Hello,
The past days I have constructed a Google Sheet to help me combine the right imaging camera, guiding camera, imaging scope and guiding scope, plus the necessary power required for the whole setup.
This Google sheet displays some metrics such as: imaging scale (resolution), pixel size, imaging/guiding ratio, field of view, etc, depending on the parameters entered: camera/scope combination, binning, seeing, etc. You can also quickly select the equipment to have a rough idea of the power required and number of hours you will get.
PREVIEW:
There is an online read-only version here
You can see a preview in the PDF attached.
CONTRIBUTE:
Anybody can add its own cameras, scopes, and build their own combinations etc.
>>> An online editable version is available here <<<
Suggestions are also welcomed and can be listed in the "SUGGESTIONS" sheet, but feel free to edit / add new sheets, etc.
BACKUP / OWN IT:
You can do a File > Make a copy to copy the sheet in your own Google Drive folder and use it by your own. Content is not subject to copyright, feel free to copy, edit, and use!
HELP PREVIEW:
1 Select your seeing GO THERE
2 Enter your cameras GO THERE
You can enter many cameras and check the ones you own - they will be highlighted everywhere
=> You will see the recommended focal length for your resolution range
3 Enter your scopes GO THERE
You can enter many scopes and check the ones you own - they will be highlighted everywhere
=> You will see the recommended camera pixel size for your resolution range
4 Enter your combinations of cameras and scopes for imaging and guiding GO THERE
=> You will see the resolution of the imaging and guiding setup
=> You will see the approximate maximum seeing (FWHM) supported by such resolution
=> You will see the field of view of the imaging and guiding setup
=> You will see the imaging / guiding ratio
Combinations that are within the range of your selected resolution at STEP 1 will be highlighted in green.
The imaging / guiding ratio will be highlighted with a color scale ranging from green (1:1) - yellow (1:5) and red (1:10).
A good ratio is close to 1:1
5 Enter your equipment requiring power GO THERE
5.1. Enter your equipment with the required voltage and maximum amperage consumption
5.2. Enter your batteries with their capacity
5.3. Select the equipment you will use for a session
=> You will see the total hourly power spent
=> You will see how many hours / minutes you will run on a battery at 90% and 80% of its capacity
Battery only have at best a capacity of 90% which can go down to 70-80% on a colder night
6 Look at potential target objects GO THERE
Enter the list of interesting targets with their field of view
The field of view value is chosen so that the target can be seen fully in the frame, or if too small, in an acceptable way
You can then easily see what are the suitable targets based on the computed field of view in STEP 4
DISCLAIMER:
I am quite a newbie, this sheet helps me keep organized, but some mistakes can still be there, and obviously I hope you will be kind enough to fix them :-)
About: resolution, under-sampling and over-sampling:
We can find a lot of valid, different opinions about the right resolution to stick into.All depend on your use case and seeing.So the way I have built this sheet, this is up to you to choose the seeing you have in the PARAMETERS sheet, or select a "recommended" range that gives an acceptable resolution range for you. For example, from my readings, Atik recommends a range between 1-2.5 ″/px, Craig Stark around 0.65 - 3.50 ″/px, consensus is around 1-2 ″/px without questioning, etc. We can also see a lot of famous photographers under-sampling up to 4-5 ″/px, and depending on the scope (250 mm vs 1000 mm for example), the effect of under-sampling will be different. Under-sampling when using a wide scope / Dslr camera is acceptable since the Fov is very large.
I hope this sheet will help also some people there ;-)
Clear skies!
The past days I have constructed a Google Sheet to help me combine the right imaging camera, guiding camera, imaging scope and guiding scope, plus the necessary power required for the whole setup.
This Google sheet displays some metrics such as: imaging scale (resolution), pixel size, imaging/guiding ratio, field of view, etc, depending on the parameters entered: camera/scope combination, binning, seeing, etc. You can also quickly select the equipment to have a rough idea of the power required and number of hours you will get.
PREVIEW:
There is an online read-only version here
You can see a preview in the PDF attached.
CONTRIBUTE:
Anybody can add its own cameras, scopes, and build their own combinations etc.
>>> An online editable version is available here <<<
Suggestions are also welcomed and can be listed in the "SUGGESTIONS" sheet, but feel free to edit / add new sheets, etc.
BACKUP / OWN IT:
You can do a File > Make a copy to copy the sheet in your own Google Drive folder and use it by your own. Content is not subject to copyright, feel free to copy, edit, and use!
HELP PREVIEW:
1 Select your seeing GO THERE
2 Enter your cameras GO THERE
You can enter many cameras and check the ones you own - they will be highlighted everywhere
=> You will see the recommended focal length for your resolution range
3 Enter your scopes GO THERE
You can enter many scopes and check the ones you own - they will be highlighted everywhere
=> You will see the recommended camera pixel size for your resolution range
4 Enter your combinations of cameras and scopes for imaging and guiding GO THERE
=> You will see the resolution of the imaging and guiding setup
=> You will see the approximate maximum seeing (FWHM) supported by such resolution
=> You will see the field of view of the imaging and guiding setup
=> You will see the imaging / guiding ratio
Combinations that are within the range of your selected resolution at STEP 1 will be highlighted in green.
The imaging / guiding ratio will be highlighted with a color scale ranging from green (1:1) - yellow (1:5) and red (1:10).
A good ratio is close to 1:1
5 Enter your equipment requiring power GO THERE
5.1. Enter your equipment with the required voltage and maximum amperage consumption
5.2. Enter your batteries with their capacity
5.3. Select the equipment you will use for a session
=> You will see the total hourly power spent
=> You will see how many hours / minutes you will run on a battery at 90% and 80% of its capacity
Battery only have at best a capacity of 90% which can go down to 70-80% on a colder night
6 Look at potential target objects GO THERE
Enter the list of interesting targets with their field of view
The field of view value is chosen so that the target can be seen fully in the frame, or if too small, in an acceptable way
You can then easily see what are the suitable targets based on the computed field of view in STEP 4
DISCLAIMER:
I am quite a newbie, this sheet helps me keep organized, but some mistakes can still be there, and obviously I hope you will be kind enough to fix them :-)
About: resolution, under-sampling and over-sampling:
We can find a lot of valid, different opinions about the right resolution to stick into.All depend on your use case and seeing.So the way I have built this sheet, this is up to you to choose the seeing you have in the PARAMETERS sheet, or select a "recommended" range that gives an acceptable resolution range for you. For example, from my readings, Atik recommends a range between 1-2.5 ″/px, Craig Stark around 0.65 - 3.50 ″/px, consensus is around 1-2 ″/px without questioning, etc. We can also see a lot of famous photographers under-sampling up to 4-5 ″/px, and depending on the scope (250 mm vs 1000 mm for example), the effect of under-sampling will be different. Under-sampling when using a wide scope / Dslr camera is acceptable since the Fov is very large.
I hope this sheet will help also some people there ;-)
Clear skies!
