Hi,
It can be revealed that I am the one with the permanent smile on my face.
The ICX414AL is the big brother of the ICX424AL CCD. The CCD size is 0.5", with 9.9 micron square pixels.
It was clear tonight so I decided to quickly hot-melt-glue it into an old case and give it first light. The attached image is a stack of 33 x 2 second frames at 100% gain. The mount was a Black & Decker Workmate, so tracking is sub-optimal ;^)). I'm not sure of the target, but I was trying to aim in the region of Coma Berenices, to see if I could pick up any galaxies. I think that I may have succeeded. If any one recognises the area or has any tools to match it, I'd be grateful as I'd like to determine the limiting maginitude. North is Up, East is Left, Alt-Az orientation. FOV is 161x121arcmin (135mm telephoto lens at f/2.5).
The camera appears to be pretty sensitive and dark current is remarkably low. A 60 dark is attached, but this is rather academic as skyglow washed out everything, when using 10s at 100% gain :^)) at my rural site.
Still a long way to go to prove the design, but I'm pleased and relieved that the first images are promising (I haven't even removed the protective film from the CCD window yet).
Many, many thanks to Steve Chambers for his advice, and encouragement to give this chip a go, and of course for the original long exposure mod and the ground-breaking 424 camera.
Cheers
Greg
52N6 1W22
www.greg.beeke.btinternet.co.uk
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<img src="att-5442/P4070333.jpg" alt="P4070333.jpg">
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<img src="att-5442/2sx33x100gainicx414.jpg" alt="2sx33x100gainicx414.jpg">
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<img src="att-5442/60dark.jpg" alt="60dark.jpg">
