Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5410736 - 09/08/12 08:43 PM Attachment (76 downloads)
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Here is one M92 that I forgot that I took the same night as the others captured at F10
Chris A
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mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Loc: New Brunswick, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5410762 - 09/08/12 09:06 PM
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Chris,
Can you also explain the differences between your prototype/beta version of the Universe that was used to take these pictures and what is actually shipping as a production unit? I believe the software was a little different as well?
Chris's images as great as they are (great focus, tight stars etc.) don't entirely represent what the camera is actually capable of ... the shipping Universe's are more sensitive. Plus there are the imposed limitations of images reproduced here on CN.
We're going to need more folks like Chris who have CCD imaging and post processing capabilities to give the camera good workout. Still it's going to be a little while before we get to see what this camera is really capable of.
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: mclewis1]
#5410935 - 09/08/12 11:20 PM
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Mark
You are correct regarding the camera differences between the 1st prototype/beta that I was testing and the newer units now being shipped. The new models now have Rocks built in hyper circuitry making the sensor more sensitive to collecting the photons. Also the Peltier cooler has been beefed up to increase the cooling capacity from -30C to -45C The software has come along way with Rock adding the Long Power open window concept which greatly reduces the amp glow and most importantly the option to bin the pixels either by a factor of 2 x 2 or 4 x 4 to greatly increase the light collecting which then allows one to use a much longer focal length as long as the mount can handle this. The binning does not effect the color debayer at all and produces very pleasing results.
Chris A
Astrogate
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jgraham
Postmaster
Reged: 12/02/04
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5410996 - 09/09/12 12:01 AM
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Wow, I just looked through the images that you posted on Flickr. Very nice! These are the best single frames I've seen. Most excellent.
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: jgraham]
#5411004 - 09/09/12 12:15 AM
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Thank you very much John for the kind words and having a look.
Clear skies,
Chris
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Relativist
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/11/03
Loc: OC, CA, USA
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5411708 - 09/09/12 02:03 PM
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Can you please describe again what a 'single frame' means here? I'm assuming it's a certain amount of time exposed.
Also, what I have been hoping for personally is the ability to digitally produce 1080p "video". While it doesn't seem to be the main use for this camera I'm curious how it will perform for such output.
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Relativist]
#5411866 - 09/09/12 03:54 PM
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Curtis what I mean by single is these images are not stacked using multiple sub exposures. At F6.3 they were shorter exposures than the F10 as expected. Here were the times involve
M13 @ F6.3 45 Secs
M27 @ F6.3 90 Secs
M13 @ F10 150 Secs
M27 @ F10 240 Secs
M57 @ F10 180 Secs
M92 @ F10 150 Secs
The images are raw meaning NO post processing including calibration. Also this MC Universe does not have the hyper circuitry and deeper cooling like the official released model. Having the hyper circuitry would have lowered the exposure time by 30% so for e.g. the M27 @ F10 would have taken only 168 Secs instead of 240 Secs. Also with the new binning option at 2 x 2 the 168 secs would now take only 42 Secs at half the resolution though.
Chris A
Astrogate
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Loc: London UK
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5411937 - 09/09/12 04:49 PM Attachment (41 downloads)
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Hi Maurice
I thought Lorence posted a link to my site showing some shorter single none processed captures using my C9.25 at both F6.3 & F10. I will post these 4 images again just in case. Chris A - Astrogate
Thanks Chris - excellent images - as noted CN TOS on file size don't favour 6Mp images  But some close crops would be nice too 
Attached sketch of M42 shows approx fov with Universe [APS sensor] against Xtreme cam computed via Megastar with your 1480mm fl scope eg 9.25" f/6.3 SCT eg fov ~x9 larger 
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie no more
Reged: 04/30/03
Loc: NE Ohio
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412142 - 09/09/12 07:22 PM
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Quote:
Also this MC Universe does not have the hyper circuitry and deeper cooling like the official released model.
Is this one a stock model as received from the manufacturer or has it been modified by MC but less extensively than the current MC model?
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: nytecam]
#5412235 - 09/09/12 08:09 PM Attachment (57 downloads)
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Here are some crops of the images that I posted using the MC Universe and my C9.25. Please keep in mind that these are only a one short none processed image with tweaking done only using the MC Universe software. The 1st image is M13 @ F6.3
Chris A
Edited by Chris A (09/09/12 08:12 PM)
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412245 - 09/09/12 08:13 PM Attachment (41 downloads)
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The 2nd is a crop of my M13 @ F10
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412252 - 09/09/12 08:16 PM Attachment (32 downloads)
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The 3rd is a crop of the M27 image at F6.3
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412255 - 09/09/12 08:17 PM Attachment (19 downloads)
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The 4th image is a crop of M27 @ F10
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412258 - 09/09/12 08:18 PM Attachment (28 downloads)
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The 5th is a crop of my M57 image @ F10
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412261 - 09/09/12 08:19 PM Attachment (31 downloads)
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The 6th and final image is a crop of M92 @ F10
Chris A
Astrogate
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: jrcrilly]
#5412289 - 09/09/12 08:37 PM
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John the camera that I was using was one of the 1st MC Universe prototypes designed by Rock Mallin. After many tests Rock decided to incorporate his ingenious hyper circuitry into is latest camera design.
Chris A
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jgraham
Postmaster
Reged: 12/02/04
Loc: Dayton, Ohio
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412391 - 09/09/12 09:44 PM
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The color looks wonderful. The resolution looks typical for an APS-C size chip. No odd artifacts. Very nice.
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mclewis1
Thread Killer
Reged: 02/25/06
Loc: New Brunswick, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Relativist]
#5412552 - 09/09/12 11:36 PM
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Quote:
Also, what I have been hoping for personally is the ability to digitally produce 1080p "video". While it doesn't seem to be the main use for this camera I'm curious how it will perform for such output.
Curtis,
The Universe doesn't have any video out capability, it's a single shot CCD camera with a USB interface. With it's software it can take a series of 5s, 10s, 30s or however long exposures you want and continue to do so until stopped. The software will display the image as it's downloaded from the camera and then update it when the next image is available. With the download times factored in you could see a continuous series of images every 5s or so (and maybe a little less), this would look something like really high resolution (higher than HD) video with a very very slow frame rate (12 frames/minute).
Real HD video with low noise and enough sensitivity to view anything but the brightest DSOs currently seems to be impossible with commercial cameras. It's not a problem on brighter stuff (witness the number of great solar system HD cameras for example). But with the constant improvements in sensors, amplifiers, and channels I think we're getting closer to your goal.
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nytecam
Postmaster
Reged: 08/20/05
Loc: London UK
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: Chris A]
#5412751 - 09/10/12 03:31 AM Attachment (29 downloads)
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Quote:
The 4th image is a crop of M27 @ F10
Very nice crop Chris - taken liberty of a contrast tweak & rotate below
Future s/w options to merge binned 2x2 'fast mode' colour + unbinned luminance will be interesting 
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Chris A
professor emeritus
Reged: 02/03/07
Loc: Toronto, Canada
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Re: The new Universe is in and working
[Re: nytecam]
#5412951 - 09/10/12 09:54 AM
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Great job done Maurice! This shows with just a touch of tweaking just how nice the images accually can look in such short exposure times with no stacking or stack several and get even better results.
Cheers,
Chris A
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