About Apparatus

Celestron Skyris 236M Monochrome Camera (CMOS Senser)

Specifications:

• Camera Resolution: 1920 x 1200
• Total No. of Pixels: 2.3 MP
• Sensor Size: 5.44 mm x 3.42 mm or 0.21" x 0.13”
• Pixel Size: 2.8 Micron Square
• A/D Conversion: 12-bit
• Operating Environment: $-40\ \degree C\ to\ 40\ \degree C$
• Mounting: 1.25” barrel and C-thread
• Capturing software: SharpCap and iCap
• Weight: 103g
• Power Requirement: Powered by USB

Precautions:

• Do not expose the CMOS Sensor to direct light; the sensor is highly sensitive and will get damaged.
• Handle it carefully. NAC only has one of them.

SkyWatcher Quattro 200P (8-inch Telescope)

Specifications:

• Type: Reflecting Newtonian Telescope
• Use: Astrophotography and Visual Astronomy
• Aperture: 203 mm or 8”
• Focal Length: 80 cm
• Secondary Obstruction: 34% (By Diameter) and 12% (By Area)
• Optical Tube Length: 711 mm or 28”
• Optical Tube Outer Diameter: 238.125 mm or 9.375”

CPC Deluxe 1100 HD Computerized Telescope (11-inch Telescope)

Specifications:

• Type: Schmidt-Cassegrain Hybrid Telescope
• Use: Terrestrial and Deep Sky Viewing and Astrophotography
• Aperture (Diameter): 279.4 mm or 11”
• Focal Length: 280 cm
• Magnification Range: 40x to 660x (Useful Maginfication)
• Secondary Obstruction: 34% (By Diameter) and 12% (By Area)
• Optical Tube Length: 610 mm or 24”
• Optical Tube Outer Diameter: 312.42 mm or 12.3”
• SkyAlign Technology: To use it, you only need to locate and manually point to three bright celestial objects. The software will then model the night sky and determine the position of every star, planet, and celestial object above the horizon. Once aligned, you can use the remote hand control to directly access each celestial catalogs in its remarkably user-friendly database. This database includes more than 40,000 celestial objects, such as the Caldwell Catalog, NGC Galaxies, nebulae, and planets.

WEEKLY LOGS

WEEKLY LOGS

DETAILED PROGRESS

• Week 1: Alignment for the Setup

This week, we attempted to focus the image from the lamp onto our sensor. However, the sensor is quite small, making it a bit challenging. To address this issue, we plan to use lasers with ND filters to see if they are feasible for our calibration. If not, we will attempt to create a pinhole for our lamp to allow the light to be streamed down to a single ray.

• Week 2: Alignment of CMOS and Diffraction Grating for Helium Lamp

This week, we were able to partially collimate the light from our lamp and observe the lines from the helium lamp onto it. We also attempted to use a green laser, but its intense brightness required us to use an ND filter.

However, the current setup needs improvement to become more stable and accurate. Although we can observe the lamp's lines, they appear faint and blurry. Further improvements are necessary.

Additionally, after discussing with some NAC seniors, we learned about other potential issues. The current light source is nearly a point source, but when observing celestial objects through a telescope, they will appear much larger and give a spread-out distribution of spectrum on our sensor. To address this, further collimation will be necessary. We plan to test smaller telescopes on sodium lamps at night before proceeding with the 11-inch telescope.

More Details:

Blurred emission lines from the Helium Lamp as observed in the lab with rough placement of grating and camera.

The identification of bright wavelengths observable from a Helium Lamp has been completed. Additionally, the alignment required to obtain central maxima and the bright first order on the sensor has been performed. Although we can observe the different wavelengths spreading, they are not in focus, and further alignment is necessary.