News

Januar 2012 • Freude über meine ASA DDM Montierung!

von David Kopacz, Hopkinsville, USA

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November 2011 • Advanced Imaging Conference

Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, California (USA)
This fall, ASA Astrosysteme has attended and showcased at the AIC - one of the world's most accomplished astrophotography conferences.

During the conference, interested parties were able to view the ASA DDM160 direct drive mounts together with a 500mm aperature Cassegrain Telescope. ASA also used the event to present their new line of Ritchey Chretien and Cassegrain correctors.

For more information on the conference see the video below:

November 2011 • A look inside ASA

Take a video tour into ASA's headquarters and production facility and see the ASA's flagship mount - the DDM160 - mounted with two 500mm Ritchey Chretien telescopes simultaneously.
Film-Link

April 2011 • ASA at the Northeast Astronomy Forum
New York, USA

Between April 16th and 17th, 2011 ASA Astrosysteme attended the largest US Astronomy Forum showcasing both the DDM60 and DDM85 (mounted together with a 9inch refractor from Lunt Solar). The next US conference ASA will be attending this year will be the Advanced Imaging Conference in Santa Clara, California. The conference will take place between the 4th and 6th of November, 2011.
More information will be available here www.aicccd.com

January 2011 • New modules in ASA’s public forum (Yahoo Group)

For the beginning of the Year 2011 the ASA team has decided to expand the possibilities available to clients in its ASA Yahoo Gruppe. We therefore activated the following new modules:

How to instructions
We invite you to post helpful procedures for newbies of the group but also invite the experts among you to post your tips & tricks relating to ASA products and software.
Question & Answers
For beginners and experts alike.
Rate my Pics
Post your astroimages here and let your fellow group members post comments and questions relating to your work and processing techniques.
RSVP
ASA posts relating to its participation at astro fairs and astro imaging conferences coming up. Members are welcome to post there own events.

All four new modules can be accessed through the yahoo groups menu to the left (near bottom) by clicking on the Applications link.

Please feel free to send suggestions, comments & feedback relating to the new modules to my email address info@astrosysteme.at.

January 2011 • ASA announces new Correctors for SCT, RC and Classical Cassegrain Systems!

For the year 2011, ASA Astrosysteme has announced five new correctors for improved image quality and correction:
1.) 2 inch Schmidt-Cassegrain Reducer Corrector 0.77x
A new corrector will shorten the existing focal length of your SCT System while at the same time improving image quality considerably.
2.) 4 inch Ritchey Chrétien Field Flattener
corrects image errors which can occur in bigger fields of view and for RC Systems.
3.) 4 inch Ritchey Chrétien Reducer Corrector 0.70x
With ample back focus of 90mm this corrector is suitable for all RC systems with f-ratios of F/8 or slower. The corrector can easily illuminate a diagonal image field of 60mm.
4.) 4 inch Cassegrain Field Flattener
Substantial imaging improvement up to 80mm diameter.
5.) 4 inch Cassegrain Reducer Corrector 0.72x
With ample back focus of 90mm this corrector is suitable for systems with f-ratios of F/8 or slower. The corrector can illuminate a 53mm diagonal image field.
6.) Cassegrain Prime focus option f3 with electrical focuser (4 inches)
The prime focus option f/3 is useful for fast speeds and huge fields of view and was developed specifically for the ASA cassegrain system.

Schmidt-Cassegrain Reducer 0.77x
A Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope will show substantial image errors (most prominent being coma and image field curvature errors). ASA Astrosysteme is now offering a new SC Reducer Corrector, which was developed by Dipl. Phys. Philipp Keller and is built by ASA. The corrector not only reduces the outer axial image errors but is also able to correct chromatical aberration errors which are introduced by the Schmidt plate. The results are pinpoint stars not only to the side but also into the image middle. The reducer will correct the focal length down by a factor of 0,77x. It is perfectly suitable for perfect image performance onto APS-C format sized CCD chips.
Data sheet

Ritchey Chretien Field Flattener
A Ritchey Chretien Telescope System without corrector will start showing imaging errors especially in larger fields of view. Hence, to achieve a bigger filed of view a suitable field flattener / corrector is needed.
A system which employs a corrector will be much better than the seeing limits. The corrector is suitable for image sizes of 80mm diameter. The build up of the corrector is achieved with two lenses each with 92mm diameter within a 4 inch frame.
Data sheet

Ritchey Chrétien Reducer Corrector 0.70x
The ASA 0.70x reducer corrector was designed to illuminate the large modern day CCD chips such as the 4x4k 16803 chips vignetting-free. The corrector offers ample back focus of 90mm, enough to accommodate most common cameras and filter wheels. The corrector can be used for all Ritchey Chrétien system ratios of f/8 and slower. The useable diagonal is 60mm.
Data sheet

Cassegrain Field Flattener
Similar as to the RC, a classical Cassegrain System should be used in conjunction with a field flattener to achieve larger fields of view. ASA also has a suitable corrector available which will improve image performance considerably. As can be seen on the spot diagrams (note the 5x larger scale for the spots achieved with the corrector) the field flattener will improve imaging up to 80mm diameter within the seeing limit.
Data sheet

Cassegrain Reducer Corrector 0.72x
The ASA 0.72x reducer corrector was designed to illuminate the large modern day CCD chips such as the 4x4k 16803 chips vignetting-free. The corrector offers ample back focus to 90mm, enough to accommodate most common cameras and filter wheels. The corrector can be used for all system rations of f/8 and slower. The useable diagonal is 53mm.
Data sheet

Cassegrain Prime focus option f3 with electrical focuser (4 inches)
The prime focus option f/3 is useful for fast speeds and huge fields of view. The prime focus is permanently installed in front of the secondary mirror and by removing the secondary in its holder you allow the light path to reach the prime focus. Switching between the 2 focal configurations will only take 1 minute. The F3 option is only available for ASA cassegrain systems.

November 2010 • ASA Presentation at the Astrofest in Erba, Italy

ASA Astrosysteme was again present at this years Astronomy fair in Erba, Italy. Among the products showcased were the DDM60 and DDM85, as well as a Newton Astrograph. Next year, the astro-fest will allready be held in May, this time in the Italian capital city of Rome.

November 2010 • ASA presents itself at the astronomy fair "Les Rencontres du ciel et de l'espace" in Paris, France

Together with our french partner "Optique Unterlinden" ASA was again present at the bi-yearly Fair "Heaven and Space" in Paris, France. The fair is held every two years in the Paris Center for Sience & Industry. Also this year numerous Visitors came to see the new technology in the sector of astrophotography. Leading the way also this year were ASA's DDM series mounts and fast Newtonian Astrographs.

September 2010 • ASA Astrosysteme participates at PATS (Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show)

Together with the US-American distribution partner OPT (Oceanside Photography & Telescopes) ASA Astrosysteme presented itself at the "Pacific Astronomy and Telescope Show" fair in Pasadena, California. At this years fair, ASA presented it mid range class DDM85 mount with an ASA Astrograph.

May 2010 • ASA Astrosysteme at the ATT in Essen

Also this year ASA Astrosysteme hosted its own stand at the ATT Fair in Essen. Among other products, ASA show cased the DDM85 and DDM60 in action. Among the many curious visitors was also Germany's renowned science tv moderator Ranga Yogeshwar (Quarks & CO), who operates his own observatories using ASA equipment.

PERFECT IMAGING PERFORMANCE