This camera is making it's way toward active service. My plan is to use it along with
my Meade 8" SCT for a while in the observatory while I make improvements to my 10" f/4 Newtonian OTA. Those improvements
will be to strengthen the focuser mount to properly support the Quantix Camera (it's big and heavy) and to shift the focus
point out about 1.5" so I can utilize my Baader Coma Corrector/DSLR camera/etc.
Still, I need to add the shutter mechanism to the camera and motorize the focuser on the 8" SCT before the switch over.
This is a single 15 second exposure with the camera attached to the 8" SCT.
It's scaled down by a factor of 4. The darkening around the edges is vignetting and is caused by the telescope's optics,
it can be compensated for by applying flat-field processing.
Well the shutter is finished and I went back to the Dumbbell Nebula for another try.
I did a quick collimation and actually aligned the mount fairly well.
This image was made from 8 x 45 second exposures (with the CCD at -30°C) on the Meade 8" SCT with a focal reducer/field flattener.
I used flats, but no dark frames. I also cropped this, so you're looking at the central 70% of the image.
The rest isn't illuminated enough to bother with.