John N. Gretchen III wrote:

First light, new camera...
Guess I can't complain about the moon at least the sky was clear enough
to try out the QHY8, http://www.qhyccd.com/QHY8.html
It is pretty nice, well made, good price.
The mk69 needs collimating and I worked on the mount after this imaging
session so next time out it should track better.

10x300 seconds
Intes MK-69 (6" f/6 Mak-Cass 900mm fl)
Vixen Sphinx SXD Mount
QHY8

full res cropped version here,
http://www.tisd.net/~jng3/observatory/m3_full.jpg


That's an interesting new camera. I've seen some good stuff taken with
it on other forums. Did you get the CCD-Labs version or the Starzonia
version. Seems to be a big debate on which is better that boils down to
very little difference that I can see. CCD-Labs uses argon and
Starzonia uses dry nitrogen to fill the CCD chamber to prevent frost. I
see no difference in the images though argon has better thermal
properties if I recall my chemistry days correctly. Don't think the
difference material however.

I guess I'd like to see thermal control rather than just running at -45C
below ambient or whatever it achieves. Though its dark current is
extremely low so that doesn't appear a big issue. Most don't even use
darks, just hot pixel removal.

So after one image how do you like it?

Rick

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Third character is a zero rather than a capital "Oh".