First light with Atik One 6.0 + GP Kit

[Sargs]

Hi all!

After meeting the Atik team at the International Astronomy Show last weekend, I bought a shiny new Atik One 6.0 with the OAG/GP kit. I've used DSLRs and One-Shot Colour cameras, but this is my first try with filters. Took a crack at the Crab Nebula which I'm quite pleased with, given it was two five minute frames each of RGB. Picture is cropped down mostly so it'd fit within the attachment size limits.

 Love the camera but right now I'm mostly surprised I got to use it the same week I bought it! The British weather is not a fan of astronomers...

[Jo]

Very nice, particularly for a first try with filters! Looks like Vince and Andrew looked after you well at IAS    Do you think you'll try adding more subs? (weather permitting!)

[gabriele]

Very nice result indeed!
My only concern since I'm starting to consider getting an Atik One 6.0 is about noise.
Which was the temperature of the sensor at the time of shooting?
Can you give us more infos about the telescope and filters used?

[Sargs]

Hi Gabriele,

Sorry for the delay in replying, I've just noticed your question!

The sensor temperature was -10 degrees C. The cooler will take it down a *lot* lower than that (I could probably have run as low as -30 that night), but it was my first go with the camera.

The telescope was a William Optics FLT98 apo refractor with an AFR-IV flattener/reducer, so native F6.3 reduced to F5. The filters were Baader Planetarium LRGB.

Haven't had much chance to do any astronomy since then, as work and weather interfered with anything fun, but a couple of weeks ago, I took my first narrowband image. Again it was of the Crab Nebula so, so since it makes a nice comparison, I've attached an excerpt from a picture that is a single frame exposure through a Hydrogen-Alpha filter, no darks, flats or bias frames applied. The cooler was also set to -10 degrees, but the exposure time was ten minutes. I think that the combination of long exposure time through a filter that chops out most of the light, and with the camera set to only moderate cooling should make the thermal noise effects more noticeable. To me, it looks really good in terms of noise levels, and remember, it's an unstacked single frame!

If you've any other questions, let me know.