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CCD Users Group
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Group Coordinator: Blair Lade
What's a CCD?CCDs, or Charge Coupled Devices, are a type of electronic camera which are particularly well suited to imaging astronomical objects. They are revolutionizing amateur astronomy, not only in the fact that they require shorter exposure times than film, but also open to amateurs types of observing that were previously only undertaken by professional astronomers.Who are we? What do we do?The Astronomical Society of South Australia has a small group of six or so members interested in using CCDs in astronomical imaging. This involves connecting the CCD camera to a computer which then is used to store the images as viewed through the telescope. We are also keen to help members who are considering building or buying their own CCD cameras, or using CCDs for autoguiding photographing exposures.What equipment do we use?The Society currently owns an SBIG ST6 (375x244 pixel) camera. The ST6 is equiped with a colour filter wheel which allows the camera, which is normally limited to black and white images only, to combine three images to obtain a colour view of an object. The camera is connected to a Pentium computer currently installed at Stockport Observatory for storage and processing of the images.Members are welcome to bring their telescopes or other computer equipment along to our viewing nights. Recently the group purchased additional equipment to allow longer exposure imaging to be undertaken as well as images in specific emission lines (OIII, H alpha).  How can I find out more CCDs?A variety of books are available, some are in the Society's library. In addition there have been several articles published in Sky & Telescope which describe the operation and usage of CCDs, as well as reviews of common commercial units.Books about using CCD cameras include "The CCD Camera Cookbook" by R. Berry et al, "CCD Astronomy" by C. Buil, and "Choosing and Using a CCD Camera" by R. Berry. Articles also appear regularly in Sky & Telescope  magazine. For example, issues April '94,
January '97, May '97 and June '97. The February '97 issue of Astronomy magazine
also had a good article. (Sky Publishing also used to publish a small magazine
called CCD Astronomy.)
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