Santa Barbara Instrument Group STL-1001E Operating Manual Download Page 1

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Operating Manual

Research Camera Models:

STL-1001E, STL-1301E, STL-4020M,

STL-6303E and STL-11000M

Santa Barbara Instrument Group

147A Castilian Drive

Santa Barbara, CA 93117

Phone (805) 571-7244

•

Fax (805) 571-1147

Web:<www.sbig.com>

•

Email:<[email protected]>

SBIG

ASTRONOMICAL

INSTRUMENTS

Summary of Contents for STL-1001E

Page 1: ...els STL 1001E STL 1301E STL 4020M STL 6303E and STL 11000M Santa Barbara Instrument Group 147A Castilian Drive Santa Barbara CA 93117 Phone 805 571 7244 Fax 805 571 1147 Web www sbig com Email sbig sb...

Page 2: ...ent does cause harmful interference to radio or television reception which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on the user is encouraged to try to correct the interference by one or mor...

Page 3: ...era Handles 18 1 1 18 Camera Resolution 19 1 1 19 Camera Field of View 20 1 1 20 Focal Length Resolution and Field of View 21 1 2 Installing the USB Drivers for the First Time 22 1 2 1 Establish Commu...

Page 4: ...eration 50 5 Advanced Imaging Techniques 51 5 1 Lunar and Planetary Imaging 51 5 2 Deep Sky Imaging 51 5 3 Terrestrial Imaging 51 5 4 Taking a Good Flat Field 52 5 5 Building a Library of Dark Frames...

Page 5: ...Appendix C Capturing a Good Flat Field 70 C 1 Technique 70 D Appendix D Camera Specifications 71 Model STL 4020M Typical Specificaitons 71 Model STL 11000M Typical Specificaitons 72 Model STL 6303E Ty...

Page 6: ...numbers F 6 3 or faster The two stage new cooling design is capable of exceptional performance even in warm climates The relay output plugs directly into most recent commercial telescope drives and is...

Page 7: ...your SBIG USB camera from more than one computer you must go through the USB driver installation process for each computer you intend to use This manual describes the STL 1001E STL 1301E STL 4020M STL...

Page 8: ...water supply and return tubes and have the water supply and or pump ready if you intend to use water cooling 8 Attach the power to the camera 9 Attach the USB cable to the camera last With the camera...

Page 9: ...rousel Universal Power Supply Regional AC Cord and Plug 15 USB Cable Tracking Cable Adapter Water Tube Connectors Software and Manuals Custom Pelican Case Optional Equipment for Research Series Camera...

Page 10: ...in modular telephone style plugs at both ends The STL RC adapter plug is used to connect the Tracking Cable to the 9 pin port on the camera labeled AO SCOPE for self guiding Water Tube Connectors Two...

Page 11: ...ternal relays used for self guiding are electronic TTL type relays These work with the vast majority of telescope drive systems today However some telescopes particularly older models may require mech...

Page 12: ...to the heat exchanger inside the back of the main body There is sufficient tubing to allow the rear cover to be opened to attach the camera handles or to change the fuse located inside the rear of th...

Page 13: ...This connector will also allow control of a future Adaptive Optics device similar to the AO 7 The current AO 7 designed for the ST series of cameras cannot be used on the large format cameras REMOTE H...

Page 14: ...ore setscrews holding the camera in place The camera is large and heavy Even if it is securely attached at the beginning of an evening movement and temperature changes could cause the setscrew to come...

Page 15: ...s snug enough that it will not move by itself once it is screwed into the adapter ring However care should be taken that you do not inadvertently rotate the lens in the adapter while adjusting the foc...

Page 16: ...g the Remote Head The Remote Guiding Head is an optional accessory for all models of the Research Series cameras When attached to the main camera body using the 3 foot head cable or the optional 6 foo...

Page 17: ...ambient temperature is an effective heat conductor and a constant flow of water will carry away enough heat from the heat exchanger that further cooling of the water supply will result in little gain...

Page 18: ...asier to purchase one or more additional carousels and populate them with your filter sets In this case you can change sets by swapping carousels The filter carousel is held in place by a single screw...

Page 19: ...re to take off the o ring from around the threads before baking the plug You may wish to place a small piece of electrical tape over the hole in the side of the CCD chamber while you are baking the de...

Page 20: ...the main body However the cover can be opened for routine access to the fuse and camera handles without removing these tubes WARNING It is recommended that you do not detach the water circulation tub...

Page 21: ...a telescope focal length and pixel size that will let each pixel see 1 3 of 2 6 arcseconds In this example the pixel field of view should be about 0 86 arcseconds per pixel for an optimum balance of...

Page 22: ...from the camera specifications and use the following formula for determining the field of view for that CCD through any telescope 135 3 x D L Field of View in arcminutes where D is the length or width...

Page 23: ...f view compared to another camera with fewer pixels of the same size The STL 6303 and the STL 11000 both have CCDs with 9 micron pixels The resolution will be the same through any optical system Howev...

Page 24: ...isc menu Select Misc then Graphics Comm Setup After you click on the menu item you will see a Graphics Comm Setup dialog box as shown below Pick USB as the Interface from the drop down list of interfa...

Page 25: ...ing the Grab command with the Dark frame option set to Also Display the image Process the image If you happen to have purchased a camera lens adapter for your CCD Camera you can use that to take image...

Page 26: ......

Page 27: ...uld just as well be displayed as a spreadsheet with groups of numbers in each cell representing the number of electrons produced at each pixel These numbers are displayed by your computer as shades of...

Page 28: ...r the image would be streaked due to the fact that the pixels continue to collect light as they are being shifted out towards the readout register CCDs with a single active area are called Full Frame...

Page 29: ...head There is no external CPU At the front end of any CCD camera is the CCD sensor itself As we have already learned CCDs are a solid state image sensor organized in a rectangular array of regularly s...

Page 30: ...the CCD The Research Series cameras have the CCD TE Cooler mounted in a windowed hermetic chamber sealed with an O Ring The hermetic chamber does not need to be evacuated another ease of use feature...

Page 31: ...ller controls the temperature at a user determined value for long periods As a result exposures hours long are possible and saturation of the CCD by the sky background typically limits the exposure ti...

Page 32: ...ges The Flat Field command allows you to correct for the effects of vignetting and nonuniform pixel responsivity across the CCD array The Flat Field command is very useful for removing the effects of...

Page 33: ...the electronic charge from groups of 2x2 or 3x3 pixels is electronically summed in the CCD before readout This process adds no noise and may be particularly useful on the STL 4020M with its very smal...

Page 34: ...els in binned mode For cameras with smaller pixels imaging in high resolution mode SBIG is proud to make self guiding available to the amateur making those long exposures required by the small pixel g...

Page 35: ...cord or catalog the image file for easy identification a dot matrix or laser printer should be fine Inkjet printers are getting very good though 2 6 Black and White vs Color The first and most obvious...

Page 36: ...are installed in the filter wheel light entering the camera passes through the colored filter before it strikes the CCD An object is then exposed using a red filter The wheel is commanded to insert th...

Page 37: ...runs from the head to the host computer s USB port The camera is powered by a desktop power supply Operation from a car battery is also possible Connect the CCD head to the USB port of your computer...

Page 38: ...djust the setpoint to a few degrees above this minimum temperature This will work well if the ambient temperature does not rise during the night If you notice that the cooler must work at 100 power to...

Page 39: ...he focus knob Insert a high power eyepiece and slide it back and forth to find the best visual focus and then scribe the outside of the eyepiece barrel The next time the CCD is used the eyepiece shoul...

Page 40: ...current than the average i e hot pixels are greatly suppressed and the displayed image appears much smoother Visibility of faint detail is greatly improved The CCDOPS program also supports the use of...

Page 41: ...he Auto mode is optimized for the Focus command It automatically switches between Low resolution for Full frame mode to provide fast image acquisition and High resolution for Planet mode to achieve cr...

Page 42: ...lescope s drive corrector in each of the four directions measuring the displacement of a calibration star after each move Knowing the displacement and the duration of each calibration move calibrates...

Page 43: ...SoftV5 or third party software Color imaging places some interesting requirements on the user that bear mentioning First many color filters have strong leaks in the infrared IR region of the spectrum...

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Page 45: ...eras are supplied with a 15 foot cable to connect the system to the host computer The connection is between the camera and the Host Computer s USB port If it is necessary or desirable to extend the di...

Page 46: ...o modify a standard 6 pin telephone cable for interface to the Telescope port see Appendix A for specific pin outs etc The STL RC plugs into the 9 pin port on the camera and a standard phone cable whi...

Page 47: ...ly Open is wired in parallel with the switch activating the relay or pushing the hand controller button closes the Normally Open or Push to Make contact while at the same time the Normally Closed cont...

Page 48: ...lay R 2 R 2 Figure 4 4 Joystick Eliminator 4 5 Modular Family of CCD Cameras With the introduction of the ST 6 CCD Camera in 1992 SBIG started a line of high quality low noise modular CCD cameras The...

Page 49: ...e transfer or interline region In frame transfer or interline CCDs at the end of the exposure the pixel data from the Image Area is transferred into the Storage Area very rapidly where it can be read...

Page 50: ...s producing 100 photoelectrons very dim with a Signal to Noise S N of approximately 3 whereas a perfect camera with no readout noise would give a Signal to Noise of 10 Again this is only important for...

Page 51: ...henomenon that occurs when pixels fill up As charge continues to be generated in a full pixel it has to go somewhere In CCDs without antiblooming protection the charge spills into neighboring pixels c...

Page 52: ...to keep the static safe cap over this port to insure that you do not accidentally plug in an accessory that is intended for the AO SCOPE port Plugging in the wrong accessory to the I2C port could cau...

Page 53: ...s is a good starting point for finding and centering deep sky objects If you find ten seconds to be insufficient a one minute exposure will clearly show nearly any object you wish to image particularl...

Page 54: ...Dark Frames The Research Series cameras have regulated temperature control and therefore it is possible to duplicate temperature and exposure conditions on successive nights You can set the camera TE...

Page 55: ...sing the Flat Field command but some preparation must be made to use that command with Track and Accumulate images Essentially you must prepare a special flat field correction image for Track and Accu...

Page 56: ...n the following discussions this combined flat field image will be referred to as COMBINED FLAT Repeat this step for each of the TRACK files using a corresponding name for the COMBINED FLAT image 7 Yo...

Page 57: ...e four subsequent images the software in sequence activates each of the telescope s four correction directions measuring the displacement of the calibration star From this calibration information the...

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Page 59: ...sh itself through the hoses Be sure to check for leaks Once you have established water circulation turn on the TE cooler to 100 by giving it a target temperature of 50 degrees Wait for about 10 to 20...

Page 60: ...f the ever increasing interest in this new technology 6 6 1 Windows Software Our CCDOPS version 5 software is compatible with Windows 95 98 2000 Me NT XP However many users also want additional image...

Page 61: ...bout the operation of your CCD camera system or have suggestions on how to improve it please don t fail to contact us We appreciate all your comments and suggestions Additionally if you are interested...

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Page 63: ...so you can rapidly return to the best point after going through focus Elongated Guided Images When using Track and Accumulate or Self Guiding if you notice guiding errors resulting in elongated star...

Page 64: ...Setup Command you can move the telescope and Grab an image fairly quickly to detect movement of the telescope pointed at a moderately bright star Try each of the four directions and see which ones mo...

Page 65: ...posures light frames to eliminate fixed pattern and dark current noise from the image Dark Frames must be of the same integration time and temperature as the light frame being processed Dark Noise Dar...

Page 66: ...acted Photometry Photometry is the study of stellar magnitudes at a given wavelength or bandpass Pixel Size The smallest resolution element of a CCD camera is the CCD pixel The pixel sizes for each of...

Page 67: ...ally the camera head housing TIFF Image File Format The TIFF image file format which stands for Tagged Interchange File Format was developed jointly by Microsoft and Aldus Corporations to allow easy i...

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Page 69: ...hared with I2C AUX Shell Chassis Ground Table A1 Telescope Connector A 2 Connector Pinouts for the power jack Pin Number Function Shell Earth Chassis Ground 1 5 6 12V 6A 2 3 4 DC Return Table A2 Power...

Page 70: ...elow shows the pinouts on some of these telescopes Special Common Left Down Up Right White Black Red Green Yellow Blue None 5 6 7 4 3 Telescope Port Pin Modular Phone Wire Color Hand Controller Button...

Page 71: ...used in the Research Series cameras The desiccant absorbs moisture in the CCD chamber lowering the dew point below the operating temperature of the cooled CCD thus preventing the formation of frost T...

Page 72: ...e telescope Do not rotate the head between image and flat field since the vignetting is usually slightly off center Do not be tempted to build a little LED into the telescope or camera for doing flat...

Page 73: ...Noise 15e RMS Binning Modes 1 x 1 2 x 2 3 x 3 Full Frame Download 9 8 seconds SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Cooling standard Two Stage Thermoelectric Water Assist 50 C from Ambient Typical Temperature Regulat...

Page 74: ...Modes 1 x 1 2 x 2 3 x 3 Full Frame Download 26 seconds SYSTEM SPEIFICATIONS Cooling standard Two Stage Thermoelectric Water Assist 50 C from Ambient Typical Temperature Regulation 0 1 C Power 10 18VDC...

Page 75: ...Binning Modes 1 x 1 2 x 2 3 x 3 Full Frame Download 14 seconds SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Cooling standard Two Stage Thermoelectric Water Assist 50 C from Ambient Typical Temperature Regulation 0 1 C Powe...

Page 76: ...RMS Binning Modes 1 x 1 2 x 2 3 x 3 Full Frame Download 3 seconds SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Cooling standard Two Stage Thermoelectric Water Assist 50 C from Ambient Typical Temperature Regulation 0 1 C P...

Page 77: ...oise 15e RMS Binning Modes 1 x 1 2 x 2 3 x 3 Full Frame Download 2 5 seconds SYSTEM SPECIFICATIONS Cooling standard Two Stage Thermoelectric Water Assist 50 C from Ambient Typical Temperature Regulati...

Page 78: ...Research 1830 East Broadway Blvd Suite 124 202 Tucson AZ 85719 Voice 520 323 8600 Fax 520 822 1435 E mail Sales sales axres com E mail Support support axres com Web http www axres com Mira software C...

Page 79: ...SBIG color filter wheel Astro Physics Inc 11250 Forest Hills Road Rockford IL 61115 U S A Phone 815 282 1513 Fax 815 282 9847 E mail info astro physics com Web site http www astro physics com APO Refr...

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Page 81: ...k 67 Track and Accumulate 51 63 67 Tracking Parameters 67 Commands Establish COM Link 48 PC Setup 48 communications link 47 connector Telescope 79 connector CPU RELAYS 55 67 cooling 41 77 co register...

Page 82: ...troller 56 moon 48 63 negative image 50 nosepiece 47 observatory 55 optical head 47 55 O ring 40 PC 40 PC Setup Command 48 PEC drive correctors 51 67 photometric measurements 76 Photometry def 76 pixe...

Page 83: ...connector 79 telescope hand controller 49 52 55 56 temperature regulation 50 59 thermistor 41 TIC 80 TIC 78 56 TIFF format def 77 Track and Accumulate def 77 Track and Accumulate Command 51 63 67 Trac...

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