I have posted no images for a good while now mostly because of poor weather here in western Oregon. However, I did get a clear day today, and decided to get first light (daylight terrestrial) on my new camera. It is a QHY5III462 color camera, which uses an IMX462 back-illuminated sensor. Key for me is that the sensor is on a thicker silicon chip, which dramatically increases the sensitivity of this camera in the NIR, between 700nm and 1,000nm. In fact for a good portion of this range, its actual sensitivity is better than most cameras in the visible range. The camera package that I ordered comes with an IR850 edge filter (transmission from ~850 and above) and a 890 methane filter. These will hopefully be useful for planetary imaging, etc. with the 890 offering potential added detail to the gas giants, if and when I get into that. However, today, I also just received an IR 950 edge filter that I got from Salvo. I popped this into the methane filter holder and gave it a try.

The panel that is posted here is a test. Starting from the upper left and as you would read, you will see simple images captured outside of my window of a tree and sky using the provided 2.5mm wide angle lense provided with the package I got, with 1) IR/UV cut filter and debayered, so basically a typical color shot, 2) No filter and debayered, which offers a wide band image including visible and NIR/IR up to whatever the sensor can provide (probably a bit more than 1,000nm), 3) The 950IR edge filter, and 3) an image up under my desk lamp. The desk lamp bulb is actually on! You can see a slight green cast to it. The IR950 is clearly a more restrictive filter than the IR850 and this one has me very excited to use on my MN56.

As some of you are aware, I have been wanting to do NIR and IR imaging of the dark and star-forming nebulae for some time and this is a first step for me. My goal is to get a telescope that will meet the performance needed to use this camera and any additions in the future. For now, I will work with my Intes MN56. I know that my RASA is stated to only offer performance to 700nm, so I am hoping that my corrected Newtonian will give me some results. My hope is that the coating of this old horse is not dielectric (some of which do poorly in the IR and NIR). And also that the glass corrector at the front is not coated with an IR-blocking AR film. So far I seem to be getting a decent response with the IR850 and the 890 methane with the MN56. But I have been restricted to terrestrial trials because of weather.

The clouds are closing fast this afternoon, so I will not be able to get any sky images with this setup.

The 2.5mm lens is a cool addition. It basically will cover the full sky when pointed upward. The only issue is that it is not designed to mount onto the camera without an adaptor that happens to have a small UV/IR cut filter attached. But as you see I can make it work (with tape!). Also the 2.5mm lens is not designed to accept filters either, but tape works pretty well here too! In another couple days, we will be set up for some clear weather here and I will hopefully post a pre and post IR950 image of the sky. Then hopefully to the IRIS nebula and molecular cloud to see if this can offer any interesting data. I am hoping to look for star-formation and doing photometry at some point. If this setup doesn't work, then it will be on to the planets and the moon (and maybe trees!) It is a rather small chip so more setup for routine surveying and photometry.