The camera is an Art-429. This camera features a peltier cooled 752x582 pixel 1/2 inch ICX429ALL CCD chip with 8.6x8.3 um pixels. This was the biggest chip I've had on my telescope - it might not sound much, but its certainly a step up from the SC3 sized chip. The image on the right shows the camera on my scope. More on those large aluminium plates later.
I've had the camera for a couple of weeks. Of course, its early May, so it hardly gets dark.. and naturally with a new bit of astronomy kit, the weather did not induldge me. I've not been idle. The camera came partly assembled, so I had to finish the job, which involved a small amount of soldering and some thermal managment... but more on that later. I've been trying out the Capture Software, which is simple, easy to use
On the night of 8th May 2005 the moon and the clouds co-operated to leave us a few short hours around midnight to take Artemis for a "spin" around the skies.
