The LcCCD07 Camera and first light

CCD Imaging 1 | First Light
CCD Imaging 2 | Deepsky 2001
CCD Imaging 3 | Planets 2001

In November 1999 I purchased a used CCD camera made by OES Fleischmann. This LcCCD07 is the smallest camera with a resolution of only 195*165 pixel and uses the Texas Instruments TC211 chip. It is single stage peltier element cooled and offers integration times ranging from 0.6 up to 40 seconds. The camera comes with a ISA 16-bit PC card as driver and offers relay control for autotracking.

In January 2001, after the camera returned from a *repair* from OES, I added a small potentiometer, which allows me to adjust the bias offset, which tends to drift a little while the camera gets warmer.

April 2001: Long exposure images show some moiree, and I have to investigate, where this noise comes from. A possible source may be some RF influence by the clocked signal wires close to the offset potentiometer I added. I'll have to possibly use shielded wires and block the lines.

I received the complete circuit diagram from OES, which makes me understand better, what happens inside the camera head.

There was not much time for using the camera so far, as it was defective for quite a while. Now I look forward to produce some images. I spent this time with reading a lot of literature and I hopefully know now what the camera may be good for.

LcCCD07 : See the Texas Instruments TC211 Chip inside (left)

The field of view with my Newton f5 / d=150mm is 12.1' (12.1 arcmin). Many objects in the sky will not fit into the image.

	M27 | NGC 6853 | "Dumbbell Nebula" German: "Hantelnebel" Instrument: f=1:5 Newton 150mm/f=750mm Film: LcCCD 07 | Field of View : 12.1' * 12.1' Exposure time: 6 * 20 sec Composite Date: 06 May 2000, 00:25 UT Note: M27 Nebula - Composite of 6 images; my first good image; processed with IRIS.
	M57 | NGC 6720 | Ring Nebula Instrument: f=1:5 Newton 150mm/f=750mm Film: LcCCD 07 | Field of View : 12.1' * 12.1' Exposure time: 2 * 20 sec Composite Date: 05 May 2000, 22:08 UT Note: M57 Nebula Composite of two images
	M82 | NGC3034 Galaxy Instrument: f=1:5 Newton 150mm/f=750mm Film: LcCCD 07 | Field of View : 12.1' * 12.1' Exposure time: 1 * 20 sec Date: 05 May 2000, 23:28 UT Note: M82 Galaxy
	M81 M82 region Instrument: f=1:1.7 50mm Film: LcCCD 07 | Field of View : ca 3° * 3 ° Exposure time: 2 * 9 sec Composite Date: 06 May 2000, 01:25 UT Note: Composition of 2 images through a standard lens. Optimized with IRIS and left at larger size.
	The Deneb Area in Cygnus Instrument: f=1:1.7 50mm Film: LcCCD 07 | Field of View : ca 3° * 3 ° Exposure time: 4 * 20 sec Composite Date: 06 May 2000, 01:17 UT Note: Composition of 4 images through a standard lens with Pelikan nebula on the lower left.
	First ever star image with the CCD camera Instrument: f=1/1.7; 50mm M42 Lens Film: LcCCD 07 | Field of View : ca 3° * 3 ° Exposure time: 2 * 2 sec, no guiding Date: November 1999 Note: Ursa Major, Alkor/Mizar; Mag reaching ca 10; Image taken through a window ...

All photos are Copyright © of C.Petermann DF9CY

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