In his astro_photo blog, “the Doctor” describes his first experiences with his brand spanking new DMK 21AF04.AS astronomy camera.

According to his blog post, he decided to upgrade his TouCam Pro II and go with the DMK 21AF04.AS, as:

1. DMK 21AF04.AS is more sensitive.
2. DMK 21AF04.AS has lower electric noise.
3. DMK 21AF04.AS is more versatile in terms of research.

Once the skies cleared up, “the Doctor” was able to capture some of his first photos. To prove the increased quality of his images, he decided to set up a side-by-side experiment i.e. take all photos with his old TouCam Pro II and new DMK 21AF04.AS.

Below is one of his first images of Jupiter:

In this blog post, “the Doctor” writes:

Though in b/w, the resolution is much higher than the color shot [captured with TouCam Pro II]. Much more subtle detail is visible, and even shading is visible on the disk of Ganymede. However, since it is in IR, there are differences in shading and details shown. But overall, this image is superior to the first one. This is due to two factors - 1) IR (and also red light) are much less scattered by the atmosphere and less prone to effects of turbulence and 2) a superior CCD in the DMK [21AF04.AS].

Read the rest of the post in “the Doctor’s” blog.

The Imaging Source and AstronomyCameras.com welcomes its first Latin America distributor. With three retail locations in Monterrey and Mexico City, Mexico, Kosmos Scientific has been serving the astronomy community for many years. The proprietor, Jose’ E. Garcia Batarse, says he is delighted to bring the DMK and its robust software to his customers as he has seen many exquisite images both on the Internet and in Sky & Telescope magazine.

Visit Kosmos Scientific both online and at either of the two locations to purchase The Imaging Source’s DMK cameras and many other astronomy gadgets!

The Wiener Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Astronomie (Vienna Special Interest Group for Astronomy) has announced a workshop in Vienna, Austria at which astronomy imaging on a shoe string will be lectured.

From their blurb (translated from German and summarized):

In addition to the CCD cameras that have been specifically designed for astronomical applications and cost several thousand Euro, many new vendors have recently brought products to market that cost considerably less.

Using these much cheaper CCD cameras, it is possible to attain exceptional results on a very tight budget. Such cameras ship without expensive thermoelectrical cooling and in contrary to the much more expensive cameras are fitted with smaller CCD chips that are mass produced.

This workshop will present a number of cameras in this budget category. Amongst others, astronomy cameras manufactured by The Imaging Source will be demonstrated.

Lead by Dr. Thomas Schröfl, the workshop will take place on Sunday, October 21, 2007 at 15:00 at the Hotel Sofienalpe, 1140 Vienna, Austria. The fee for participating starts at EUR 22.00.

The web site of Wiener Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Astronomie has a section dedicated to the workshop.

I recently blogged about Oldfield So from Hong Kong, whose main interest lies in capturing images of the Sun.

On looking at his blog this evening, I saw a new entry:

Pretty boring sun again, except a few prominences. There were thin cloud all around, capturing surface detail become entirely impossible, capturing prominences could be done by overexposure to by-passing through the cloud, it’s no good, but better than nothing. Typical day time seeing at around 2-3/10.

He posts the following image, which was captured with his DMK 31AF03:

Thank you, Oldfield, for sharing your work with us.

Oldfield’s blog is full of solar, lunar and planetary photos. It is well worth a look:

http://osastrolog.blogspot.com/

Renowned astrophotographer and longtime DMK user, Alan Friedman, has a brilliant guide to lunar and planetary imaging in the August edition of Sky and Telescope magazine. In his article he explains both the problems and solutions of increased light pollution and poor seeing conditions. The article reviews not only his imaging techniques, but also his post processing methodology.

On a typical night of moderate to good seeing from my backyard, I use my 10-inch Astro-Physics Maksutov-Cassegrain telescope equipped with an Imaging Source DMK 21BF04 camera and color filter wheel.

I’ve used the DMK21BF04 for about two and half years - it’s a wonderful camera!

Although quite informative, this article does not do justice to the author’s photgraphic ability. To see more of the amazing lunar, planetary, and solar photographs taken over the years with Alan’s DMK, go to his stunning website:

http://www.avertedimagination.com