Starlight Xpress TRIUS PRO 674 Manual de usuario
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
1
Manual for the TRIUS PRO 674 mono CCD
camera
Thank you for purchasing a Starlight Xpress ‘TRIUS PRO 674’ camera. We hope that you
will be very pleased with the performance of this product. Please register your product
and warranty at https://forms.gle/tmsHEJfQG2bLJjr57 .
The TRIUS-PRO 674 is an advanced, high resolution, cooled CCD camera, especially
designed for astronomical imaging. It uses a third generation version of the very
popular Sony ‘EXview’ CCDs that offer very high QE and extremely low thermal noise.
This ‘PRO’ camera uses an updated version of the original TRIUS main board and has
both improved read noise and faster download time. It features an internal USB hub
with 3 external ports and a dry argon CCD chamber fill. The USB hub permits several
other devices to share the single USB connection and greatly reduces the number of
cables required in a typical set-up. For example, a Lodestar PRO or Ultrastar PRO guide
camera and an SX filter wheel could use two of the USB ports and the third might
connect to an electric focuser, or similar peripheral. The argon fill, along with other
improvements to the cooler stack, has improved the delta T to about -42 degrees C
below ambient.
The camera also includes a CCD temperature monitoring circuit that provides
regulated set-point cooling of the chip, an adjustable chip alignment plate and a very
compact overall size.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
2
The TRIUS-PRO 674 uses a Sony ICX674AL ‘EXview’ progressive scan CCD, with
1940 x 1460 x 4.54uM pixels in a 8.8 x 6.3mm active area. This EXview
device has an excellent quantum efficiency, with a broad spectral response
peaking at around 77% in yellow light, and an extremely low dark current,
well below that of most other CCDs. While this device also has an excellent
blue light sensitivity, it has a strong infra-red response, which makes it ideal
for all aspects of both planetary and deep- sky imaging, especially with an H-
alpha filter. The H-alpha QE is about 65%, considerably better than many
other interline chips.
The full-frame download time is only around 2.5 seconds and a binned 4x4 download
takes only 0.3 seconds, so finding and centring are very quick and easy in this mode.
Here is a diagram of the connectors to be found on the rear panel of the camera:
Please take a few minutes to study the contents of this manual, which will help you
to get the camera into operation quickly and without problems. I am sure that you
want to see some results as soon as possible, so please move on to the ‘Quick Start’
section, which follows. A more detailed description of imaging techniques will be
found in a later part of this manual.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
3
‘Quick Starting’ your TRIUS-PRO system
In the shipping container you will find the following items:
1) The TRIUS-PRO 674 camera head.
2) A universal AC power supply module.
3) A 3 metre USB camera cable.
4) An adaptor for 2” drawtubes and M42 Pentax thread lenses.
5) An adaptor for 1.25” drawtubes, with a 1.25” filter thread.
6) A guider output to guider port RJ12 lead.
7) Two USB Mini to Mini 0.5m USB Cable.
8) Two USB Mini to Male B 0.5m USB Cable.
9) A 'Y' power lead for connecting the cooling fan.
10) A stick with the TRIUS-PRO control software and this manual.
You will also need a PC computer with Windows10 installed. Most older versions of
Windows will work (XP and above) but our Starlight Vision software is not supported
by versions below Windows7. The machine must have at least one USB 2.0 port
available and at least 4GB of memory. If you intend to view the finished images on its
screen, then you will also need a graphics card capable of displaying an image with a
minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels and 24 bit colour. A medium specification i7 machine
is ideal, but most modern computers are OK. Please note that USB 2.0 operates at a
very high speed and cannot operate over very long cables. Five metres of good
quality cable is the maximum normally possible without boosters or extra powered
hubs, although you can sometimes get good results at longer distances with very
high quality cables.
Installing the USB system:
First, find a free USB socket on your PC and plug in the USB cable (do not connect the
camera at this time). The camera requires only a USB2.0 port, but will work OK on
most USB3 ports, if that is all that is available.
The next operation is to run the software installer from the USB stick provided. Insert
the stick into the computer and wait for Windows Explorer to open with the list of
folders on the ROM. Now run the SETUP.EXE file that it contains – this will initiate
the self-install software which will guide you through the process of installing the SX
camera software onto your computer. Note that XP machines require an older driver
version and you can find this at
https://www.sxccd.com/downloads/32bits_drivers.zip if required.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
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Now connect the USB cable to the socket on the camera rear panel.
Windows will report ‘Found new hardware’ and will automatically find the drivers.
You can check this by opening ‘Device Manager’ and looking for a ‘Starlight Xpress
CCD’ in the USB Devices list.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
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Now connect up the power supply and switch it on. The supply is a very efficient
‘switch mode’ unit, which can operate from either 110v or 220v AC, via an
appropriate mains power cable (supplied). You can now start the software by double
clicking on the Starlight Vision icon, when you should see the main menu and image
panel appear.
As can be seen above, there is a CCD temperature monitoring window at the top
right hand side of the panel. I recommend using the set point to about -10C for
general imaging, but you can go much colder - especially if you are imaging during
the winter months. Under indoor conditions, the low airflow will limit the cooling
capability, and you should use a set point of no lower than -10C for stable cooling.
You can determine the optimum settings for your camera and ambient conditions
when you have some experience of using the system, but do not try to operate at
extreme cooling when the air temperature is high. The external fan is helpful and is
connected by using the 'Y' lead provided in the camera component set, as below:
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
6
Recording your first image:
We now have the camera and computer set up to take pictures, but an optical
system is needed to project an image onto the CCD surface. You could use your
telescope, but this introduces additional complications, which are best avoided at
this early stage. There are two simple options, one of which is available to everyone
with a sheet of aluminium baking foil:
1) Attach a standard ‘M42’ thread SLR camera lens to the camera, using the 26mm
spacer to achieve the correct focal distance.
Or
2) Create a ‘Pin hole’ lens by sticking a sheet of aluminium baking foil over the end
of the adaptor and pricking its centre with a small pin.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
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If you use a normal lens, then stop it down to the smallest aperture number possible,
(usually F22), as this will minimise focus problems and keep the light level
reasonable for daytime testing. The pin hole needs no such adjustments and will
work immediately, although somewhat fuzzily!
Point the camera + lens or pinhole towards a well-lit and clearly defined object some
distance away. Now enter the ‘Exposure’ menu in the software, set an exposure time
of 0.1 seconds, then press ‘Start Exposure’.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
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After the exposure and download have completed (about 4 seconds) an image of
some kind will appear on the computer monitor. It will probably be poorly focused
and incorrectly exposed, but any sort of image is good. In the case of the pinhole, all
that you can experiment with is the exposure time, but a camera lens can be
adjusted for good focus and so you might want to try this to judge the high image
quality that it is possible to achieve.
Various other exposure options are available, as can be seen in the picture above.
For example, you can ‘Bin’ the download by 2x2, or more, to achieve greater
sensitivity and faster download, or enable ‘Continuous’ to see a steady stream of
images. The Histogram plot allows you to see the status of the image brightness
distribution and you can adjust the sliders to optimise your view.
If you cannot record any kind of image, please check the following points:
1) Ensure that the power indicator lamp is on and that the cables are properly home
in their sockets.
2) If the screen is completely white, the camera may be greatly overexposed. Try a
shorter exposure time, or stop down your lens. See if covering the lens causes the
image to darken.
3) If the USB did not initialise properly, the camera start-up screen will tell you that
the connection is defective. Try switching off the power supply and unplugging
the USB cable. Now turn the power supply on and plug in the USB cable. This will
re-load the USB software and may fix the problem after restarting Starlight
Vision. Otherwise, check the device driver status, as previously described, and re-
install any drivers which appear to be defective.
4) If you cannot find any way of making the camera work, please try using it with
another computer. This will confirm that the camera is OK, or faulty, and you can
then decide how to proceed. Our guarantee ensures that any electrical faults are
corrected quickly and at no cost to the customer.
Image enhancements:
The current version of Starlight Vision does not include any enhancement functions,
but these will be added to later versions (available from www.sxccd.com ). Further
image processing can be done by saving your raw images as FITS files and exporting
them to third party software. PixInsight is a powerful processing software, but there
are many others available. AstroArt, MaximDL, Nebulosity etc.
Your first image may be satisfactory, but it is unlikely to be as clear and sharp as it
could be. Improved focusing and exposure selection may correct these
shortcomings, and you may like to try them before applying any image enhancement
with software.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
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*********************************************************************
Astronomical Imaging with the TRIUS-PRO
1) Getting the image onto the CCD:
It is fairly easy to find the correct focus setting for the camera when using a standard
SLR lens, but quite a different matter when the camera is attached to a telescope!
The problem is that most telescopes have a large range of focus adjustment and the
CCD needs to be quite close to the correct position before you can discern details
well enough to optimise the focus setting. An additional complication is the need to
add various accessories between the camera and telescope in order that the image
scale is suitable for the subject being imaged and (sometimes) to include a ‘flip
mirror’ finder unit for visual object location.
A simple, but invaluable device, is the ‘par-focal eyepiece’. This is an eyepiece in
which the field stop is located at the same distance from the barrel end, as the CCD
is from the camera barrel end (approximately 16mm).
When the par-focal eyepiece is fitted into the telescope drawtube, you can adjust
the focus until the view is sharply defined and the object of interest is close to the
field centre. On removing the eyepiece and fitting the CCD camera, the CCD will be
very close to the focal plane of the telescope and should record the stars etc. well
enough for the focus to be trimmed to its optimum setting
Several astronomical stores sell adjustable par-focal eyepieces, but you can also
make your own with a minimum of materials and an unwanted Kellner or Plossl
ocular.
Just measure a distance of 22mm from the field stop of the eyepiece (equivalent to
the CCD to adaptor flange distance of the camera) and make an extension tube to
set the field stop at this distance from the drawtube end. Cut-down 35mm film
cassette containers are a convenient diameter for making the spacer tube and may
be split to adjust their diameter to fit the drawtube.
Handbook for the TRIUS PRO 674
Issue September 2020
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It is necessary to set up a good optical match between your camera and the
telescope. Most SCTs have a focal ratio of around F10, which is too high for most
deep sky objects and too low for the planets! This problem is quite easy to overcome
if you have access to a focal reducer (for deep sky) and a Barlow lens for planetary
work. As a guide, most CCD astronomers try to maintain an image scale of about 2
arc seconds per pixel for deep sky images. This matches the telescope resolution to
the CCD resolution and avoids ‘undersampling’ the image, which can result in square
stars and other unwanted effects. To calculate the focal length required for this
condition to exist, you can use the following simple equation:
F = Pixel size * 205920 / Resolution (in arc seconds)
In the case of the TRIUS-PRO 834 and a 2 arc seconds per pixel resolution, we get
F = 0.00454 * 205920 / 2 = 467mm
For a 200mm SCT, this is an F ratio of 380 / 200 = F2.33, which is much less than can
be achieved with standard focal reducers. However, moderate deviations from this
focal length will not have a drastic effect and so any F ratio from about F4.5 to F6.3
will give good results. It is clear from this result that the ‘Starizona Hyperstar’
adaptor is very well suited to use with the 694, as it operates at around F1.95, so you
might be interested in getting one of these.
The same equation can be used to calculate the amplification required for good
planetary images. However, in this case, the shorter exposures allow us to assume a
much better telescope resolution and 0.2 arc seconds per pixel is a good value to
use. The calculation now gives the following result:
F = 0.00454 * 205920 / 0.2 = 4674mm
This is approximately F23 when used with a 200mm SCT and so we will need a 2 or
3x Barlow lens. Barlow lenses are less critical than focal reducers and most types can
be used with good results. However, if you are buying one especially for CCD
imaging, I recommend getting a 3x or even 5x amplifier, or the planets will still be
rather small in your images.
Achieving a good focus:
Your starting point will depend on the focus aids, if any, which you are using. With
the par-focal eyepiece, you should slip the eyepiece into the drawtube and focus
visually on a moderately bright star (about 3rd magnitude). Now withdraw the
eyepiece and carefully insert the camera nosepiece, until it is bottomed against the
drawtube end, and then lock it in place.
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