20
21
should drop below 100% (Figure 17.3). If the
Cooler Power does not drop
below 100% after a couple of minutes, you will need to raise the
Setpoint.
5. Monitor the
Sensor Temp and Setpoint and make sure they match. If the
Senor Temp is higher than the Setpoint, you will need to raise the Setpoint.
We recommend keeping the
Cooler Power to about 80% (or less) for the best
performance while still having the ability to match the temperature later if needed.
Pushing the cooler to near 100% will hinder the accuracy if your dark frames if the
dark frame temperature does not match your light frame.
4.3. Imaging Deep Sky Objects
Capturing impressive images of deep sky objects, such as galaxies, nebulae, and
star clusters, require relatively long exposures. You will take several individual
images and stack them together to form one high-quality resultant image.
Very accurate polar alignment is essential for deep sky imaging. Stars will streak
across the field of view without precise polar alignment and tracking. Longer expo-
sures of 60 seconds or more also require autoguiding with a separate camera.
The Orion StarShoot AutoGuider can be operated with the Parsec in MaxIm DL.
To start:
1. Acquire and center the deep sky object into the field of view of your
eyepiece. If you are using a mount with an accurate computerized go-to
system, you can keep the camera installed in your telescope’s focuser
without using the eyepiece.
2. Remove the eyepiece and replace it with the Parsec.
3. Set the
Exposure Preset to Focus and precisely focus the camera. If
necessary, move the telescope to a nearby star to determine the best focus.
For best results, when using the Parsec 8300C, select
Light Raw for Frame
Type so you can properly calibrate your astro-images later, see section
5, “Image Processing”. For Parsec 8300M users, simply choose
Light for
Frame Type
.
4. In the
Expose tab, set Seconds to 10-20 and click Expose
.
After the image
downloads check to see if the deep sky object is centered well in your
camera. Adjust the camera orientation if needed, keeping in mind that you
may have to refocus the camera after making the adjustment. Reposition the
telescope if needed to center the deep sky object.
5. Set the
Exposure Preset to LRGB, even if you are using the Parsec 8300C.
You can always rename the
Exposure Preset with your custom settings.
6. Click the
Autosave button, and select your exposure times, and frame type
(Figure 18.1).
Figure 17.3.
Monitor the
Cooler Power, Sensor Temp, and Setpoint and make sure
they reach your goals.
Figure 18.1.
The
Autosave Setup window sets all of your options to autosave your
image in a sequence.
