Testing the SBIG ST-8300 with RGB Filters

In this session, I focused on testing the old SBIG ST-8300 CCD camera and RGB filters using the Newtonian. Each colour channel—red, green, and blue—was exposed for 20 minutes, with individual unguided subs lasting 60 seconds. I didn't use any calibration frames for this particular test. The target  was Messier 52, a star cluster in Cassiopeia , with the Bubble Nebula prominently positioned in the top left of the frame. This approach allowed me to assess the camera's performance and the effectiveness of the RGB filters without the additional complexity of calibration, providing valuable insights into the imaging capabilities of the setup. I was pleased with how this 16 year old camera performed, despite the fact that I've had to operate it via an older PC running Windows 10 Pro as Microsoft have blocked all the legacy drivers in Windows 11. Unfortunately the 2009 Starlight Express filter wheel is very glitchy so I'll be sending it for a software upgrade shortly. I do actually prefer the results from this CCD over the one-shot colour 071 MC Pro; the stars appear sharper. In addition the slightly smaller chip size means that stars appear less distorted at the edges and easily fixable in Pixinsight.