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Astrel Instruments                                                                                                   AST8300-X 

Astrel Instruments

AST8300-X

GETTING STARTED

rev A

Getting Started                                               1/19                                                             rev A

Summary of Contents for AST8300X

Page 1: ...Astrel Instruments AST8300 X Astrel Instruments AST8300 X GETTING STARTED rev A Getting Started 1 19 rev A ...

Page 2: ...the following User s Manual to learn how to get the best out of your equipment The philosophy behind your camera is the concept that the CCD camera could be the real brain of your astronomical equipment This is possible thanks to the powerful microprocessor that is in charge of managing not only the camera itself but also through the extended set of I O available on board the other components of y...

Page 3: ...Astrel Instruments AST8300 X Camera connections The following picture shows the I O interfaces available Getting Started 3 19 rev A ...

Page 4: ...2V 3A power supply USB 1 2 these two 480Mbit sec hi speed USB connectors can be used to connect devices like USB dongles guide cameras keyboards and mice USB hub can be used when multiple connections are needed Each USB port can drive max 500 mA WiFi this SMA connector is used for the included WiFi Antenna Flatbox controller 12V controlled power out for powering your flatbox with the included cabl...

Page 5: ...t of them can be connected and disconnected at any time but it s always a good rule to connect any needed device before power up Connect the power supply cable After the power supply is connected the camera boots the Linux operating system and then starts the Desktop application from where all the camera s applications can be accessed Getting Started 5 19 rev A ...

Page 6: ...on After pressing shutdown the camera will disconnect from wifi and emit a certain number of regularly timed weak beep sounds When the beeps end the camera can be powered off unplugging the power cable In case the beeps can t be heard after shutdown wait for 1 minute before unplugging the power cable The Linux distribution inside the camera is stored into the internal SD card which is the main sto...

Page 7: ...tablet smartphone The wifi connection is open no password required and by default the network name is Astrel_ap_ followed by the camera s n while the ip address is 10 0 0 1 WARNING remember to connect the WiFi antenna Once connected you can operate the camera in Connected mode like described in the following paragraph Getting Started 7 19 rev A ...

Page 8: ... a screenshot of the main Desktop page Other third party applications are available on the Linux Desktop When operated in Connected mode you only have to install a VNC client application on the PC tablet smartphone which is an application used to show the camera Desktop in a window in the PC screen There s no need to install any driver on the PC because the applications always run on the camera no...

Page 9: ...stall them just follows the steps indicated on their websites WARNING closing the VNC client application doesn t shut down the camera the VNC client only shows the camera applications on the PC screen That means that you always have to run the Shutdown application before powering down the camera Getting Started 9 19 rev A ...

Page 10: ...to either USB connectors If you need to access other folders for example a USB dongle or hard disk or simply prefer to use a file manager like application you can use any remote file manager application using the ssh protocol here follows a brief list of the tested ones PC Windows WinSCP http winscp net PC Linux any file manager opening the location ssh camera ip address The username is astro and ...

Page 11: ...inHg is enough The vacuum pump gauges have a tolerance of about 1 inHg refer to the Important Notice sheet provided with the camera to get the proper vacuum level to be set before cooling the camera The camera is tested to maintain a vacuum better than 24 inHg for at least two days and it s not unusual for cameras to last for weeks so there s no need to operate the pump during a photo session Alwa...

Page 12: ...vacuum is reached Close the valve Disconnect the pump and remove the tube The camera is now ready for being cooled below freezing temperature and the vacuum should be retained to an acceptable level for at least 2 days You can check the vacuum level connecting the pump to the camera pumping the air until a level of 25 inHg vacuum is reached with the vacuum valve closed to remove the air inside the...

Page 13: ... device to it Windows will complain because the access is limited but this is normal because you don t have an internet connection only a local connection Start the VNC viewer When prompted insert the camera IP address 10 0 0 1 in the Remote Host field like in the following screenshot Getting Started 13 19 rev A 10 0 0 1 ...

Page 14: ...trel Desktop and the icons of the thid party applications STEP 4 start the cooling process Start the Cooling Control app and insert the desired temperature set point then push the Start button The application will work in background maintaining the temperature set point with a 0 1 C precision Getting Started 14 19 rev A ...

Page 15: ...n the desktop then push the desired filter button and push go Push done to leave the Filterwheel application STEP 6 find and focus Start the Find Focus application to focus the camera and frame the object Push live to start acquiring images You can change the exposure time on the fly depending on your target brightness remember that the value refers to tenth of seconds so for 5 seconds exposure yo...

Page 16: ...ace displays the star along with a measure of the Full Width Half Maximum and a plot of the intensity profile use these parameters together with eye inspection to focus the camera You can change the exposure time and the enlargement of the star field as well as move around using the arrow buttons At the end of the focus process in order to verify the focus accuracy it could be useful when permitte...

Page 17: ... the Temperature Monitor application it will display the current cooling process state until you push the Stop button which will ramp down and switch off the cooling process STEP 8 set the exposure parameters and start photographing Stat the Take Photos application Using the tabs named as the filters you set in the Setup application you can define for each filter the exposure time the number of ex...

Page 18: ...d signals it all these functions turn on again Your PC or Smartphone could need to reestablish the connection to the camera Using the Monitor application you can monitor the sequence execution Push Kill to stop the photo sequence You will be asked whether to stop only the current exposure or the whole sequence Push Preview to see a thumbnail of the last exposure Push the Done button to come back t...

Page 19: ...t common Method 1 use WinSCP Open WinSCP and create a new connection Choose SFTP protocol and insert the camera ip address 10 0 0 1 port 22 your user name astro and password astronomy Copy the files folders as needed Method 2 If you stored the photo sequences in an external USB storage you can of course disconnect it from the camera and plug it to the PC WARNING never disconnect the USB storage be...

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