One of our British resellers, Modern Astronomy, is running a homepage promotion with the new USB 2.0 astronomy cameras.

Graeme Coates from Oxfordshire, UK has won the BBC Sky at Night magazine Hotshots 2007 Award. The British magazine collects astronomy photos from their readers throughout the year.

For the December issue, a panel of judges (consisting of Sir Patrick Moore, Chris Lintott, David Hardy, Peter Laurence, Damian Peach and Sarah Reed) selected the best images and awarded their astro-photographer a substantial prize. This year, the first prize was one The Imaging Source DMK 41AF02.AS FireWire astronomy camera. A runner’s up prize was also awarded.

Graeme’s winning photo was of M31, The Andromeda Galaxy (NGC224):

On this web site, Graeme writes:

The Andromeda Galaxy is a naked eye object from a dark site, appearing as a small smudge in the sky. Long exposures reveal it’s true extent (over three degrees in size!) as well as two smaller elliptical companion galaxies (M32 - top, and M110 - bottom edge partially off frame). It is a member of the Local Group of galaxies, and is actually moving towards us at a rate of about 300km/s.

In an interview with the BBC magazine, Graeme stated:

I’m flattered that my image has been chosen as Hotshots Photo of the Year, given the quality of the images published in the magazine throughout 2007. I was pleased that I was able to get a good result with relatively short exposures on a small refractor, and from moderately light-polluted skies too.

Well done Graeme! We are delighted to award this prize to you.

Marnix Praet from Belgium has just written to us to let us know of a new review that he has published over at Cloudy Nights.

Marnix begins his text by discussing the benefits of USB 2.0 over FireWire. He proceeds to compliment the software that is shipped with all The Imaging Source astronomy cameras - IC Capture.AS. Finally, he posts an image, which he has captured with the camera and concludes:

This USB camera is a breakthrough for astrophotographers, who wish to capture the Moon and planets. While other firms leaving the planet astrophotographer standing in the cold with stopping there production of AVI type cams, DMK provides us with this brandnew USB 2.0 camera. It is a great experience and a pleasure to work with such a good camera (USB 2.0) and great software.

Read the review in its entirety at Cloudy Nights.

A big thanks go out to Marnix for writing and publishing this review.

In the December 2007 issue of BBC Sky at Night magazine, now being delivered to customers and newsstands worldwide, Pete Lawrence puts The Imaging Source’s best selling astronomy camera through the paces in First Light: DMK 21AF04.AS Mono CCD Camera - an in-depth look at this month’s hottest new product.

On page 86, Pete starts his review with a description of the camera control software, IC Capture.AS, the DMK 21AF04.AS itself and the shipped accessories.

He describes his setup using a Windows-based laptop and PCMCIA FireWire card. He states:

IC Capture.AS was easy to use with friendly controls. In no time we were capturing videos of various Solar System targets.

Turning his attention the cameras itself, he talks about its robustness and connectors:

The camera is well built and feels very robust. The inner workings of the device are protected by a cubic metal body that provides just two interfaces to the outside world: one to attach the camera to a telescope or lens and another to connect the camera to a computer via FireWire.

In conclusion, Pete writes:

We tested the camera out on the Moon, Sun and Mars with impressive results on each. This is a highly sensitive low-noise device capable of producing top-notch results. If you’re upgrading from a basic webcam or simply want to jump in at the deep end of Solar System imaging, then it’s hard not to recommend the DMK 21AF04.AS. Factor in the remarkably low price tag [...] and the DMK 21AF04.AS becomes a very desirable camera indeed.

Here at The Imaging Source, we are very happy with Pete’s review and would like to thank him for taking the time to write and have published such a detailed text. We suggest that you go to your local newsstand and buy the current issue of BBC Sky at Telescope magazine.

In current edition of the German language magazine Astronomie Heute, The Imaging Source astronomy cameras are presented:

Ein schneller Firewire-Anschluss ermöglicht den Kameras von “The Imaging Source” die rasche Übertragung vieler Bilder. Der neuste Spross trägt die Bezeichnung DMK 21AF04.AS und liefert bis zu sechzig unkomprimierte Schwarzweißbilder pro Sekunde. Der rauscharme CCD-Chip von Sony hat eine Auflösung von 640×480 Pixeln und ermöglicht Belichtungszeiten zwischen 1/10.000 Sekunde und sechzig Minuten. In der Kamera sind keine Filter verbaut, was unverfälschte aufnahmen des Sternhimmels ermöglicht. Die Kamera kostet etwa 390 Euro und wir in einer der nächsten Ausgaben von astronomie heute getestet. Farb- und Schwarzweißkameras mit höherer Auflösung sind ebenfalls erhältlich. Neben dem schnellen Firewire-Anschluss gibt es alle Modelle jetzt auch in einer USB-2.0-Variante.

English translation:

The FireWire connector allows data to be quickly transferred between camera and host PC. The latest camera from The Imaging Source is called DMK 21AF04.AS and outputs up to sixty uncompressed monochrome images per second. The cameras’ low noise CCD chip, manufactured by Sony, has a resolution of 640×480 pixels and can be exposed from 1/10,000 second to 60 minutes. There are no filters in front of the chip, thus allowing pristine images of the night sky to be captured. The camera costs around EUR 390 and will be tested in detail in one of the next issues of “Astronomie Heute”. Color and monochrome cameras with higher resolutions are also available. In addition to the fast FireWire cameras, there are also models, which sport a USB 2.0 connector.

As the brief article states, there will be a product review of The Imaging Source astronomy cameras very shortly in Astronomie Heute.