Equipment for Astronomical Imaging

Lecture given at Bangalore Astronomical Society Astrophotography Workshop 27th April 2013 M.Sathyakumar Sharma

Topics to be covered
PART I A little flashback. Telescope, a brief idea of how light can be worked with. Telescope, a study of types and sub types. Requirements for the Amateur Astronomer. Basic to Advanced. Q&A

PART II A Note on Stability. Mounting Systems: History, Types and Present Technology. Requirements for the Amateur Astronomer. Basic to Advanced.

PART III Cameras, Types of Imaging. Types of Cameras. Application in astronomical Requirements for the Amateur Astronomer. Basic to Advanced.

Flashback of Ye Olde Teleskope

Hans Lippershey or Pirates of the Caribbean?

Galileo Galilei and Johannes Kepler

Sir Isaac Newton

Working with Light

Bending of Light Prisms: Used to disperse light to its constituents. Lenses: Used to converge or diverge rays of light. Refractive Index of Glass. Types of Lenses used on Astronomical Systems. Glasses used in Astronomical Instruments.

Mirrors and their surface finishing.

Working with Light II

Refractive Index of Glass: In optics the refractive index or index of refraction n of a substance (optical medium, aka glass etc) is a dimensionless number that describes how light, or any other radiation, propagates through that medium. It is defined as;

n = c/v
Where n is the refractive index, c is the velocity of light in vacuum and v is the velocity of light in the medium through which it is passing at that point of time.

Refractive index of materials varies with the wavelength. This is called dispersion; it causes the splitting of white light in prisms and rainbows, and chromatic aberration in lenses. In opaque media, the refractive index is a complex number: while the real part describes refraction, the imaginary part accounts for absorption.

Working with Light III

Types of Lenses used in Astronomical Telescopes. Singlet Lens: Achromatic: Doublet Apochromat: Triplet Apochromat: Glasses used in Telescope lenses: ED and Fluorite.

Note on Field Curvature.

Not all rays of light focus at the same point if a flat imaging sensor is used.

Working with Light IV Mirrors

A Concave mirror of the radius of curvature same as a convex lens can converge light the same distance.

Since the mirror requires only one surface to be precision finished, it is cheaper to make and in large sizes there is no option anyway.
Types of Surface finishes. a) Optical Flat: One surface is flat to a fraction of a measured wavelength of light. b) Spherical: Surface is part of a sphere of a given radius. c) Parabolic and Hyperbolic: Part of a parabola or hyperbola of given foci.

Telescopes Types and Sub types

Types

1)Refractor: Lens, or combination of multiple lens systems.

2)Reflector: Mirror for converging rays. 3)Catadioptric: Combination of Lens and Mirror(s)

Made up of;

Refractor

a) Singlet lens: Commonly found in toy telescopes and imitation antiques and genuine antiques. b) Achromatic Doublet: Typical Department Store Telescopes, Budget refractors for Visual Observers. Not satisfactory at short focal lengths. c) Apochromatic Doublet: Typical mid priced telescopes, very good colour correction, suitable for visual observing and imaging. Good at short focal lengths. d) Apochromatic Triplet Telescope: Typical mid to high priced telescopes, price varies of type of glass, coatings and branding. e) Quadruplet/ Petzval: Crme de la Crme of Refractors: Typical High end scopes commonly used by astrophotographers requiring a portable setup.

Reflector
Components:

Primary Mirror: Converges light rays from Infinity to a single point, parabolic surface finish typical, spherical in cheaper instruments.
Note: .

Secondary Mirror: An mirror used to deviate light perpendicular to the optical axis. This is simply used so that the observers head does not come in the way.

Focuser: Holds the eyepiece or camera and contains a rack and pinion system or a friction drive system like the Crayford type focuser, rotational motion of a knob translates to linear motion of the eyepiece holder called the drawtube to bring objects to a focus. Eyepiece: A combination of lenses in a calculated order to magnify the image. Magnification = Fo /Fe.

Catadioptric
Common Name: Cassegrain telescope
Common Components: Primary mirror Secondary Mirror Tertiary Mirror Optional Corrector plate/lens. Types: a)Classical : Parabolic Primary, Hyperbolic secondary a) Schmidt: Spherical Primary, Parabolic secondary, Corrector plate. b) Maksutov-Gregorian: Corrector lens, Spherical Primary, parabolic secondary c) Ritchey Chretien: Hyperbolic primary and secondary only.

Requirements for the Amateur Astronomer

Refractor: Min- 80mm F/6 to F/10 Reflector: Min- 130mm F/5 to F/8 Catadioptric: Min-127mm F/12 Bits and Bobs: Lunar Imaging: Mobile phone with camera, point and shoot digital cam, computer webcam with webcam adapter to fit telescope focuser. Planetary imaging: Webcam with adapter as above. Solar Imaging: A Solar filter for white light or a H-alpha solar telescope for H-alpha imaging, along with webcam and adapter Deep Sky Objects: Film/Digital SLR, T-Ring, Nosepiece, filters etc etc....

Q & A for Part I

Stability

Every system intended for recording events requires some form of support structure to protect it from basic interruptions like vibrations and wind.

Mounting systems
Joseph Von Fraunhofer

EQ6 and HEQ5 Mounts from Sky-Watcher The 49 Foot telescope of William Herschel

Types of Telescope mounts

Alt-Azimuth:
Basic motion is in the horizontal and vertical planes giving two axis of rotation. Variants: Photographic Tripod and Dobsonian mount. Equatorial:

Two axis of rotation with one parallel to earths axis called Polar Axis or Right Ascension and the other axis orthogonal to the Polar axis called Declination.
Variants: German, English, Yoke, Fork etc.

Requirements for the Amateur Astronomer

Note: German Equatorial Mount or GEM is the most common type of equatorial mount mass produced for the Amateur Astronomer. Basic: EQ1 or EQ2 Equatorial mount. Payload 3kg max. Semi-Mid Level: GOTO computerised HEQ5 or EQ6. Payload capacity 18 to 25kg. Advanced: Paramount ME, Takahashi Temma 200, Astrophysics Mach 1, Losmandy etc. Payload capacity 40 to 50kg +

Astrophysics Mach1

Losmandy G11 Takahashi Temma 200

Polar Scope

Bits and Bobs-I

Basic tracking motor for EQ1EQ2 mounts

GOTO Kit for EQ3-EQ5 mounts

Bits and Bobs-II

Cameras
DSLR

Dedicated Astronomical CCD Camera

Sensor Types
CCD : Charge Coupled Device ~ Photo sensitive diodes. Very sensitive to light Available in monochrome or Colour Monochrome more sensitive than colour Bayer Matrix High QE Quantum Efficiency. Requires auxiliary electronics for image processing and transfer. CMOS: Complimentary Metal Oxide Semiconductor ~ Photo sensitive capacitors. Good sensitivity to light. Available mass produced only in colour. Low QE. Electronics built into the sensor.
The quantum efficiency (QE), or incident photon to converted electron (IPCE) ratio,of a photosensitive device or a charge-coupled device (CCD) is the percentage of photons hitting the device's photoreactive surface that produce charge carriers.

Types of Cameras for Astronomical Imaging

CMOS Based Mobile phone. Webcam. Planetary/Lunar/Solar cam. Point and Shoot. Digital SLR. CCD Based cameras Webcam/Planetary/Lunar/Solar cams Monochrome and Colour cooled astronomical cameras. Companies manufacturing CCD Based cameras. SBIG Santa Barbara Instrument Group Apogee QSI Quantum Scientific Imaging QHY FLI Opticstar Ltd. Atik.

Cooled CCD cameras

Requirements for the Amateur Astronomer

Lunar Imaging: Min- Mobile phone with camera. Better images with Phillips SPC900 webcam Expensive option : cameras with Sony ICX618 chip. Solar Imaging : Solar filter must with the cameras above. Planetary imaging: Min: Phillips SPC900 webcam or Celestron Neximage. Better images with dedicated planetary imagers like Opticstar PL-131C, PL-131M, QHY5, QHY5-II, SBIG STi., Imaging Source DMK21AU618, DSLR with video option etc. Deep Sky: Min- DSLR by Canon preferred. Mid level Atik 314L, 314L+, Opticstar DS-145 ICE. Expensive option: SBIGST8300 Mono or Colour, QHY 8, 9, 10.

Mandatory Accessories

Optional Accessories
Filters : Glass substrate with specialized coatings Eg: Planetary filters, Ha, Hb, OIII, SII, UHC, Moon filter. Common sizes: 2 and 1.25 Filter Wheels: To hold the filters in a Carousel for ease of use. Manual and USB Guide cameras: For long exposure imaging to compensate for human errors, mount mechanical errors.

Q & A for Part II and III