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Meade Deep Sky Imager Manual Download Page 17

The Parfocal Ring

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17

It is extremely useful to have the Deep Sky Imager camera and a telescope eyepiece be parfocal—it will save
you time when you need to refocus.  

Parfocal means setting two or more eyepieces to the same focus. (In this case, one eyepiece is a camera.) In
other words, if you focus one eyepiece  in your telescope, then you remove it and replace it with a parfocal 
eyepiece, the parfocal eyepiece will require little, if any, refocusing.

The following procedure will show you how to make your Deep Sky Imager camera parfocal with a low-power
wide-field 25mm or 26mm eyepiece (do not perform this procedure with a high-power eyepiece).  Use the 
supplied parfocal ring and perform the procedure during the daytime. 

more...

Summary of Contents for Deep Sky Imager

Page 1: ...Deep Sky Imager The Basics Color Black and White Pro II Pro II Pro III ...

Page 2: ...serial cable Autostar 497 serial cable CD ROM including the Operating Instruction in pdf format Recommended Minimum System PC running Windows 2000 with 500 MB RAM and 100 MB free disk space To get the best view and resolution for the images in this manual zoom in to 200 using the viewing controls in the Acrobat Reader control bar Parts Listing 2 ...

Page 3: ...d drive are displayed in this window If you wish to install the catalog check the GSC check box If you do not wish to install the catalog uncheck the GSC check box Then click Next 7 The Start Installation window displays The program is now ready to install the Autostar Suite Click Next to begin installation 8 The Microsoft Text to Speech Engine window displays Click Yes to agree to the terms and t...

Page 4: ... is now installed and your PC will now be able to recognize the Deep Sky Imager whenever you connect it to the PC Check out page 56 to learn some helpful tips for your camera Windows Vista users 1 When dialog New Hardware Windows needs to install driver select locate and install driver software 2 Wait for Windows to give up the search this may take a long time 3 When Windows couldn t find driver s...

Page 5: ...Image menu and selecting the desired program or You can run Envisage from Start All programs Meade Envisage You can open the Operating Instruction manuals or the Meade General Catalog by selecting them from the Main Menu screen of the CD ROM The manuals can also be found without a disk in the drive in Start All Programs Meade Manuals Click the word Meade in the Main Menu or in the General catalog ...

Page 6: ...scope s optical tube To connect the Deep Sky Imager camera to other telescopes Move the Deep Sky Imager camera around in the eyepiece holder until the image on the Deep Sky Imager display screen 39 is upright To connect the Deep Sky Imager camera as an autoguider Attach the correct serial cable from the telescope s control panel RS 232 port to the comm port of your PC see the Autoguider instructio...

Page 7: ...To open the Envisage Imaging program go to the Image menu of the Planetarium program and select Deep Sky Imager Imaging The Envisage program will display Open the Envisage Program 7 ...

Page 8: ...8 Envisage Controls c d f i j 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 24 3 3 3 3 3 3 2 b 1 1 h g e 1 3 ...

Page 9: ...4 File Name 25 File Open and Settings menu 26 Comm port field 27 Connect Disconnect button 28 Telescope controls up down right left focus 29 Autoguide Guiding or Track Tracking button displays depending on whether scope can autoguide or track 30 Tracking box 31 Centroid 32 Will Cal Calibrate No Calibrate button 33 Center and Set Target buttons 34 Corr Correct Gain control 35 FL in mm Focal Length ...

Page 10: ... during your first image tests 1 Click on the Auto Exp button 3 See Auto Exp Button page 19 for more information 2 Click on the combo box controls in the Image Process field 10 to display a list of object types Scroll down the list and select Terrestrial See Image Process page 21 for more information 3 Type a name for the object in the Object Name box 11 This will be used as the image file name Se...

Page 11: ...using If you are having a lot of problems focusing your image see The Parfocal Ring pages 17 18 7 Click Start 14 The camera begins taking pictures and will continue to do so until you click on Stop Watch the Status box 24 When Images reaches 50 click the Stop button 14 Go to the next page to find out what the program is doing once you press Start Start Taking Pictures2 11 ...

Page 12: ...st images into one image this image is referred to as the composite image in this manual After you press the Start button the composite image is displayed as a new tab above the display screen When you press Stop and select this tab the final version of the composite image is displayed After about 10 images are taken the Envisage program applies a sharpening filter to the composite image You can c...

Page 13: ...he quality of the image increases only in small amounts about 90 of the quality level will have been accumulated with about 50 images When you press Start again the Envisage program begins to accumulate a new composite image and renames the image in a new tab For example if you named the first image Building the next images will be named Building 0002 then Building 0003 and so forth so that it doe...

Page 14: ... Image Process box 10 and select the process from the pop up menu you wish to image e g moon planet etc 6 Click the Save Process button and a dialog box displays Select file type Typically you will select jpeg If you wish to perform image processing in another program such as Photoshop select tif 7 Draw a box around the planet or a bright feature of the object you wish to image Or if the object is...

Page 15: ...k frames while the camera is cooling off 9 When the Dark Frame exposures are completed a dialog displays prompting you to uncover the telescope Click OK The Dark Subtract box 6 should be checked now if not do so now 10 Stars should be visible on the live tab screen 11 Select a star to image by drawing a box around it If the telescope is connected you can use the telescope control Arrow keys to hel...

Page 16: ...02 M31 0003 etc 19 Click Start the button is then displayed as Stop The imager begins taking pictures 20 The imager now takes 15 second images Be patient Take a number of pictures until your image looks good and click Stop to abort You will now have an image that you can post on the web or submit to one of the Deep Sky Imager user groups Experiment with Contrast Shadow Enhance Histogram sliders an...

Page 17: ...camera In other words if you focus one eyepiece in your telescope then you remove it and replace it with a parfocal eyepiece the parfocal eyepiece will require little if any refocusing The following procedure will show you how to make your Deep Sky Imager camera parfocal with a low power wide field 25mm or 26mm eyepiece do not perform this procedure with a high power eyepiece Use the supplied parf...

Page 18: ...nd forth until you can achieve focus of the image 8 When the image is roughly in focus remove the camera from the eyepiece 9 Place the supplied parfocal ring over the bottom chrome tubing of the eyepiece Do not tighten the ring 10 Place the eyepiece and tubing into the eyepiece holder Do not tighten any of the thumbscrews yet See photo at right 11 Do not use the telescope focuser in this step Lift...

Page 19: ...e Focus page 25 for more information Mono check box 4 grayed out and not available for the Black and White model Check this box to take a black and white picture Live Image check box 17 Click to display live camera image in the Image Display 39 Dark Subtract check box 6 See Dark Frames page 27 for more information Color Dialog Cntl Color Balance 8 grayed out and not available for the Black and Whi...

Page 20: ...set a long exposure If your telescope is only crudely aligned set a value of no more than 15 seconds this is a good starting value for any telescope to use in the spin box to the left of this check box How to take a long exposure Turn off mono and click Preview A countdown displays and the live check is turned off An image displays You can now use the color balance not available for the Black and ...

Page 21: ...ocessing settings to preset levels that will assist you in better quality images for the selected object Also Take Dark is on this list see Dark Frames page 34 for more information Kernel Filter The chosen sharpening filter is applied to the composite image as it is saved and is displayed in the live Display Image after about 10 images are accumulated 3 levels of sharp filters 1 edge only filter a...

Page 22: ... the most memory but may be a useful format if you plan to use Adobe Photoshop See Time Lapse Settings page 27 Save Options 13 Normally images are added together make up a composite image or if they have too low of a quality level they may be discarded However you may choose to save every composite image the camera creates by selecting Save Every Composite Image in the Save Options box These image...

Page 23: ...ry in which to save your Dark Frames Click on the Browse button to locate a directory or type in a directory path in the field Or you may just type in the directory name in the field If you type in a new directory the directory will be created when the first image is saved Settings dialog allows you to enter user information name location Autostar model etc This information is saved in the header ...

Page 24: ...agram below Notice that there are scroll arrows 37 see diagram above at the end of the tab row Click on these arrows to display more composite image file tabs Close 38 Allows you to close a composite image file First click on the tab you wish to close then click on the File Close menu or press the Delete Key to close the file You cannot close the live image tab File Settings Tab 24 Scroll Arrows C...

Page 25: ...tensity of the image centered on the crosshairs of the tracking box see page 28 As you adjust the focus the peak of the plot will grow or shrink and the edges will grow steeper or less steep Best focus is achieved at maximum peak and steepness Magic Eye Focus 25 ...

Page 26: ...e telescope Click on an Arrow to move in that direction at Guide Speed Hold and drag on an Arrow in the direction you wish to move to increase the speed Hold and drag an arrow in the opposite direction to decrease speed Release to stop If your telescope has motorized focus use the focus button to focus on the object only one focus speed is available Connecting your Telescope and Telescope Controls...

Page 27: ...up on your sleep Envisage does all the work for you automatically The setting for Time Lapse sequencing are found in the Save Process dialog box Choose Save a Time Lapse Sequence to use this feature You will need to set three parameters for a time lapse sequence Frame Time How long the image takes to acquire an image be sure you know how your telescope can image an object some telescopes can track...

Page 28: ...28 Deep Sky Imager Camera Program Advanced Concepts ...

Page 29: ...d is used for shifting an image before it is combined in a composite image and also is used for autoguiding To create a tracking box just use the cursor to draw a box around an object For your first tests of this feature try to choose an object that is bright and has a dark area surrounding it You can experiment with this as you get familiar with the function If you re tracking a crater on the moo...

Page 30: ...and can adjust the sliders on the fly as you are creating a composite image You can also use these control when you select Preview When you return to the live image it will apply the setting you choose while in the preview mode Note The effect of the sliders is saved in all file types Autocontrast Automatically sets the sliders for the best contrast You can change the settings from 1 through 5 to ...

Page 31: ...odel telescope You will also need to know the focal length of your telescope 1 Attach the off axis guider and your 35mm camera to your telescope as described in that product s instruction manual Insert and tighten the Deep Sky Imager into the eyepiece holder 2 Click on the Telescope tab 3 Attach one end of the serial cable to one of your PC s comm ports and the other end to the telescope s RS 232 ...

Page 32: ...0 Draw a tracking box around the star 11 Click the Track Here button the button then displays Tracking Will Cal displays on the Calibrate button 12 When you click on the Track Here button you do not need to press the Will Cal button the program begins to calibrate It then begins to autoguide your telescope and displays X and Y error coordinates in the Status Display box 24 When the program is done...

Page 33: ...sition Corr Correction Gain Sets how aggressive the correction operates Default setting is 0 5 01 is the lowest and 1 0 is the highest setting If your telescope takes too long to reach to the yellow circle increase the gain If you telescope keeps overshooting the yellow circle moving back and forth decrease the gain If the telescope never reaches the yellow circle recalibrate Click the Tracking an...

Page 34: ... is covered to block all light for a period of time and the resulting image examined you would expect it to be uniformly black but it is not This image which is called a dark frame is speckled with a pattern of dots of varying intensities The brightest dots are called hot pixels and all of these are created by electrons leaking into the pixels due to heat or other means and not from exposure to li...

Page 35: ...serving session you should repeat this procedure To perform the dark Frames procedure 1 Select Take Dark in the Image Process combo box 10 The Dark Frame Exposure controls display 2 Select a range of exposure time For example if the length of your exposures will be between 2 and 5 seconds set the First Exp Exposure box for 2 seconds and the Last Exp box for 5 seconds The Envisage program will then...

Page 36: ...e Status Display 24 Notice the Histogram display it will reflect the Dark Frames that are being imaged 6 Select an exposure in the Exposure Controls 2 The Dark Frames feature is used with longer exposures so your exposure time should typically be longer than 1 second 7 Check the Dark Sub check box 6 The Dark Frames feature is automated so Dark Frames will automatically be applied to any pictures y...

Page 37: ...esets This preset is set up to watch the Red Spot travel across the face of Jupiter The sequence takes about 4 hours and takes 24 images 5 Follow the procedures for Autoguiding or auto tracking as described in Autoguider and Telescope Controls page 31 Draw box around Jupiter so that the telescope will track Jupiter 6 Click OK 7 Select Planet in the Image Process dialog 8 Click Auto Exp 3 so that t...

Page 38: ...nu box in the filter field Make sure you change the filter color name in this field when you switch filters Tip Make sure that you use a software application such as the IP program included with Autostar Suite or Photoshop which allows you to precisely register and combine your tinted images The Black and White Imager is shipped with the imager slide and nosepiece separate To install the filters o...

Page 39: ...amera This will make it easier to tell if the filter is in place in the dark Note the order that you installed the filters as it may be difficult to determine color in the dark And be aware that either end of the slide can be placed into either end of the housing You may now choose a filter for imaging Color Filters and the Black and White Imager2 39 Attach nosepiece Push the slide into housing ...

Page 40: ...rent settings These setting are found by pressing the Save Proc button on the imager tab 1 Select Drizzle from the Image Process dropdown menu 2 Enter a name in the Object Name box 3 Set Min Quality and Evaluation Count as desired Press the Settings button See the Drizzle Resolutions section of this document for a description of these settings These settings are not critical if you used the recomm...

Page 41: ...ferent stars If your telescope is polar mounted and well aligned you can use a single star this will give you the maximum field of view possible 6 Press Start Envisage will create a new tab and put the drizzled image there Be patient depending on your Drizzle settings and the speed of your computer it may take 2030 seconds after the count down for the first image to appear The image may be bigger ...

Page 42: ...sult by selecting File Save from the menu Drizzle Tutorial 2 This tutorial demonstrates how to use Drizzle after you have already captured images and are working off line Offline Processing A new feature is the ability to run your captured images back through the Drizzle process Bring up the program without the imager plugged in to lighten the load of the processing power of your computer You will...

Page 43: ...mats may be more user friendly 4 Save Options Normal This is the only setting that is valid the other settings are ignored 5 Select Drizzle from the Image Process dropdown menu 6 Enter a name in the Object Name box 7 Set Min Quality and Evaluation Count to 0 and 1 respectively Select these settings so that every image will be used in the final composite image This is acceptable because you have el...

Page 44: ...ill create a new tab and put the drizzled image there Be patient depending on your Drizzle settings and the speed of your computer it may take 20 to 30 seconds for the first image to appear The image may be bigger than your screen If so scroll bars will appear on the right and bottom The current file name is displayed in the status box below the drizzle settings The system will stop when all the f...

Page 45: ...ant to save in a different format then press the Save Proc button and set the file type then select File Save from the menu 12 Stretch any file By selecting File Open you can load any image file and perform a histogram stretch and shadow enhance gamma and then save the file in the currently selected file type by selecting File Save The file is always saved in the default image directory which is C...

Page 46: ...of 2 in the Drizzle Extended View setting effectively making a 2x2 mosaic and a value of 2 in the Drizzle Resolution which takes multiple undersampled dithered shots of the object and reconstructs the image at higher resolution they will end up with a picture that is 2560 pixels by 1920 pixels or 4 915 200 pixels The uncompressed RAM file in FITS format will be approximately 10 megabytes Drizzle i...

Page 47: ...In the Drizzle Settings dialog box you have three options Drizzle Resolution Extended View and Pixel Fraction Here is what happens as you change each setting Description of Drizzle2 47 ...

Page 48: ...ndersampled dithered shots of the object it reconstructs the image at higher resolution Notice the Drizzle Size increase from 640x480 to 1248x936 and the final image size being 1248x936 To accomplish this increase in resolution we move the AutoStar controlled telescope a small amount and take an image again and again reading out fractions of each pixel and then reconstructing the image Description...

Page 49: ...elescope in small precision movements pause to take an image and then repeat the action to make a seamless mosaic This increases the true field of view of the image Notice the outer frame has increased the effective field coverage and the file size has changed from 640 480 to 1280 960 Description of Drizzle4 49 ...

Page 50: ...m each pixel is set as the exposure is made Using a smaller pixel fraction will increase the image resolution While the final image size does not change with finer settings the final image will be sharper See the diagram with the smaller blue pixel fraction within each single pixel outlined in red in the following illustration Description of Drizzle5 50 ...

Page 51: ...Description of Drizzle6 51 ...

Page 52: ... correct for image rotation that occurs if the telescope is tracking in the Altazimuth configuration or in a roughly polar aligned telescope Using this feature you can do a quick alignment of your Meade telescope in Altaz turn on the Envisage select Drizzle and draw a box around each of two stars in the field The resulting image will not show rotational star trails Description of Drizzle7 52 ...

Page 53: ... Completed Images When an image is completed you can now alter the histogram stretch values and save them in the final image Just pull down the file save menu and the image will be saved in the current file time You can also change the file type in Save Proc and then save again in the new type Image Files imager type You can now rerun images through Drizzle or shift and combine by using the Image ...

Page 54: ...e Pro or the Color dialog when using the original Deep Sky Imager Imager Tabs There is now an imager tab for each imager connected to the computer The tab name is the same as the imager name and when it is selected the corresponding live tab with the same name will be selected automatically When a live tab is selected then the corresponding imager tab will be selected also There is an extra imager...

Page 55: ...e from this directory will be selected that is within the 5 of the current temperature and within 1 5 to 3 seconds of your exposure length If you do not have a dark frame that matches these requirements you will be requested to take a dark frame at the current temperature and selected exposure rate The temperature sensor accuracy is 2 Temperature readings are made in half degree increments The fol...

Page 56: ...ce before inserting the camera into the telescope Once you focus you can make the camera parfocal as described on page 17 or can just try to focus the camera with the focuser But focus using the eyepiece first The field of view of a 25mm eyepiece is about 3 time the field of view of the camera The driver has to be installed twice This is normal for Windows You will hear the installation tones twic...

Page 57: ...y Some states countries do not allow limitations on duration of an implied warranty so the above limitation may not apply to you CUSTOMER REMEDIES Meade Instruments entire liability and your exclusive remedy shall be at Meade s option either a repair or b replacement of the SOFTWARE or hardware that does not meet Meade s Limited Warranty You must return the defective item to Meade Instruments at y...

Page 58: ...9 07 800 626 3233 www meade com ...

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