I am evaluating CCD Inspector2 currently and have only a few days of the 30 day trial remaining.
In the few clear nights available here recently in the UK, I have been trying to collumate my 10" LX200R OTA, using the de-focused star utility.
I never get the 'white circle' appear in the middle of the image viewer, to put my de-focused star into, I constantly get messages telling me the star is not bright enough or too much. The real time collumater never works.
The de-focused star I am using, (I have tried many), seems the same size and brightness as the one in the tutorial.
Is this part of CCDInspector2 inhibited during the trial?
I am really attracted to the software, as it contains many aspects I want to utilise (I already own Pempro and CCDStack)...what am I doing wrong?

Kindest regards,

Barry Morton
Worcester - UK.

Hi Barry,

The defocused-star collimator is fully functional in the trial version, that's not the problem.

What software are you using, and what camera?

• Pick a really bright star, say magnitude -2 to -4 +2 to +4
  
• Use auto-dark subtraction in your capture software
  
• Defocus it to about 200 pixels diameter while taking focus frames at 1x1 binning
  
• Check that the maximum ADU value reported for the captured images is below 50,000 adu (for 16-bit CCD cameras). Defocus more, or decrease exposure if the brightest pixel is over 50,000 adu.
  
• If the max ADU value is much less than 10,000 adu, increase exposure, or find a brighter star. You can also try binning 2x2 if that's the case.
  
• Center the star on the chip
  
• Start CCDInspector, and open Defocused Star Collimation viewer

As you capture images, does the viewer update? Does it still give you errors? If so, send me an example FITS image of such a star to:

paul [at] pk.darkhorizons.org

and I'll check it out.

Regards,

-Paul

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Paul Kanevsky,

Hi Paul, Thanks for your exceptionally quick reply - that is service indeed!
I'm using Maxim DL V5.07
The camera is a SBIG ST-10XME.....which as you know is very sensitive!!
I was using auto-dark, the star I chose last night was actually about +3 mag...so dimmer than your recommendation.
However,with the ST-10 at bin 1x1, even at 0.7 seconds!!!....the message was saying too bright, reduce exposure time or binning level.
So at mag -2 to -4, I don't think I'll stand a chance!!Exposure time will be down to 0.005 secs!
Next opportunity, I will try exactly what you suggest with respect to ADU values....days remaining are few though! However, I don't doubt for one second that "it will do what it says on the tin!!"
By the way, the viewer never seemed to start working - never moved or gave any errors.
Thanks for your advice Paul.

Kindest regards,

Barry.

Sorry, Barry, wrong sign in front of the magnitude I meant +2 to +4, of course!

I use a very similar system to yours, 10" Meade at F/10 and ST10XME. When properly defocused, a star of mag 2 to 4 is not too bright at a 1 second exposure.

Pay attention to the adu numbers, and adjust exposure and defocus to get the max adu into the proper range.

Regards,

-Paul