CCD "Cookbook Camera" Project History

  • 5/30/97 Most of the electronic materials have been purchases. Construction of the power supplies has begun.
  • 6/12/97 Materials for camera heads taken to machine shop.
  • 6/15/97 First power supply completed.
  • 6/17/97 Interface card started.
  • 6/23/97 First interface card finished.
  • 6/28/97 First preamp card started.
  • 6/30/97 Machining of parts begun. (Thank-you Tony Sternad for expediting the work!)
  • 7/1/97 First interface card/preamp card is finished and tested.
  • 7/6/97 Second power supply begun. It will be modified from the directions and based on a PC case and switched power supply, providing +-12V and +5V directly to the interface card.
  • 7/9/97 Second interface card started.
  • 7/11/97 Machining of camera head parts finished by Lee. (Great Job!)
  • 7/13/97 Second power supply completed.
  • 7/14/97 Assembly of camera heads started.
  • 7/18/97 CCD installed in first camera head. First light seen with CCD.
  • 7/19/97 Cooling system begun using old maintenance chemical buckets.
  • 7/22/97 Window installed in CCD camera head.
  • 7/23/97 First CCD camera completed.
  • 7/25/97 Computer and camera installed in dome with 8" Celestron. First astronomical image taken by camera through H-alpha filter: solar flare caught in progress.
  • 7/26/97 Dome with camera cleaned and organized. First night images of Venus and Vega.
  • 7/28/97 Images of Jupiter and Mizar.
  • 7/29/97 Images of M13, M31, other nebulae.
  • 7/31/97 Images of Jupiter and Venus with Barlow lens. Ring Nebula.
  • 8/3/97 Second Interface card finished. Second Preamp board begun.
  • 8/7/97 Second preamp board finished. Assembly of second CCD started.
  • 8/13/97 First image with second CCD camera. Work started on LDC (Low Dark Current) modification of electronics.
  • 8/26/97 Second Camera low dark current modifications finished.
  • 9/3/97 Problems with camera. Repaired broken coax cable. Imaged Saturn. Worked on aligning telescope.
  • 9/10/97 Circulation pump replaced on first camera.
  • 9/13/97 Finished upgrading first CCD camera with low-dark-current modifications.
  • 9/15/97 Moved CCD camera #1 to 12 inch telescope. This telescope needs alignment and repairs before it is used.
  • 9/17/97 CCD #2 is installed on 8" Celestron. 2 hours spent aligning the Celestron.
  • 9/24/97 Tracking problems most probably due to worn worm gear or drive parts. Multiple 10 and 15 second integrations used.
  • 10/12/97 Celestron telescope removed for cleaning and repair of bearings and lubrication of clock drive.
  • 12/24/97 Celestron returned to dome after repairs and the addition of digital setting circles, focus motor drive and declination motor drive.
  • 1/1/98 Digital setting circles not working due to wiring problem (fixed the next day). CCD working with new computer. Pictures taken of Orion nebula. Tracking problems in 1minute exposures. May be due to high winds.
  • 1/10/98 Digital setting circles work great. Images of Crab and Orion. Problems with find/focus mode of CCD software.
  • 1/13/98 Images of Crab, Orion, Whirlpool and Pinwheel. Tracking problems on longer exposures might be due to polar alignment.
  • 4/23/98 New Periodic Error Corrector construction is finished. Tried for the first time.

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