Artemis Capture
Contents
1. 538 ATIK mot CAMERAS Artemis Capture User s Manual Version 3 0 July 2015 TIK CAMERAS Contents Lnr UNG CONN ee E E E ene 4 CEKOV FOU a E T enn ceaenencea es 4 ZAMS CaM MEV NE SOLS serere teu dnesaseetnecssacseoty weametetsncesuiieeesedacsosnecaneer 5 2 1 Opening Artemis Capture ccccccscccssccseccscecseccseccseececceecceseceuscessceuscesseeseceseceseceseeeseessectaeenas 5 Be TVS IGM SENG CI eea e e E tan E EE E E 6 Sid WOO IB r BUTON anaE E E 7 AEOS UE IN ON A ET 8 AED O Ure LENE e a E E E 8 AAD E E E A E I ee ene E eee ee E eer E E E 8 ALOCE a a E E E E E E E E E E E eet eames 8 OFS EE A A E E E AE E E EEE E A sane A antigen T E E EE 8 AS BNO soa E E E E E E E EE 8 A6 Selecting a SOT NG soera E E E 8 aE E here eee AE A E ee E E 9 DONS Olay WV UNO OW ceren E O S 10 Bt PIS COE TO cisco veteres terntecretee senses tunisersan E 10 Die PURO SUV UC Mi E A cia citen step rvs A E A A E E A E on 10 Po Oyo gaote esicions eaten E cece teas oot gaunesedewnee E doen sce sein cerioeuce stunineedon 10 54 NEE IIVE casna E ia nriaisiinseei seni oran eau Lisi oom nts eni sean ener aan 10 Bip DSC 1G seg caste E E E E E A E 11 DO COMECE Aspect RaAUO sincsicreasacrsesumusicbenvisvnie rian inyantiorasemaieyacisesieianesqeniousspomontwa ET 11 S INCI VISIO eee E A has aseeceatamepsasciee seuairenian E E 11 COO e E canoes naneecaveanee eaten aeuceose oe 12 Bd NOPE Al aU OG COO INNS sernir pcersticnceg sexe becapnebceatsuen desu2. s previous location to find it This figure should be slightly larger than the radius of the star but smaller than the distance to the next star You can also use the measurement radius to measure the star s properties once located Page 15 o s sss ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 11 Autoguiding The autoguiding function in Capture allows you to use a second camera to guide on a reference star and send tracking information to your mount allowing you to take much longer exposures If already using Capture with your main camera you must open a second instance of Capture The camera will be displayed in the Artemis Capture header allowing you to identify which instance is running which camera Once you have focused your guide camera on your selected guide star using the process described in Section 10 on page 15 check the Setup Guiding box to access guider options racking search radius 15 r Testa seachvesie I EWHM 4 90 Bri 19264 La Measurement radius g W Setup Guiding Star deviation from target pixels Clear Feedback RA 5 Feedback Dec P Guide axes RADec Min guide rms 200 Mas guide ms 2000 oot Calib time mz 3000 0 01 Dither pixels 3 E Autoguide Calibrate Last Avg Dev DEC f f D 0 01 RA n n o ASCOM chooser ASCOM Connect Help Close Use the ASCOM chooser to select the mount that guiding commands will be sent to Your mount must be setup using ASCOM befor
3. E section 5 2 on page 10 and which Setup Guiding has a relatively clear area around it Capture will select the brightest star in the vicinity of your selection and draw a small box around it It s then a good idea to select a subframe around your chosen star to reduce the image download time You will also want to zoom in on the star so it s highly magnified as this makes it easier to visually verify the image quality Tracking search radius i 5 Double click star to select Once a star is selected the window will display the width of the star FWHM and its maximum brightness Bri These are in bold to help you see them when you re some distance from the monitor You are trying to get the brightness to a maximum and the width to a Tracking search radius 15 5 90 z 19100 minimum This will give the eeaeee ede D FWHM 5 90 Bri 19100 l Er sharpest and brightest star images 1 Press the Loop button to begin taking repeated exposures and adjust your telescope s focus until it s at an optimum level both visually and with the maximum and minimum values Capture will track the star from one exposure to the next by searching for the brightest pixel in the area around the star s previous location This is useful as the star may drift by a number of pixels depending on the magnification and stability of the telescope You can use the Tracking Search Radius to set how many pixels Capture will search around the star
4. data and will need debayering outside Capture for further processing This can be done ina variety of astrophotography processing software including our own image processer Dawn Note If you use binning with a colour camera you will only capture a monochrome image This is because binning combines different colours of the bayer matrix rendering it unable to collect correct colour data Page 18 13 Additional Features in Capture 13 1 Image Header Through the FILE gt Image Header option you can specify a number of details to be embedded in the image header such as the object scope details and observer name You can also record the exposure length to 0 1 second precision This can help reduce the need for you to take Telescope additional notes for future reference particularly if you re pee o planning to send images out for publication re process them at a later date or enter them in one of our Record time of exposure to 0 1 second precision competitions 13 2 Marker Mode Image File H sader Object Marker mode is a handy tool to help align your images between sessions particularly if you have to set up from scratch every time It allows you to select marker stars which you can use to align your camera on the next session This is particularly useful for minimising rotation and helps cut down on the area that may be lost in post processing Simply select the Marker mode button and then either double c
5. e E E E 19 TS 2 SEC MOI er E E E AE 19 Do ROE OO e E E E E E EEEE O 19 14A Camera IM oOrnmna EON se E 19 A AUIS IN Orna O anra E N EET E A E 20 Page 3 TIK CAMERAS 1 Introduction Firstly congratulations on your purchase of an Atik Camera Atik Cameras provide superior performance unparalleled ease of use and exceptional value for money They are the result of extensive research and development each one having been designed and built with the requirements of the most demanding astroimager in mind and will be your imaging companion for a long time to come Artemis Capture is our very own standalone program which allows you to control your Atik camera capture and preview images and save them as standard FITS files Solely designed for optimum image capture it is not an image processor though it does provide the ability to manipulate the histogram for mapping the 16 bit images to the display Such adjustments are purely for display purposes to help you get the most of your imaging sessions and the data saved in the FITS file is exactly what is read from the camera RAW 1 1 Key Features Special features of Artemis Capture include e Pixel Binning e Sub frame selection for rapid focusing e Automatic sequential capture saved with sequential file names e Black and white level adjustment and log stretch for displaying images e Histogram function e Regulated cooling control e Motorised filter wheel control e Autoguider functi
6. teal genus tanannsteacs eeatucneeaaineo sede 12 6 2 Warming up the camera sesssssssesessresssreresrrersrrrresrreresreressrerssreresarrrssreresererssrereserressrereseeressne 12 Te WANA Qh EO SC aa T EE nacosaeaatoneas tee aiseaeeaees 13 FA SAAS MO EN EE asad EPE E EEA pe care societies see AE gem E E AEE E T 13 Te WOOO ea ler nduoationg aoiee cee vous encedes teow ipoatueameoaeavotqetuseueoutiorsimeanedess 13 Fo OUINC IG ACN se ictccevtscanecetacbocdeaavepsctuet A 13 TA inate SOO UCI CCK aancas cn cnn tnccntuecsot caunaecnavesulena cun tors vosneneseauuinena nein oountoseot vers eneuusanniosiua conneneeeas 13 7 5 Cancelling AN exposure OF a OOP cccccccsssccccesececcesececceecceseesececsuececeeeeceeseeecessuaecessegeceesenes 14 Or Fiter WCE ONTO Esra R E coonvouaie caver ckovous eames enersraneoneres 14 oe e U IAS A EE AE E ties E AE E E NE EE pinsansd E EE EE 14 1O EOC SUIS aair E E en ervea tay cctuneennseaesecansaieeaseanueanteatensisessycatees 15 LEAO Se aseednbaa dete ss nase caennsdscacs saceceu esced mesaniu ceaicuuenessesbaadnaessnes 2 tac pace urea enaceee EER 16 11 1 Calibrating the Guide AXES eiaac sciences carci e E 16 H DERCE eee ee E A E A E eee 17 12 Colour Cameras and the Bayer Matrix cccccccsssecccesseccccesscceceesececeeseceeeeeceeeeuseeeseeecessugeceesenes 18 13 Additional Features in Capture ccsssccsssssscscousvectonesscuenssscueoussestousssoucusscneussressoussessenssseneues 19 ToL im ee Re E
7. HOT through the main menu 7 2 Loop The loop button G will start taking repeated images based on the settings in the exposure window Settings can be changed during looped exposures but will not take effect until the next exposure starts A loop can also be initiated by selecting CAMERA gt LOOP on the main menu This is particularly useful when focusing the camera or setting up the autoguiding function 7 3 Quick menu 0 1 sec 1x1 Fi 1 sec lx F2 The quick menu provides a number of shortcuts to pre specified exposures These can 5 sec led F3 be initiated both through the Quick menu and through the corresponding F1 F8 short 10 sec ll F4 cuts 0 1 sec 2x2 F5 1 sec 2x2 Fo These can be modified by selecting QUICK gt Save so you can create personalised 5 sec 2x2 F7 shortcuts for up to 8 of your most used exposure settings depending on your needs As 10 sec 2x2 F8 part of this you can specify the level of binning and whether this initiates a single Sae exposure or a loop 7 4 Image Sequencer 10i Sequence Enabled Exposure sec Binning Filter Pos Capture also features an image sequencer ee 4 pa f fo which allows you to take multiple images ina art a pa i a aT ltl oo 0 pre specified sequence This can be accessed Zz oo m cht amdan by pressing the Sequencer button or by ee fa miba selecting CAMERA gt Sequencer from the main rA a p O E a E a menu aot Oo l 0O E o Sm no The s
8. anging the filter number will move the wheel to the selected position As mentioned the filter wheel can also be controlled automatically using the image sequencer 9 Saving Images Single images can be saved by pressing the Save as button a or by selecting FILE gt Save Image As in the main menu This will allow you to select a destination and name and save your image As previously mentioned there is also an autosave function available This can be selected in the ww exposure window by checking the box by pressing the Autosave button or by selecting FILE gt Autosave in the main menu Note Unless using the sequencer Artemis Capture will NOT save images unless either the autosave function is selected or you manually save the desired images Please make sure you are saving your images Page 14 a s sss ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 10 Focusing As accurate focusing is such an important part of astroimaging Capture contains a Focus Assist feature to help you achieve the best focus possible Roughly focus your telescope and take an exposure sufficient to see stars You can then activate the Focus Assist window by double clicking on a star You can also use the Tracking button a or select VIEW gt Tracking to open the window which will then ask you to double click a star to select it For best results choose a star which is bright but not overexposed you can check this using the method described in a e i
9. ave this as a theme It s advisable to save your current theme before doing this so you re able to return to it when you no longer need night vision Page 11 6 Cooling The cooler menu can be toggled by pressing the Adjust Cooler l Settings button or by selecting VIEW gt Cooler Settings Setpoint 10 0 L Statue OFF Temp 2 2 4 0 The cooling will be off by default and Status will display Off The Clase temperature will show the current temperature of the camera and will vary depending on oundings To turn the cooler on select the desired setpoint using the arrows and press the Cooler On button It s best to then wait for up to 5 minutes to allow the temperature to fully stabilize A note about Setpoints The level of cooling your camera can achieve is influenced by your surroundings The figures we supply are cooling deltas and specify how far below the ambient temperature the camera can cool So for example a camera with a cooling delta of 30 C will be able to cool to 30 C below the ambient temperature meaning that if your imaging location is 10 C on a given night your camera will be able to achieve 20 C If your imaging location is 20 C your camera will be able to achieve 10 C and so on It s often more important to image at an accurate regulated repeatable temperature than it is to simply operate at maximum cooling and for this reason we recommend setting the cooling at a consiste
10. display White E0072 Note Changing these settings only alters how the image is Log n displayed within Capture and not the image itself The image saved will be from the raw camera data regardless of how the display settings may alter the image on screen oom iW Auto stretch Reticle Negative i Corect aspect ratio 5 1 Histogram T Night vision Close The histogram provides a simple way to visually check the pixel intensity distribution of each image The red marker shows where the black level is set while the green marker displays where the white level is set 5 2 Auto Stretch The auto stretch function allows the program to automatically adjust the black and white levels each time an image is captured The levels are selected in such a way as to only allow a few pixels to fall outside the displayed range If Auto stretch is unchecked you can manually set the black and white levels These will remain the same until new levels are selected or auto stretch is re selected Hint This is particularly useful for checking things such as star saturation If you set the black level to around 40 000 this will allow you to see how many stars in your image are coming close to saturation point You may then adjust your exposure length accordingly 5 3 Log The log value controls how grey shades are distributed in the image Setting this at zero provides a linear map while a positive value will increase contrast at t
11. e Atik users can go to discuss all things astrophotography as well as offer advice and guidance to one another http forums atik cameras com index php If you have a support issue that isn t covered here you can always get in touch with our support team by emailing support atik cameras com We wish you clear skies and happy imaging Page 20
12. e you use the autoguide function To setup guiding uncheck the Autosave Images box unless you have a particular reason to save your guide images and begin a looped exposure 11 1 Calibrating the Guide Axes During calibration Capture tests the mount in four directions to measure the resulting motion of the guide star You can use the Calibration time Calib time ms to set the duration of pulse that will be issued during calibration This can vary depending on factors such as focal length and mount speed but 2 3 seconds is usually sufficient Page 16 s ATIK E GBB CAMERAS The Min guide ms and Max guide ms options allow you to set the minimum and maximum pulse duration that will be used for guide corrections Although you can also select which axes will be used for correction during guiding with the Guide axes box all axes are enabled during calibration The Feedback RA and Feedback Dec options set how many tenths of the apparent motion of the guide star Capture will try to correct for If you find your star is deviating a lot it may be worth lowering these values The stars deviation will be shown in the graphs You can monitor these to ensure correct guiding 11 2 Dithering When guiding in Capture it is also possible to dither Dithering introduces very small shift in direction between exposures which can aid in the removal of hot pixels You can select the number of pixels to dither uses the Dither p
13. equencer allows you to specify settings for up to 10 different exposures including length binning and filter wheel position You can set how many times the sequence is to be Peele an repeated and in what order Repeat count Page 13 o sas ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3 or 1 2 3 1 2 3 1 2 3 You can also set a delay between exposures and delay before the start of the sequence both of which may be useful for guider stabilization When you are happy with your sequence press Run to initiate it Through this window you can also save and load sequences Images taken during the sequence are automatically saved according to the settings in the Exposure window along with any file suffix specified in the Sequencer window 7 9 Cancelling an exposure or a loop An exposure can be cancelled by unselecting the Snapshot button whilst it s in progress You can also stop a loop by unselecting the loop button whilst imaging is in progress If you want to cancel the exposure early but still keep the result hold the shift key while deselecting the exposure button The image will then be downloaded and displayed in the main window 8 Filter Wheel Control Any Atik Filter Wheel can be controlled in Artemis Capture To control the Filter Wheel manually select the filter wheel button or select CAMERA gt FILTER WHEEL from the main menu This allows you to select which filter number you wish you to use and ch
14. he lower end and a negative value will increase the contrast at the higher end 5 4 Negative The Negative button will invert the colours of an image This can be particularly useful when looking for faint objects as it is often easier to determine such details against a light background than it is against a dark background Page 10 o sas ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 5 5 Reticle This simply adds a reticle to the image allowing you to determine the centre of the frame This can help with alignment and image composition 5 6 Correct Aspect Ratio This adjusts the displayed image according to the physical dimensions of the pixels on the CCD sensor for cameras models that do not have square pixels If the box is checked then the height of the displayed image is scaled so that a square area on the screen corresponds with a square area in the sky 5 7 Night Vision This option changes the colour scheme to red in order to help preserve visual dark adaptation when using the software at night Selecting Night Vision mode may also change the colour settings in other programs these will be restored either when Night Vision is unchecked or when Capture is closed Hint It s possible to save the Night Vision colour scheme for your general use To do this select Night Vision in Capture right click on the Windows desktop and select Properties or Personalize depending on your version of Windows You should then be able to s
15. ixels selection box 2 5 pixels is usually sufficient Page 17 o s sss ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 12 Colour Cameras and the Bayer Matrix Nearly all of our cameras are available in either mono or colour versions These are the same in terms of all functionality except the way they capture colour data Whilst mono cameras can capture colour data through the use of filters colour cameras do it by placing red green and blue filters over individual pixels in a pattern called a Bayer Matrix This can then be converted to a colour image through a process called Debayering Capture can display a colour image directly from the exposure You can control this through the COLOUR option in the main menu If Automatic is selected Capture will automatically debayer the image according to the camera settings and display a colour version You can manually select how the image is displayed ee ete through the COLOUR gt ADVANCED menu e RAW will display the raw data from the oe camera Luminance e Colour will display a synthesized colour image Bayer offsets from the RAW data e Luminance will display a synthesised monochrome version of the image e Bayer Offsets allows you to manually alter the way the image is debayered pany Automatic h Advanced b Raw The Auto setting will automatically select the correct offsets As mentioned these settings are purely for display purposes Images will be saved from the RAW camera
16. le will be displayed on the next exposure Page 8 The easiest way to specify a subframe is by using the Subframe definition button Lome After clicking the button a subframe can be drawn using the mouse This can also be accessed by selecting CAMERA gt Subframe on the main menu or by holding the SHIFT key and drawing a box with the mouse The StartX and StartY boxes in the exposure window will then respectively display the horizontal and vertical pixel values for the start of the subframe from the top left hand corner of the full frame green rectangle The Width and Height values in the exposure window display the size of the subframe itself These values can also be altered directly to create a subframe A subframe can be removed either by deselecting the Subframe definition button pressing the Full Frame button in the exposure window or by manually re entering the full pixel size of the sensor in the width and height values 4 7 Autosave Due to the quantity of images often required in astroimaging it may be preferable to use the autosave feature The destination folder when autosaving can be set in the exposure window along with the sequence format and sequence number Page 9 5 Display Window Histogram The display window can be toggled using the display window button or by going to VIEW gt Display Options This allows 4 T p the way in which the 16 bit image is mapped to the ath 4688 s
17. lick or right click and select insert marker to play a marker on the reference stars you would like to use A crosshair will then be visible on top of the star It s best to use bright stars as they will be easier to find later on and will require shorter exposures when aligning If you are unhappy with a marker right click above it and select delete marker When you are happy with all your markers right click and select save markers We find 2 3 is usually enough To reload your markers right click on an image with marker mode selected and choose load markers You can now adjust your camera rotation and use your mount controls to align your image to your previous session Once no longer needed right click and select delete all markers to remove them 13 3 Rotate 180 Selecting CAMERA gt ROTATE 180 will rotate the image by 180 13 4 Camera Information Selecting CAMERA gt Info will display some information about the camera namely the model manufacturer serial number and protocol This is particularly helpful if you no longer have a record of the serial number elsewhere and need to contact us for support Page 19 s ATIK Be OSBE CAMERAS 14 Further Information If you need any further information on Artemis Capture or anything else to do with your Atik Camera you can find answers to a number of frequently asked questions at http www atik cameras com faqs You might also like to join our forum wher
18. mmended you connect your camera to the computer before opening Capture If opening Artemis Capture without a camera connected the following message will appear Artemis Capture Failed to connect to Camera If you have intentionally not plugged in a camera clicking Ignore will open Artemis Capture though a number of features will be unavailable This is useful if you would like to inspect previously captured FITS files If you are expecting the camera to be recognised ensure the camera is powered on where applicable and connected to the computer Sometimes it can take Windows a few minutes to find and install the correct driver try waiting a few minutes before pressing Retry You can also check whether the camera is showing in the devices window Page 5 3 The Main Screen ki Artemis Capture ATIK 4120en File View C mem C Ta D t Help rE Ha mhe This is the main screen of Artemis Capture This is where you can access menus and short cut buttons and control which additional menus are displayed The green rectangle represents the full size of the CCD sensor and this is where the most recent image will be displayed The bar along the bottom displays the programs status including whether the current image has been saved the current level of zoom and whether the camera is idle currently exposing or an image is being downloaded This is particularly useful to check on the statu
19. nt and controllable level for your environment This means you can maintain a stable temperature throughout an entire nights imaging where the temperature may fluctuate slightly This is also the case when imaging across a number of nights where the temperature may change more noticeably 6 1 Nonregulated Cooling On cameras where the cooling is unregulated the temperature will be displayed as unknown The cooler can only be turned on or off and will always cool to the maximum possible level 6 2 Warming up the camera After switching the cooler on the button will change to Warm up When pressed this will initiate the power down sequence which will raise the temperature slowly This is necessary to avoid thermal shocks on the CCD and should always be performed before turning the power off Closing Capture will also initiate the power down sequence though it is necessary to wait a few minutes after closing Capture for this to be performed before powering down either the computer or the camera Setpoint 6 0 C Status Cooling Temp 8 0 C Page 12 Warn Up Close s sss ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 7 Taking an Exposure There are a number of different ways to initiate an exposure in Capture and which you use will depend on your needs 7 1 Snapshot The snapshot button will initiate a single exposure based on the current settings in the exposure window This can also be done by selecting CAMERA gt SNAPS
20. o Chatty oO width 274g Height 2199 4 1 Exposure Length p 8 Full frame The exposure Exp s is displayed in seconds with the min selector Autosave Images Browse adding 60 the sec selector adding 1 and the subsequent selector CAUsers Jo Documents Ca ture handling all decimal places The shortest exposure available is 0 001s j Seqfmt fle_001 _Nextdir 4 2 Delay seq no i Close The Delay Dly s function allows you specify a delay in seconds between exposures when looping images This is particularly useful for seeing changes in focus and for guider stabilisation 4 3 Lock Checking this box locks the current exposure settings 4 4 Pre The Pre checkbox allows the camera to function in a preview mode This speeds up image download time to roughly twice as fast but the image quality will suffer This is particularly useful when focusing the camera and testing your equipment but is best unchecked when taking final images 4 5 Binning BinX and BinY specify the level of binning for an image It is usually best to keep these values the same in which case BinX can be selected from the BinY options 4 6 Selecting a Subframe Selecting a subframe or region of interest can have a number of benefits including faster download times and focusing on a single area A subframe will be shown as a red rectangle within the green rectangle on the main screen Only the area within the red rectang
21. on with dithering e Focus Assist using data gathered from star images e Zoom feature e Display adjust for aspect ratio when using non square pixels e Night vision mode e FITS file inspection Page 4 o s sss ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 2 Installing the Software Although we provide a CD ROM including a full software installer we recommend where possible that you download the core software installer from the downloads page of our website www atik cameras com downloads We frequently update our core software so this is simply to ensure you have the absolute latest version that may not yet be available on the CD ROM We also regularly update our CD ROM installer so if you aren t in a position to download the core software installer don t worry you ll still have avery recent version To install the software e Download the core software installer OR insert the CD ROM e Run the file SetupArtemisUniversal exe e Follow the prompts ensuring Drivers is ticked and selecting any additional plug ins you may require e The software should now be installed When connecting the camera to the computer an Installing Device Drivers message should pop up Follow any prompts clicking continue anyway if asked Note The camera s fan will come on as soon as you power the camera on this does not mean the cooling is on Once the driver is installed the camera is ready to use 2 1 Opening Artemis Capture It is reco
22. s of longer exposures as the bar will countdown the amount of time left Page 6 o sas ATIK a8 BOB CAMERAS 3 1 Tool Bar Buttons A number of key features can be controlled through the Tool Bar Buttons on the main screen as follows Save Saves the current image En Autosave Auto saves all captured images according to the settings in the Exposure window Display Toggles the display window on off Exposure Toggles the Exposure window on off GC Cooler control Controls the camera cooler and temperature on supported models Es Focus and Autoguider Toggles focus assist and autoguider window on off focusing A Lock settings Locks all exposure control settings Marker mode Activates the image orientation assist E Snapshot Initiates an exposure with duration as specified in the Exposure window E Loop Toggles the loop exposure on off Useful for focusing and capturing sequences Sequencer Allows programming a sequence of images which can use different exposures filters Filter Wheel control Controls the optional Atik EFW U EFW2 filter wheel Page 7 4 Exposure Window You can toggle the Exposure window by pressing the Exposure button Exp s 0 001 rin sec or by clicking VIEW gt Exposure Settings from the main menu Diy s n Lock Pre This window allows you to control the exposure settings along with Bir i 2 Biri E ial binning and autosave functions Chart
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