FIRST LIGHT

SKY SAYS… Now add these:

1. 365Astronomy 12V 2.0A AC adaptor

2. 365Astronomy LPDJLQJ LS mirror

3. ZWO adjustable EOS-T2 lens adaptor for ZWO ASI cameras

gave us a very respectable peak capture rate of 110fps and allowed us to record 6,763 frames in 61 seconds.

Planetary and lunar imagers often venture into the infrared part of the spectrum and here the sensor’s sensitivity remains high in the red channel, but less in green and blue below 800nm. After this, the infrared sensitivity of all three channels reaches a similar level of 35-40 per cent that of the peak red.

The large format sensor is particularly good at capturing extended Solar System targets such as the Sun and Moon. Using a 4-inch f/9 refractor, for example, we had no problem capturing the entire disc of the Moon on the sensor. However, because the file sizes created by this camera can grow quickly at full resolution, you’ll need to keep plenty of free storage space on your memory card. Our capture file of just 105 full-array frames came in at 4.8GB. A powerful computer is also required to register and stack these files in post-processing.

The ASI1600MC-Cool is very easy to set up. A unified driver can be downloaded from ZWO’s website and, once installed, it should work with your favourite control program. Free software such as SharpCap and FireCapture work well, as does the commercially available Astrolive. Thanks to a deal struck with ZWO, Astrolive is available for free use with ZWO cameras.

So is this the ultimate camera for astronomy? Well, it does tick a lot of boxes and can be used right across the board for almost all astronomical targets. With an optional adaptor from ZWO, it can use DSLR lenses for wide-field imaging, although oddly the camera body does not have a tripod mounting thread. With such a wide imaging repertoire the ASI1600MC-Cool is certainly one to consider very strongly.

COOLING SYSTEM The camera’s two-stage regulated thermoelectric cooling system uses active cooling to bring the sensor temperature down to 40-45 degrees below ambient temperature. Excess heat dissipation is assisted by a large body heat-sink and rear...

Many large targets, like the Orion Nebula, fit onto the camera’s chip in their entirety; this shot is made from 10-second subframes

Dark frames reveal the impact of the cooling system: the one on the left is cooled, the one on the right isn’t