Mallincam SkyRaider

I just acquired a (almost never) used monochrome Mallincam SkyRaider Autoguider. And since the skies magically cleared shortly after the previous owner and I made the exchange, we decided to hook it up to one of my scopes and try some lunar imaging.

The results, in my opinion, were fantastic!

Moon, July 1, 2017; Mallincam SkyRaider w/Baader Contrast Booster; ST80 on Vixen SP
Click here for full-size image

98 images were stacked in RegiStax 5.1, with wavelet sharpening applied. The sharpness and contrast are better than any other image of the moon that I've taken previously, I think.

The camera can also do long exposures, but the images are very noisy.  The included software has a "dark field" feature that removes a lot of the noise, but the number of hot pixels on the sensor make it impractical for imaging deep sky objects.  Here is a single frame of Messier 4, with a bonus airplane thrown in just for fun:

Messier 4; Mallincam SkyRaider w/Baader Contrast Booster; ST80 on Vixen SP. This is a single 2-minute exposure with a dark frame applied.

Next, I want to try solar imaging with the ST80 and the glass solar filter. If that works out well, then I plan on using that combo for imaging the August 21, 2017 solar eclipse.

Stay tuned!