Adaptive Optics vs Self guide

 

 

The above intensity plots were generated by MaxImDL6.0 & CCDinspector and show the field FWHM values and maximum intensity values of the boxed star, imaged using a Astro-Physics 305mm F3.8 Honders Astrograph

The telescope has 1159mm Focal length, hence sky coverage with the KAF8300 sensor used here is ~1.0 arc per pixel

The top image was captured using CCDOPS & self guiding, with corrections being applied once per second in good seeing

 

 

Tracking errors during the self-guide run, are shown in the screen-grab above.

The Graph scale is 1 pixel, with Dec & RA errors being 0.21 and 0.26 pixels RMS respectively

Adaptive guiding was applied at 7Hz.

The self guided data shows a peak intensity of approximately 25,000 counts

FWHM is approximately 3 pixels

The AO guided data shows a peak intensity of approximately 28,000 counts

FWHM is approximately 2 pixels