If you are based in the UK, stop what you are doing and go to your local newsagents to purchase a copy of this month’s Astronomy Now magazine - the UK’s best selling astronomy magazine.

Turn immediately to page 24 and read the following:

Win Next Generation USB 2.0 CCD Cameras,
courtesy of The Imaging Source

If you want to capture images of the night sky, then you’re in luck! Astronomy Now has teamed up with The Imaging Source to give you a chance to win a next generation USB 2.0 astronomy CCD camera. The first prize is a DMK 41AU02.AS monochrome camera worth over £660. It offers a resolution of 1280 x 960, a capture rate of 15 fps and an exposure time of up to 60 minutes.

Two runners-up will each receive a DMK 21AU04.AS monochrome camera worth £295 each. This model has a resolution of 640 x 480, a capture rate of 60 fps and an exposure time of up to 60 minutes. Both cameras employ extremely low noise Sony CCDs and ship with the renowned camera control software, IC Capture.AS. This enables you not only to set camera parameters, but also to save single images and image sequences. The resulting uncompressed AVI files can be loaded into Registax or similar image processing software.

It’s simple to get up and running - you just need to connect the camera’s USB 2.0 cable to a PC running Windows XP or Vista, install the software, mount the camera on your telescope and, hey presto, you’re all ready to start snapping the night sky.

Want to enter? The magazine contains details on what you have to do.

To help you locate the magazine, just look out for The Imaging Source astronomy cameras on the cover:

Good luck to all who participate in this great competition!

The current issue (April 2008) of the French magazine Ciel Et Espace contains the following brief introduction to The Imaging Source USB 2.0 astronomy cameras:

Below is a translation of the text, for our non French-speaking audience:

One Cable Fewer!
DMK Cameras Now Ship With USB

Very popular amongst amateur astronomers specialized in planetary imaging, the DMK series of cameras is now available with a USB connector. The new connector allows the cameras to be powered by the host PC and replaces the FireWire cable. It is, therefore, no longer necessary to purchase the optional, external power supply unit. Tests with the DMK 31AU03.AS (768×1024) in the field are conclusive: Frame rates of more than 7.5 fps are better supported that previously. It is also delightful to see that these new models ship with a nose piece (31.75 mm) and the software IC Capture, which has been optimize for astronomical use.

DMK USB Cameras
The cameras are available from a number of specialized resellers. Prices range from EUR 387.00 to EUR 885.00 for the cameras with a resolution of between 640×480 and 1280×960 pixels.

It may not be clear from the article, but the USB 2.0 range of astronomy cameras are in addition to the FireWire range. You can still buy the FireWire cameras - the new USB 2.0 ones do not replace them (as the article may suggest).

Please also note, that the cameras ship with IC Capture.AS (and not IC Capture, as the article suggests).

Amateur astro-photographer extraordinaire, Mike Salway, contacted us again this week to announce some of his latest images.

On March 19, 2008, Mike reports the seeing was the best it has been all this year. This gave him the great opportunity of capturing large amounts of top quality data.

In this e-mail to The Imaging Source, he writes:

On the morning of March 19, 2008 I had the best seeing I’ve had this year and captured loads of data which I’ve only just finished processing.

The seeing started out average when Jupiter was only 37° but improved throughout the 2 hours of the session when Jupiter rose to 60° right before dawn, and the seeing was excellent! Transparency was mostly good throughout, but dew on the mirrors reduced transparency in the last few runs and the last AVIs of the session had to be recorded at 15 fps.

His e-mail also includes a link to the following animation (click for animated version). It is the result of two hours worth of data:

The images were captured at 30 fps with a DMK 21AU04.AS, mounted on a 12″ Newton telescope.

As ever, Mike, your images and animation are amongst the best! Thanks for sharing and keep up the good work.

Jeff Phillips sent me a brief e-mail last week, announcing the following image:

In his opinion, this may very well be the nicest shot of the Moon that he has ever captured.

On the technical front, he notes his hardware and software:

650/3000 frames with the DMK 21AU04.AS @ 60 fps, green filter, 10″ LX200 @ f/10. CSC said 2/5 and the wind was moving things around. Used 26 alignment points in Registax.

Thanks go out to Jeff for sharing this with the The Imaging Source astronomy cameras community.

Pavel Presnyakov from Kiev in the Ukraine sent in the following animation of Mars, which he captured a DMK 21AF04:

About the technical aspect of the image, he writes:

5-6.01.2008 Kiev Ukraine TAL-250K + 5x + DMK 21AF04 R(G)B

And appends the following to his e-mail:

[...] I am at first visit your blog and found it very interesting. Good work and fantastic images!

Thank you Pavel for the animation and kind comments about this blog. If you have any more images, which you would like to share with The Imaging Source astronomy cameras community, please do not hesitate to send them to us! We will consider all submissions for publication.