Newsletter 22, May 2014

Welcome

This month we welcome not just one but two new additions to the Atik Team. Andrew Kirby joins us in Norwich working in Product Support and brings with him over 20 years experience in scientific research.

Andrew’s lifelong interest in astronomy combined with his physics background and extensive knowledge of digital imaging makes him an ideal member of the team.

Over in Lisbon, we are pleased to welcome João Fernandes to the assembly team. Having recently completed his training in electronics, João is looking forward to the challenges of his new role and by the look of the photo is already getting stuck into assembling and testing the Titan.

We wish both Andrew and João all the best in their careers with Atik!

Product news

Atik One & GP Guider

For those attending Astrofest 2014 in London this year, the big news on the Atik stand was not one but two new cameras in the Atik One and Atik GP. The exciting Atik One camera integrates the best of Atik’s 4 series electronics with the 6 MPixel Sony ICX-694 sensor and a five position 1.25” filter wheel to provide the most compact imaging solution for every astronomer. Other highlights include improved cooling performance providing a -38 ˚C delta and in another first, an internal USB hub and accessory power port allowing a minimum of cables to be used in your imaging set up.

To complement the Atik One and featuring the super sensitive Sony ICX445 EXview HAD II CCD, the versatile GP can be used as a Guider or as a stand alone, cost effective planetary imager. In another first for us the GP provides an 8 bit mode which allows high frame rate images to be saved directly in .avi format. For higher dynamic range, the passively cooled 1.3MPixel sensor produces excellent images in 12 bit .tif or .fit file formats. The camera is fully compatible with existing Atik software so can be used with our (included) Capture software as well as with plug-ins for Maxim DL, AstroArt, and more though the ASCOM camera interface.

Possibly the best news of all from the 10th birthday product launch is the availability of the Atik One / GP combination kit for a limited period of time. With the addition of the Atik OAG, this kit provides the ultimate imaging solution at a price which is far from astronomical. Your local dealer will be able to give you all the details and our ever reducing lead time will enable you to get your hands on one of the most significant product developments from your favourite camera manufacturer in no time at all. Finally, our highly acclaimed Capture software has been upgraded to include new features such as dithering, image import and analysis.

Update to Capture

Capture is our simple to use yet highly regarded image acquisition software. It is intended to be easy for new users to get into and have a straight forward user interface that makes for less mistakes when used on a small laptop, in a cold field, late a night. Since the last update a couple of years ago we have received a number of items for inclusion on the wish list of new features. Now we have implemented many of these in this new version. Let’s go through these feature by feature.

Capture is our simple to use yet highly regarded image acquisition software. It is intended to be easy for new users to get into and have a straight forward user interface that makes for less mistakes when used on a small laptop, in a cold field, late a night. Since the last update a couple of years ago we have received a number of items for inclusion on the wish list of new features. Now we have implemented many of these in this new version. Let’s go through these feature by feature.

Capture now allows for imaging loading and display. If you have saved an image early in the evening and wish to compare it with image you are currently taking simply select file -> Open Image and the image opens. You can open as many images as you wish and switch between them using the new tabs at the top of the display area.

The display dialogue now has a histogram of pixel values in the image. From this it is easy to see if you have significant amounts of saturation in the image and should decrease your exposure times or if the sky background is coming up because of cloud or moon light. If you look closely you can also see red and green markers for the black and white points that determine how the 16 bit image is mapped onto the 8 bit display.

Dithering is the technique where the telescope moves a tiny amount between images. Then when the subsequent images are stacked using star alignment, the hot pixels fall in different parts of the image and are easily processed out. To use this feature you require two instances of capture running, one for the imaging camera and the other for the guider. After calibrating the guider, select a non zero number of pixels to dither over. Values around 5 work well. Then in the imaging copy of Capture, in the sequencer dialogue, select a delay between exposures that’s big enough to allow the guider to settle after making the dither move. Now, in-between every exposure taken using the sequencer, the guider will move the telescope randomly a few pixels.

We have also improved the recognition of stars by the auto guiding section of Capture. It should now be possible to guide on much fainter stars and not be concerned with a hot pixel being confused with a guide star

We hope you enjoy this new version. If you find any bugs or would like to suggest new features for the next update please email us on support@atik-cameras.com

Atik Out and About

ASAE 2013

Kitt Peak by Rui Tripa

As part of our continual travels around the world, attending trade shows and other events, visiting observatories is part of the fun. This time, and since I was in Tucson (Arizona) for ASAE, a visit to the largest solar telescope in the world was just mandatory.

It started as a beautifully sunny fall day, which for Tucson means quite warm and pleasant. A few dozen miles down the highway, and the climb up the mountain begins. The scenery is beautiful, and the clear day allowed for some fine sights of the desert a few thousand feet below. It is a worthwhile trip for the sightseeing alone. Kitt Peak was built in 1958 atop a mountain in the Tohono O’odham Nation (Native Americans), who kindly provided a perpetual lease of the top of their sacred mountain (loligam, in the native dialect), and is home of 7 optical telescopes and one radio telescope. The most important are the 4 metre Mayall,
the 3.5m WIYN, and of course, the McMath-Pierce Solar Telescope (1.6 metre).

The telescope consists of a Heliostat which reflects the sun light down an 18 metre tunnel into the 1.6m primary mirror, and then back to a secondary mirror and into the observing room, where a vacuum spectrograph resides. This brings the f-ratio of the instrument up to f/54! There are also a couple of auxiliary mirrors for other tasks.

Unfortunately, at the time of my visit the solar telescope was being serviced, which limited what could be seen. But even so, the sight of the telescope alone is impressive enough, and truly made the visit worthwhile.

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In Closing

The versatile Atik GP!

Produced by our very own Vince, this image clearly demonstrates the versatility of the GP, the smallest member of the Atik family. This image is in fact a mosaic made up from 5 sections, each section containing 100 stacked images. The equipment used was a Lunt 60 mm Hydrogen Alpha filtered scope and an Atik GP camera The images were taken on the 1st of February 2014 from Norwich.

Until next time, the team at Atik wishes everyone clear skies, day and night!

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