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NGC 1055 image
4
NGC 1055 is an edge-on spiral galaxy in Cetus. It is somewhat larger than the Milky Way galaxy and hosts a very high rate of new star formation. It is part of a small galaxy group and is fairly close to another similarly-sized spiral galaxy, M77. The edge-on view is somewhat curious in that it shows the typical dark lane of dust and cold gas to be elevated above the plane of the galaxy disk. This may be a result of gravitational interactions with various other galaxies in the group including M77. The image was captured during a 5-night period in October-November 2024 using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 from SkyPi Remote Observatories. Total LRGB integration was 16.8 hours. https://coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/NGC1055_LRGB_Web.jpg Thanks for looking, Bruce W.
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QSI & Windows 11
4
I am running Windows 10 and will continue to do so for the time being, but I have a question about Windows 11. I have seen the recent announcement that Windows 11 can be installed on Windows 10 systems that are identified as "incompatible" with the upgrade to Windows 11 because they lack TPM 2.0. Out of curiosity I investigated a little bit further and learned about a memory integrity feature that can be turned on. When I did that, a report was generated of incompatible drivers. One of those drivers is from QSI. As I understand it, that memory integrity feature is turned on by default in Windows 11. So, my concern is that my QSI driver may be incompatible with a new Windows 11 system. Is that concern justified? Has anyone encountered any problems with QSI drivers on Windows 11 systems? Does the memory integrity feature have to be turned off? Can it be turned off? Is there a QSI driver update that is needed and available? Thanks in advance for any insights. Manning B
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NGC 7380 image
5
NGC 7380 is an open cluster in Cepheus, bordered by the well-known "wizard" emission nebula. The hot young stars formed less than 5M years ago and have since ionized the surrounding hydrogen gas. Their stellar winds have created a void in the surrounding dust and gas and have shaped many of the complex structures seen in the adjacent wizard nebula. The nebula clearing process creates density fluctuations that trigger new star formation. 14 variable stars in this area have been identified as pre-main sequence, meaning they have not yet reached their future state as stable, hydrogen-burning stars. The close-up image was captured during a 4-night period in November-December 2024 using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 from SkyPi Remote Observatories. Total LRGB integration was 16.5 hours. https://www.coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/NGC7380_LRGB_Web.jpg Thanks for looking, Bruce W.
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QSI 683 swg dessicant recharge
Hello, Do QSI sell dessicant for replacement? Any help is appreciated
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Hi there, what is the gain offset ( in ADU) on the qsi 6120 in low gain mode? Trying to calculate the "swamping the read noise". Thanks
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M-74
3
Hi all, It must be the "M-74" season - many beautiful captures. Hopefully, this is no different.?This was taken from Mare Stellarae Observatory in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, using a Celestron EdgeHD 2800mm f/l reflector and a 683wsg-8 with Optolong LRGB filters. The total integration was 14 hours over several nights. Appreciate the peek. Clear, smokeless skies to all. - - Steve https://www.astrobin.com/v1exnc/D/?nc=&nce=
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M74 image
7
M74, is a nearly face-on "grand design" spiral galaxy, so-called because of the strongly defined, symmetric spiral arms that extend around its core. It became known to visual observers as the "phantom galaxy" because of its low surface brightness and relatively large size. It is somewhat smaller than our Milky Way galaxy and is located about 30M light-years away in the direction of the constellation Pisces. The image was captured during a 5-night period in October 2024 under very good sky conditions using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 from SkyPi Remote Observatories. Total LRGB integration was 20.5 hours. This is my third try at this target over a 14-year period - hopefully, the 3rd time is the charm. :-) https://coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/M74_LRGB_Web_1730995892.jpg Thanks for looking, Bruce W.
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Hi, I remove the cover of my QSI 583 WSG, and I discover that something that looks like a temperature sensor is unglue from the back of the camera. Last night, I have a -29c at startup of the camera, but it go back to normal ... And this morning I discover that... Does someone have an idea what is that ? What can I do to fix it ? Thanks for your response. Best regards
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NGC 488 image
6
NGC 488 is a rather pretty spiral galaxy in Pisces, located about 90M light-years away. Its disk displays well-ordered, evenly spaced and tightly wound spiral arms with an unusual amount of subtle detail. The nucleus of NGC 488 has been found to be chemically decoupled, being twice as metal rich as the central bulge of the galaxy. This is usually taken to mean that it has consumed some number of smaller satellite galaxies in the past. I found post-processing to be a bit challenging on this one. The galaxy disk has low contrast and the spiral detail that makes the target so unique is quite delicate. As a result, it takes some care to avoid making the detail look too "blocky". I followed Bernard Miller's advice and got extra color data because the galaxy colors are also quite subdued. The image was captured over a 6-night period in September-October 2024 using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 from SkyPi Remote Observatories. Total LRGB integration was 21 hours. https://coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/NGC488_LRGB_Web.jpg Thanks for looking, Bruce W.
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Hello all, We are very happy to say the first sales of the QSI 700 series camera are going well! Cameras are going out to magazines for reviews and articles will be published soon. In the meantime, our very own Rui Tripa has conducted an internal review of the camera from his observatory in Portugal. The review has been uploaded to our website for those interested. Read the full review here. Thanks for reading, The QSI team.
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Sh2-170 image
5
Sh2-170, sometimes called the "little rosette nebula", is a faint, nearly circular hydrogen-alpha region in Cassiopeia. It surrounds a small young cluster of stars that provide sufficient ionizing radiation to make the nebula glow. Stellar winds from the new stars and embedded dust in the hydrogen gas combine to create the complex visual structures. The image was captured during 4 nights in September 2024 from SkyPi Remote Observatory using a 12.5" PlaneWave scope and a QSI-640ws camera at f/8 for a final HaLRGB integration of 16.5 hours. https://coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/Sh2-170_HaLRGB_Web.jpg Thanks for looking, Bruce
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Camera temp rising while reporting 100% - is the a defect?
3
I have a QSI 532 that I acquired, used, and used for some months. Then, on one occasion, after the temperature had been falling as you would expect upon initialization, the reported temp suddenly reversed and started climbing while the cooler was still reporting 100%. I contacted support and was told I could send it in for review, but finding a 683 on the market did not pursue it. Now I have a potential use for the camera, and in the meantime, I think I saw this same thing happen once with the 683, which works fine and is still in use. I suspect that this occurred in the late afternoon in a hot observatory building, and I wonder if there is some potential explanation for this related to those conditions that explain the problem. I would send it in for repair if that is needed. My astronomy club has a joint venture with a local university for a robotic photometry system, and the grant-funded AC2020 S-Big camera has been a two-year-long nightmare. The chip in this and the 683 are really well-suited for photometry. There is nothing on the market quite as good these days short of a significant 5 figure budget.
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Hi, I just took the dust off of one of my QSI540wsg in order to use it with my Mewlon 250. How do I reset the camera to factory default? When connecting the camera via ASCOM to NINA it looks like the cooler is stuck. It does not activate the cooler anymore but it does activate it in MaxIm DL with no problem. What could that be? Thanks for any tip in advance regards Rainer
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Best way to contact support?
Hi, I am having issues with my QSI6162, looks like the FW motor is faulty. I've been trying to contact QSI support using the support form on the site but I am not sure if my messages are going through. Is there another way to contact them? Regards, Jos¨¦ Mtanous
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Since deploying this new (used) QSI 632camera a problem has emerged with the connection upon startup. It is a real puzzle that will require someone who understands this camera better than I to figure out. My system uses ACP and Scheduler. Scheduler manages ACP and ACP controls the camera via Maxim. I am using the QSI Universal driver. After Scheduler initiates system start-up everything looks nominal with the camera. See the first screenshot below. However, the first image attempt will fail and Maxim will throw an error message, see second screenshot. If you close the error message maxim changes to show ¡°no camera¡±, and the cooler is said to be off as shown in the third screenshot. All subsequent image attempts will fail the whole night. Typically, if I intervene by disengaging Scheduler to release the camera, I can disconnect and reconnect the camera and it will work without a problem for the rest of the night. By the way, the cooler also remains in operation even when Maxim shows "no camera". When you disconnect and reconnect the cooler is shown to have been on the whole time. Today, I decided to try and dig into this and perhaps I have gained some useful insight. I used ¡°test startup¡± in Scheduler then tried using Maxim to order an image. It failed and I got the same error message I have gotten before when doing this. But, this afternoon, disconnecting and reconnecting did not solve the problem. I tried it multiple times. Then in the evening, Scheduler booted everything up as usual, and as usual the first image failed and as usual, disconnect reconnect worked. The only difference I can think of between the afternoon experiment and the routine startup in the evening is the temperature of the camera had dropped to the setpoint in the latter case, while in the earlier case, the camera was warm (40+ C). Is there some reason, whether firmware, software, or hardware that would cause a connection failure when attempted before the camera has cooled to the setpoint?
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Sorry if a thread already on this but I can not find. Has anyone successfully be able to purge a QSI themselves with Argon and if so, found the gas at a reasonable size and cost? since Argon is heavier than air, should be fairly easy to perform.. Jeff
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NGC 6946 image
5
Well, the New Mexico monsoons ended and here's an image of NGC 6946, the "fireworks" galaxy, a face-on spiral galaxy in Cepheus. Despite having a stellar population of only about 1/2 that of our Milky Way, it has a high rate of new star formation and is classed as an active starburst galaxy. The "fireworks" sobriquet stems from its production of 10 observed supernovae in the past century, roughly 10x as many as that of the Milky Way. Various "peculiar" objects associated with the galaxy have attracted the attention of astronomers over the years, and two of them can be seen in this image. "Hodge's object" is the name given to the bright blue object at the 11:00 position and the "red ellipse" appears at the end of the long spiral arm at the 1:00 position. Hodge's object has recently been conjectured to be an interacting dwarf galaxy superimposed on the disk of NGC 6946, and the red ellipse may be some kind of super bubble or very large supernova remnant - it is huge by any standard. This rendition intentionally corrected for the reddening of the galaxy from dust in our galaxy - with an "as-seen" color balance, the colors in the spiral arms are very subdued. Data capture occurred over a 3-night period in September for a total LRGB integration of 18.3 hours. https://coldphotons.com/zen_astro/astro_images/NGC6946_LRGB_Web.jpg Thanks for looking, Bruce W.
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New QSI driver- released 8/5/24
14
Has anyone tried this updated QSI driver yet? I¡¯m curious if it 64 bit. https://qsimaging.com/drivers-software/
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Hello, I have a 6120WSG that has significant amp glow top to bottom (black noise to white noise) on image while setting up new observatory. Bought used, first time I have used it. Just using to set focus in TSX at the moment. Is this normal? Thanks. Kev
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Image Name
Sat 8:39am
Sat 8:39am