Description

This versatile Panel can be used for Telescope Flat-Field Correction.

This EL Panel can be used like any other for the variety of uses people find for EL Panels. It glows white when illuminated and is a peach colour when not illuminated.

If this Panel is too large for your telescope, then you may find this A5 panel (14cm x 20cm) would suite your needs

Or if you need a larger EL Panel for flat-field calibration, then you will have to use our A3 EL Panel (29cm x 42cm)

If you are using this Panel for flats then you may want to use some opalescent acrylic to diffuse the granulation of the EL Panel

We do not currently have any opalescent acrylic in stock but it is available online.

The EL Panel comes with a choice of 12v portable dedicated Driver, that can be hot swapped between various 12v power supplies (e.g. crocodile clips, car lighter attachment, 8 x AA battery box or rechargeable Li-ion batteries), or a dedicated mains powered driver with either a UK or EU mains plug.

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Here is the experience of one of our customers from using our EL Panels for flat-field correction:

You’ll remember that we exchanged emails following my purchase of an EL panel from you last month via eBay.

In your last email you asked whether the panel would be bright, white and even enough for telescope calibration, and I said I would let you know how it performed once I had it all set up.

For use, I sandwiched the EL panel between a sheet of black acrylic and a sheet of opal frosted acrylic, bound the edges together with black plastic insulation tape, and fixed the assembly into a deep picture frame.

The attached images show how the panel performs in producing flat-fields for the correction of astronomical images. A 6-inch reflecting telescope and astronomical camera with an APS-size CCD colour sensor were used. This is the maximum size of telescope that can be calibrated with this panel.

The panel was placed directly onto the telescope tube. With the particular camera I used, the exposure needed to give around 33% saturation of the sensor (the ideal value) was 0.25sec. So brightness is perfectly adequate for the purpose.

The attached images include the flat-field obtained and an analytical map of the brightness distribution. The vignetting is entirely due to the optics of the telescope. There is no detectable unevenness arising from the EL panel alone.

I have not tested the spectral distribution of the panel. Many astronomical cameras use monochrome sensors and colour images are obtained by combining exposures taken through red, green and blue filters, as well as some special narrow-band filters designed to highlight specific radiation from hydrogen, oxygen, etc. I expect that flats obtained using these filters will need different exposures to compensate for differences in the emission spectrum of the EL panel.

Two of the attached images show a picture taken last week of the galaxy pair M81 and M82, with and without correction using the flat field panel. The ‘without correction’ picture is a raw image before any processing – the ‘with correction’ picture shows the result of flat-field correction combined with processing using specialised software to manipulate the brightness range of the image.

These are a very good results and I think it’s fair to say that a perfectly adequate set-up can be made using your panels.

Thanks for your help getting the panel to me and sorting out the glitches.

Raw Image:

With Flat-field Correction:

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As with all EL Panels, this 33cm diameter glowing circle will need a driver to make it glow. You have the option of a 12v (portable) dedicated driver or mains powered dedicated driver.

Here are a range of 12v power inputs for the 12v driver which will hopefully cover most uses:

1) NO DRIVER

This is a great option if you already have your own driver you want to use.

Whatever your reason, this option gives you just the 26cm diameter circle EL Panel – without any driver or external power supplies like the rest of these listed below…

2) Crocodile Clips

Perfect if you already have your own 12V battery to run this Driver

3) Car Lighter Adaptor

This adaptor plugs into the car lighter socket. It is fused and ends with a 5.5mm/2.1mm jack plug so it can be used with any of our 12v Drivers or accessories

4) 8xAA Battery Box

This 8xAA Battery Box will plug straight into the driver. It is fairly large (127mm x 72mm x 19mm) but will make this EL Driver portable

5) Rechargeable Li-ion Battery

Much smaller and lighter than the Battery Box, these powerful Li-ion batteries come in a range of sizes

3000mAh: 172g (7.3cm x 5.6cm x 2.2cm)

5000mAh: 265g (6.0cm x 5.8cm x 3.9cm)

All of these Li-ion Batteries come with an intelligent charger as standard.6) The mains powered driver options comes with a UK plug or EU plug.