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Orion Starshoot First Light
Lunar Images From the Orion Starshoot Camera
The new Orion Starshoot Deep Space Color Imaging camera is primarily designed for deep sky photography.  My first introduction to the camera is to be lunar and planetary photography.  My Meade 7" Maksutov is not well suited for deep sky imaging but at F/15 should be very good for pursuing my interests in lunar and planetary observing.
February 2006

All images below were taken with a Meade 7" Maksutov LX-50 operating at the default F/15 focal ratio.  Nebulosity v1.1.3 was used for capture in raw mode.  Sequences of 20 images each were taken and stored in RAW format.  Later, the images were batch processed in Nebulosity for deBayer and conversion to PNG.  The resulting PNG images were then further processed in PaintShop Pro to normalize contrast and were also slightly sharpened.  Finally, the best 10 images of each sequence were stacked using RegiStax v3.0 using default parameters. 

These are the very first images from my camera.  At least for lunar and planetary use, I believe the camera is performing very well right out of the box.  I do not have any prior experience with CCD imaging but have played with the "tools of the trade" to get aquainted with the technology.  Given these results, I think the Orion Starshoot shows much potential once I learn to do more than the basics.

Exposure = 5 mSec, Gain = 0, Offset = 50 -- February 3, 2006. 

 

Exposure = 30 mSec, Gain = 0, Offset = 50 -- February 3, 2006. 

 

Exposure = 30 mSec, Gain = 5, Offset = 50 -- February 3, 2006. 

 

Exposure = 100 mSec, Gain = 15, Offset = 100 -- February 3, 2006. 

John D. Upton
Georgetown, Texas
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