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PGR Camera Captures
Jupiter
On February 11, 2006 Anthony Wesley of
Canberra, Australia captured Jupiter using PGR's Dragonfly
Express™ camera.
Jupiter image, courtesy of Anthony
Wesley
This color image was acquired with a B&W Dragonfly Express
camera through a color filter wheel fitted with Astronomik
RGB filters and connected to a 13.1" f/5.5 planetary Newtonian
telescope. The images were captured under Linux using Coriander
and processed using Registax and Astra Image. Mr. Wesley acquired
30-second video sequences for each color filter. Software
then examined the sequences and selected the frames with the
least amount of distortion. These frames were combined to
increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the processed image.
The results of each color filter were then combined to yield
the final color image.
"One of the secrets to acquiring high quality [planetary]
images is to use a short exposure, combined with high frame
rate to try and beat the nonlinear distortions introduced by
the atmosphere. I chose the DX [Dragonfly Express] because of
its high sensitivity and high bandwidth," commented Mr.
Wesley. "I was looking for a camera that was cross-platform
(i.e., firewire), high sensitivity, high bandwidth,
field-upgradeable, and very flexible from a programming point
of view. The DX [Dragonfly Express] fitted that criteria very
well, better than any other camera I could find."
Mr. Wesley also commented that to capture the moon, the
ideal camera would have a much different feature set. Because
of the moon's high surface brightness, light collection is
less of an issue than for other planetary imaging situations.
This brightness allows the use of higher resolution sensors.
Dragonfly®2,
Flea®
or Scorpion™
would be excellent candidates for this application. For more
information on Mr. Wesley's planetary imaging, see his astronomy web
site.
Whether it's the resolution, frame rate or sensitivity of
the camera that is key to your imaging, PGR offers an extensive
range of IEEE-1394 cameras. Check out PGR's
Product Catalog or contact sales@ptgrey.com.
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