Section 6 - Accessories for your CCD Camera
ambient temperature if ambient temperature water is used. If colder water is used, the head may fog or frost up, depending on the dew point. . The exposed electronics inside the ST-7/8 will get wet, and corrode. The hoses will start dripping condensation, and you will have a mess. Keep the ice for a cold drink!
At the end of the evening, stop the pump, and raise the outlet hose above the camera to let all the water drain out of the system. Blowing it out with gently pressure helps clear the water. You can leave the hoses full of water, but if a leak occurs while you’re not there you may have a problem.
When packing the camera for a long time, or at the end of summer, disconnect the hoses and blow out the heat sink to allow the enclosed spaces to dry out and minimize long term corrosion.
6.2.Tri-color Imaging
You can make splendid color images with your CCD camera by using the optional CFW-8 color filter wheel. The CFW-8 attaches to the front of the CCD head and allows you to take images in red, green and blue light of the same object. When these images are aligned and processed a full color image results.
6.3.Camera Lens Adapters and Eyepiece Projection
Camera Lens adapters are available for the ST-7E/8E/9E. The camera lens adapter allows you to mount your camera lens in place of the telescope for very wide field views of the night sky or for daytime terrestrial imaging. The adapters are available for a variety of the most common camera lenses in use.
The cameras themselves can be used for eyepiece projection assuming you already have a T-thread eyepiece projection adapter for. Instead of attaching a 35mm camera to the T-thread camera adapter you can attach the CCD camera by unscrewing the T-Thread nosepiece fom the front of the camera.
6.4.Focal Reducers
Several third party vendors, including Celestron and Meade, make focal reducers for their telescopes that could be used with the ST-7E/8E/9E cameras. While most will work with the ST-7 some may have slight amounts of vignetting when used on the larger ST-8E/9E.
Note: Many very fast commercial units will not accommodate our filter wheel.
6.5.AO-7 and Lucy-Richardson Software
The AO-7 is the world's only Adaptive Optics accessory for the amateur CCD market and it works only with the self guided feature of the ST-7E/8E/9E. The AO-7 is essentially an electromechanical driven diagonal mirror that goes between the camera and the telescope. Using the AO-7 allows corrections to be made at rates up to 40 Hz. This yields perfect, backlash-free guiding and allows removal of some atmospheric effects. When used in conjunction with the CCDSharp software stellar peak brightness can double and stellar half- widths can shrink by 25%.