.8 corrected newtonian astrograph that was designed for DSLR cameras, whilst it works very well that way we think the new generation CMOS cooled cameras are a far better combination. At 500mm FL this is the perfect telescope for big nebular and larger galaxies. This is a good scope if you want a lot of quality data fast and don’t want the complexity of mono imaging etc.
Pier-5 is a very fast F/2.8 when used with a CMOS sensor the longest exposure needed for this pier is 180 seconds
CMOS Camera
The ZWO ASI-2400MC Pro Colour CMOS is one of Sony's new generation zero ampglow sensors. They are super sensitive with very low noise. Making them a paradym shift from the CCD cameras we are all used to using and require much shorter exposures. This camera is set to Gain 150 as our default.
We have also fitted it with some modern type Dual/Triband fiters designed for OSC cameras - see below!
Sony IMX410Back Illuminated CMOS Sensor |
Bayer Matrix Parameters | RGGB |
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4.13° x 2.75°
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2.45 "/px @ 1x1 Binning
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500mm Focal Length
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F/2.8
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25º Imaging Horizon Limits
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Camera Position Angle:+93°
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Recommended sub lengths
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Filter Charactristics
Filter | Bright | Dim | |
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OSC | 30-60s | 60-120s | |
IDAS - HEUB2 Filter Lum + Enhanced HA | 30-120s | 120-180s | |
IDAS - LPS-D3 RGB Filter | 30-120s | 120-180s | |
Askar Colour Magic HA/OIII 6nm | 60-120s | 120-180s | |
Askar Colour Magic SII/OIII 6nm | 60-120s | 120-180s |
Calibration Files
This pier has a FREE calibration library, this includes a dark library that correlates to the most common subs lengths used, see below
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10s Darks
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20s Darks
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30s Darks
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45s Darks
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60s Darks
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90s Darks
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120s Darks
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180s Darks
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Bias Frames
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Flat Frames
IDAS HEUIB-II Filter -
Besides removing the IR and UV ends of the spectrum which are often out of focus in refractive optics, it isolates the common H-alpha line relative to the surrounding extreme red end of the spectrum, making it easy to bring out the faint H-alpha emission nebulosity of astronomical photos, yet retain the background color balance of broadband photos.
IDAS LPS-D3 Filter -
The IDAS LPS-D3 filters enhance the contrast of astronomical emission nebulae against a sky with both man-made and natural* sky glow sources, yet preserve the colour balance of broadband objects such as galaxies. As with other IDAS interference filters, the bandpasses are designed to accommodate the steep ray angles of fast optical systems.
Askar Colourmagic HA/OIII & SII/OIII 6nm -
The filter enables the capture of the three main emission nebulae bands using two diffent filters, whilst suppressing unwanted light pollution. It enables you to capture cleaner data and reduces the post processing efforts to isolate faint details from the background light pollution.
These use of these filters will allow you to HOS palette & enhance your standard broadbands images with increased H2 regions etc - What's not to like with that :)