Celestron Neximage 93709 User manual

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CELESTRON
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USERS
MANUAL
Model
#93709

Congratulations on your purchase of the Celestron Nexlmage Solar System Imager. Please read
the instructions carefully and be sure
to setup your camera and computer indoors first before
taking it outside and trying it at night.
Your Nexlmage camera comes with:
• Nexlmage Camera
• Nexlmage iCap and RegiStax processing
software CD-ROM
SETTING UP THE CAMERA
1. Place the CD into your computer's CD-
ROM drive.
2. Install both the Nexlmage iCap and
RegiStax software onto your computer.
3. Plug the USB 2.0 connector into a port on
your computer. Once connected, the Found
New Hardware message will appear. Follow
the installation Wizard until the device has
been successfully installed.
4. Double click the Nexlmage
iCap icon on your desktop
to
start the program.
2 I ENGLISH
Recommended Minimum System
requirements:
+ Pentium IV, 2.0 G Hz, 1GB RAM
+Graphics card with 24 or 32 bit
+Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
(32 & 64 bit)
+ DirectX 9.
0c or higher
5. If the Nexlmage is not already detected,
select the camera from the list
and press OK.
6. You should be able to see light displayed in
the Preview window of the iCap software
Ava ilable Video Capture Devices:
I
OK
l cancel
Nexlmaoe
l
Help
[
Refresh
You are now ready to use the camera outside
and image the planets!

CAPTURING
IMAGES
1.
Setup your telescope outside with
an
eyepiece
2.
Select
an
easy target like the moon
to
begin with. Using the telescope's normal
eyepiece, center and focus your telescope
on
the feature you wish
to
image.
3. Replace the eyepiece on the telescope with
the Nexlmage camera by sliding the 1.25"
eyepiece into the eyepiece holder. Secure
the Nexlmage
in
place.
4.
Double click on the Nexlmage iCap icon
to
launch the image capturing software.
If necessary, select the Nexlmage from the
Select Device screen.
5.
You
should see light displayed
in
Preview
Window.
6.
Use the telescope focuser to focus the
image until the object
is
visible and sharp.
7.
Use the exposure slider to adjust the image
so that it
is
not over or under exposed.
8.
Select the resolution setting using the drop
down menu. For the highest resolution,
select 1280x720. Sometimes planets may
not fill the field
of
view, so you may use a
lower resolution setting to avoid taking up
memory by recording a lot
of
empty space
in
the frame.
ENGLISH
I 3

9.
Press the Video File button to bring up the
Recording Setting
box.
a.
Click on the Video File tab
to
display and
change the file locations where you will
save your video files.
b.
Click on the Advanced tab
to
control the
length
of
the video you want to take.
You
can either select the amount
of
time or
the total number
of
frames you
want
captured
c. Press
OK
to save your settings
1
0.
Press the record button when you are ready
to begin recording the video file.
11
. Once the recording has been completed,
press the Check Video button to view the
captured video.
To
learn more about the more advanced
features
of
iCap software, please click on the
Help button on the main toolbar.
Now
that you have captured your first video you
are ready to process it into one high resolution
image.
4 I ENGLISH
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PROCESSING
THE
VIDEO
Double click
on
the RegiStax icon
on
your
computer desktop to start the program.
2.
Press the Select button (A) and select the
video that was just recorded.
3.
Press the Set Alignment Points button (B)
to have RegiStax automatically select the
alignment positions over your image.
4.
Press the ALIGN button (C)
to
begin the
alignment process.
5.
Select the Best Frame option under the
Limit Setup box (D) and enter a number
that represents one-half
of
the number
of
image frames that were captured,
i.e.
if
300
frames were captured then enter
150
.
Press the LlMIT button (E).
ENGLISH I 5

6.
You
will automatically advance
to
the
STACK screen. Accept the default settings
and press the STACK button
(F).
7.
Next moved
to
the wavelet processi
ng
screen
by
clicking
on
the Wavelet tab
(G).
See Fig 14.
8.
On
the wavelet page use the wavelet-sliders
(H)
to
enhance the image. The power
of
RegiStax sits in the usage
of
Wavelets.
This
is
a special filtering technique that
is
very good
for
enhancing deta
il
s
in
images.
Each
wavelet layer carries part
of
the image
within
it.
The lower numbered wavelets
control the fine detail stored
in
the image
whereas the larger numbered wavelets
control the coarse detail. Each layer can be
adjusted individually to reveal the desired
amount
of
detail for your image.
9.
Finally, press the SAVE IMAGE button to
save the final image.
To
explore the many other features
of
RegiStax and view helpful tutorials, go
to the RegiStax homepage at:
http:/
/www.astronomie.be/registax/index.html
6 I ENGLISH
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HOW NEXIMAGE WORKS
Nexlmage utilizes a light sensitive imagi ng
sensor to capture streaming video of any solar
system object. This video can easily
be viewed
as hundreds of individual images (frames) that
can be digitally stacked
to significantly reduce
the electric "noise" inherent in video chips
and bring out the unseen fine detail (signal)
hidden within your image. The Nexlmage
camera takes advantage
of the fact that the
signal to noise ratio
of your stacked composite
image is proportional
to the square root of
the number of frames combined. This means
that stacking
as few as 16 frames will reduce
the grainy noise
of the composite image by
THE BASICS
Focusing
As with all astrophotography, sharp focus is
essential fo r high quality results. Although
there are many techniques and devices
for
focusing your telescope, the human eye
still remains one
of the best detectors of
subtle changes in detail. One advantage that
video imaging has over imaging with more
sophisticated (and expensive) ceo cameras
is the speed in which it can display its image.
Focusing Nexlmage
is more similar to focusing
an eyepiece than a CCO camera. Unlike with
long exposure cameras you don't have to wait
many seconds
to see the effect of a focus
change.
4 times. While stacki ng as many 900 frames
will improve the image by
30 times! However,
stacking the individual frames is only half
the power
of the Nexlmage imager. With the
included software package,each individual
frame
is analyzed for quality to fil te r out
those frames most affected (blurred) by poor
atmospheric "seeing". Th
is form of after-the-
fact adaptive optics, leaves only the sharpest,
clearest frames to
be stacked and aligned into a
high quality image. Fi
na l ly, powerful processi ng
features automatically break the image up in to
individual unsharp mask layers that can be used
to bring out tremendous detail.
To achieve best focus, concentrate on a high
contrast feature
of the objectyou are imaging.
Focusing on small features such as a moon's
shadow on Jupiter or Cassi
ni 's division in the
ring
of Saturn wi ll guarantee best focus across
the entire image.
Once the frames
of your video are stacked, the
overall brightness
of the composi te (stacked)
image is usually brighter than its individual
component frames. For this reason it is best to
keep
the brightness of the video image seen
on the screen dimmer than you would normally
desire. It is important that no part
of the image
is over-exposed to assure the ma ximum
amount
of detail in the final composi te image.
ENGLISH I 7

Collimation
No matter what type of telescope you
image with, poor collimation (alignment
of
the optics) will ruin your chances for a good
image. Before you begin imaging, always
check the collimation
of your instrument and
make adjustments if necessary. Refer to your
telescopes owner's manual for instruction
in
collimating the optics.
Finding Objects
At first it can be difficult to locate individual
planets due to their relative brightness.
To
make it easier to initially find your object in the
imaging window, increase the brightness and
gain controls
on the Exposure Tool Bar. This will
allow you to better see the object
as it passes
through the imaging window. Once the object
is
located and centered, you can adjust the setting
until the object
is at the desired brightness and
contrast.
Video Length
At first you may think that the more frames
you record the better. However there are some
limitation to the duration
of video and the
amount
of frames you can acquire. Resolution
and file size can both limit the length
of time of
your video. Since the Nexlmage will combine
as many sharp frames as possible to achieve
one high quality image, you don't want to take
so many images that you start to detect the
rotation
of the planet, especially on Jupiter
which makes one complete rotation
in under
10 hours!
8 I ENGLISH
Also each frame of a high resolution video
can equal a large file
size. Hundreds of frames
can take up much
of your hard drive space.
Since file sizes
of each video taken can be quite
large, it
is recommended that you save your
video data onto a CD-ROM. This way
you can have a library
of files stored for
processing without filling up your hard drive
in the process.
Specifications
Sensor: 1 MP color CMOS Sensor
Camera Resolution:
1280x720
Sensor Size: 3.864mm x 2.184mm
Pixel Size:
3.01J x 3.01J
Computer Connection: USB 2.0
www.celestron.com
Torrance, CA 90503 U.S.A .. • Telephone: [phone]
©2013 Celestron .• All rights reserved. • Printed in China • 09-13
FCC Note: This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits
for a Class B digital device, pursuant to part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits
are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interterence
in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses, and can radiate
radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the
instructions, may cause harmful interterence to radio communications. However,
there is no guarantee that interterence will not occur in a particular installation. If
this equipment does cause harmful interterence to radio or television reception,
which can be determined by turning the equipment off and on, the user is
encouraged to try to correct the interterence by one or more of the following
measures:
• Reorient or relocate the receiving antenna.
• Increase the separation between the equipment and receiver.
• Connect the equipment into an outlet on a circuit different from that to which
the receiver is connected.
• Consult the dealer or an experienced radio/TV technician for help.
Celestron binoculars/monoculars are designed and intended for those 14 years
of age and older.
Product design and specifications are subject to change without prior notification.