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AUTOSTAR CCD PHOTOMETRY
When purchasing a DSI Pro camera, the AutoStar Suite™
telescope control and imaging software is included at no additional
cost. While there are other CCD software packages on the market,
we decided to see just how useful the AutoStar software would be.
Although the Autostar documentation serves to get started in astro
imaging, it lacks detail in explaining what is needed to perform
photometry; and our first impressions were that we should
probably look to other programs. But since the AutoStar Suite
required no further investment, we decided to go ahead and
experiment with the included software. It turns out that the
AutoStar Suite is excellent and will do most everything required,
and has many additional features over some other CCD software.
Because the Phoenix, Arizona area tends to be very warm to
extremely hot (even at midnight) during the warmer months, the
ambient air-cooled DSI Pro camera produced higher dark counts
than desired. A simple and inexpensive modification to add a
thermoelectric cooler was developed, that has proved excellent in
not only reducing the dark noise, but also increased the camera
sensitivity.
After mentioning our success with the camera modifications and
AutoStar software to other astronomers, we received many
requests for more information. A web site was created with some
of the basics of what we had learned. This included step-by-step
Autostar procedures for performing astronomical photometry.
Then we decided to combine our skills and expand and share the
information – this book is the first result.
We hope this book will help to inspire others to try CCD
photometry. While the primary focus is on the Meade DSI Pro
cameras and AutoStar software, much of the information applies to
any CCD camera and associated computer programs. Once you
have set up your equipment and gained some experience, the
observations can be very rewarding. Indeed, you may even see
your name and data published in professional journals.
JLH and GAL, Phoenix, Arizona April 2007.