Modified 450D Test Images:
The first night out with the modified camera, sky conditions ranged from passing clouds to clear. Warm temperatures in the 70's the day before rapidly fell overnight to a low of 29 degrees Fahrenheit. This caused seeing to be very poor. It was also my first time imaging with a new refractor telescope, the Astro Tech 127mm ED APO Triplet refractor. The Astro Tech 127 and ED80 refractors were mounted on an Orion Atlas EQ-G mount. The EQMOD ASCOM driver was used to drive the mount directly via an EQDIR interface module. Imaging was done from my backyard deck observatory under moderately light polluted skies and remotely controlled from my recroom.
Equipment used:
M51 Whirlpool Galaxy - Full Frame:
35 two-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were median combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size:
M13 Hercules Globular Cluster - Full Frame:
28 thirty-second exposures at ISO 1600 were median combinedusing DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size:
Virgo Galaxies centered on M84 and M86 - Full Frame:
28 two-minute exposures at ISO 1600 were median combined using DeepSkyStacker and reduced in size:
Initial Modified Test Comments:
Having imaged in the past with the Canon 10D and modified Canon 300D, I was pleased with the operation and first-light images of the modified 450D.
Some notes on my initial thoughts after the first night of imaging with the new camera before modification can be seen HERE.
I found noise to not be a problem with the 450D as the ambient temperatures were very cold. The images here were processed with the freeware DeepSkyStacker and it was the first time I used this software that is able to work directly with the CR2 RAW files of the Canon 450D. All control of the Canon 450D, such as camera settings, bulb exposures and focus, were done using software provided by Canon with the camera (EOS Utility). I no longer have to remove the amplifier glow on the right edge of Canon 300D images since the 450D has no amplifier glow. Although I did not yet do a direct sensitivity comparison to the modified 300D, based on this first image and processing session with the modified 450D, I believe it has the same or greater sensitivity of the modified 300D camera and will become my camera of choice for deep sky imaging. Looking forward to imaging with the camera from a dark sky site.
Lunar images using an Astro-Tech 127mm Triplet Refractor and the modified 450D can be seen HERE.
UPDATE: 5/25-29/08
Full frame images of NGC 7000 - North America Nebula, IC 5070 - Pelican Nebula, Virgo Galaxy Cluster - Markarian's Chain , M101 - Spiral Galaxy taken with the Astro-Tech 127mm Triplet Refractor can be seen HERE.
UPDATE: 06/01/08
Full frame images of NGC 6888 (The Crescent Nebula), Virgo Galaxies M58, M59, M60, Siamese Twins and others can be seen HERE.