SV405CC-A cool camera

Dr. Steve Wainwright
Feb 09,2022
- 20
camera, deepsky, cool camera, sv405cc, sv405c

First Light of SV405CC camera

A short window of opportunity between showers and prompted the selection of quick setup equipment for the First Light field test of the SV405CC.

Equipment used

The SV405CC was placed at the focus of a 66mm, f/5.9, APO, ED doublet refractor mounted on an iOptron Cube Pro AZ GOTO mount.

AstroDMx Capture for Windows was used to capture 48 x 20s exposures with matching dark frames.

Screenshot of AstroDMx Capture for Windows capturing 20s FITS files of the Orion nebula.

The images were calibrated and stacked in Deep Sky Stacker. The resulting image was post processed in the Gimp and Fitswork and cropped to show the Orion nebula and the Running man nebula.

The Orion nebula and the Running man nebula

It is interesting to note that the SV405CC works with AstroDMx Capture for Chrome OS in Crostini, as do the SV305 family of cameras and the SV905C camera. So far, the SVBONY astronomy cameras are the only astronomy cameras that we have found to work properly with Chrome OS. (Please note that this does NOT apply to the SV105 or the SV205 cameras which are just UVC cameras with pixel vignetting; see other articles on this blog. At the moment, Chrome OS does not allow the use of UVC USB cameras in Crostini).

Image reprocess

If the weather gives us the chance to use a guided, EQ mount, etc. We will have a better chance of evaluating. This was the Firstlight in windy and wet conditions with an AZ mount. We were caught in a sudden downpour which put an end to the session. Fortunately, we were able to get all of the equipment indoors and dried off without incident.
I reprocessed and replaced the image, eliminating some of the frames, so the image is now improved. Don't forget, this is a Firstlight image taken under poor conditions. Remember the first light images of the Faulkes telescope in 2004 shown by Paul Roche at Astrofest?

(After a week) We were rained off after just 2 x 3m exposures. Nevertheless we were able to get a presentable result. The Rosette nebula captured with AstroDMx Capture and an SV405CC prototype camera fitted with a 2" LeNhance filter, a 130mm, f.5 Newtonian mounted on an AVX mount. The camera was cooled to -20decrees Celcius. We have helped SVBONY to make modifications to the SDK to address some problems that we had identified. We are getting there and the camera is showing good potential. A way to go yet, but we are getting there.