Learn how to understand the skies with this comprehensive pocket guide to cloudspotting.

Clouds have been the object of fascination throughout history, their fleeting magnificence and endless variability providing food for thought for scientists and daydreamers alike.

Clouds may have many individual shapes, but there are a few basic forms. In this definitive guide to the clouds and the skies, Richard Hamblyn introduces you to all the different cloud species. The Pocket Cloud Book will enable you to identify individual clouds, skies, and phenomena. You will also be able to track their likely changes over time and predict the implications they have for the weather you may experience.

This brand-new pocket-size edition includes the 12 new cloud types only recently officially recognised by the World Meteorological Organization. Many of these previously only had informal names, but their new Latin classification brings them into the fold of officially adopted global meteorological terms. It also includes a new foreword from the Met Office's Chief Meteorologist and an updated section on climate change and the role that clouds might play in shaping future conditions on Earth.

Produced in association with the Met Office - the world's premier weather forecasting bureau - all things to do with the origin and development of a cloud are here. Whether you are looking at a giant cumulonimbus or a tiny shred of stratus factus, an everyday occurrence or a fleeting rarity, your cloudspotting will be expertly informed and much more satisfying with this handy reference guide. This book will enable you to not only identify individual clouds and skies as they might appear at any given moment, but also to track their likely changes over time, and thus predict weather patterns.

Illustrated with stunning images from around the globe, this pocket edition is the perfect size to take with you on walks and have it handy in the garden so that you can enjoy sky-gazing every day. This is the only guide to cloud classification that you will ever need, in handy and practical pocket-friendly size.

AUTHOR:
Dr Richard Hamblyn is the author of The Invention of Clouds (2002),which won the LA Times Book Prize and was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize. He is also the author of The Cloud Book (2008), Extraordinary Clouds (2009) and Extraordinary Weather (2012). He is currently Writer in Residence at the Environment Institute, University College London.

ISBN: 9781446310113
Author: HAMBLYN, RICHARD
Format: Hardcover
Publication date: 01/11/2023
Pages: 144
Dimension: 140mm X 106mm
Imprint: David and Charles

Power cord for SDCC

Our sealed and certified switching power supply unit is the perfect match for our Pegasus Astro Products. It can provide 12V and up to 10Amps. (120W of total power). Low ripple and noise ensures that you will provide the required and correct “electric juice” to your precious equipment. Comes together with a power cord (1.5m) for your country type.

Powertech 12VDC 7.5A Adapter

The 12v ports are 2.5mm. We offer 2 x 2.5mm - 2.1 mm converters with this unit. Please contact the store if you need them.

With this advanced power station, you can keep your devices powered and charged when you don’t have access to mains power. This makes it ideal to take camping, to your picnic, on a boat, or to use at home in the event of a power blackout. A built-in 300W pure sine wave inverter enables you to power 240V devices like laptops, small power tools, and other mains powered devices. The cigarette lighter socket and two DC sockets provide 12VDC to power a 12V fridge/freezer, fan, CB radio, air compressor, 12V lights, etc. Charge your smartphone, tablet and other USB devices simultaneously via the four USB ports, which include 2 x USB-A, USB-A with Quick Charge™ 3.0, and Type-C with 55W Power Delivery for a faster charge. A wireless Qi charger built into the top of the power station provides up to 10W fast charge to compatible devices. An ultra bright 1W LED light means you won’t be left in the dark, large colour LCD screen shows you the power status at a glance, and a fold-out carry handle makes it easy to carry. A mains charger is included to charge the high-capacity Li-ion batteries. Al-ternatively, a DC input with an integrated high-performance MPPT charge controller enables you to charge the power station with a solar panel (not included).

High Capacity Li-ion Battery
2x 12V, 2x USB- A, 1x QC3.0, 1x 10W Wireless Charger and 1x USB-C Outputs
Charge multiple devices at once
Convenient wireless charger on top for mobile devices
Bright LED Light
Bright LCD Screen

Specifications

Battery Type

MB3774: 14.8V/20.4Ah 300Wh Li-ion Batteries

Charging

18V-21V Solar panel (not included)
12v Cigarette socket (not included)
19V 4A Adapter

Outputs

2 x DC12V (7A Max) (2.5mm)
2 x USB-A (2A Max)
1 x QC3.0 (2A Max)
1 x USB-C (55W)
1 x Wireless Qi charger (10W)
1 x Pure Sinewave Inverter (500W continuous, 1000W peak)
Charger Controller: MPPT 4A
LED: 1W
Dimensions: 225(W) x 170(H) x 150(W)mm
Weight: MB3774: 4kg

Includes Edison Screw 5w 4000K LED light & 2.9m cable w/switch, 1.5m Cigarette-socket charging cord, and 19v 4A mains power charger w/1.2m IEC C7 cable.

PowerTech Lithium Power Tank v2

This is a fantastic new product. Firstly, it is a multipurpose power bank that can be charged from 240V mains or a solar panel via its built in MPPT charger. In other words, it can provide a campsite power completely independent from AC power charging, but provides AC and DC power itself!

This is what it does:

• 155Wh,14Ah/11.1V (Equivalent 42000mAh, 3.7V)
• 100W 240V Inverter (modified sine wave)
• Provides 12VDC to 3 x 5.5mm separate points. 9~12V at up to 15A.
• 2 x USB charging ports (Total 3.5A Max)
• 1 x USB charging port 5~9v/2A Qualcomm Quickcharge 3.0
• 1 x USB-c charging port 5~9v/2A Qualcomm Quickcharge 3.0
• It has a bright LED camping light built-in
• LED Display

This is how it does it:

• It has a high quality lithium Ion battery bank inside (155W/hr)
• It has a 240V AC adapter/charger, 15V, 2A
• Multiple USB Charging ports

Supplied

• 1 x Power Tank v2
• 1 x Car Charger
• 1 x Cigarette Lighter Adapter
• 1 x 15v/2A Power Adapter
• 1 x User Manual

Capture high-resolution photos and Full HD to 4K video with the ProGrade Digital SDXC UHS-I V30 Memory Card. Built for speed and reliability, this card features UHS-I interface and V30 video speed class, delivering fast read/write performance ideal for content creators, photographers, and videographers. Durable and dependable, it's ready for demanding shoots in any environment.

The QHY5III462 camera uses the Sixth Generation Sony 2.1 megapixel IMX462 STARVIS CMOS sensor. The pixel size is 2.9um making it the same size and resolution as the sensor used in the QHY5III290 camera that has been so successfully used for planetary imaging by some of the best planetary imagers in the world. Like other cameras in the 5III series, the QHY5III462 is USB 3.0 powered and controlled. No additional power is required.

The IMX462 sensor is back-illuminated and incorporates new technology that gives it some significant advantage over other planetary cameras: First, the IMX462 sensor has sHCG (Super High Conversion Gain) for very low read noise at high gain. This is ideal for stacking hundreds or thousands of short planetary images. Second, it is exceptionally sensitive in the NIR.

In this latest generation of sensors, the photodiode portion of the pixel well is physically deeper than in previous Sony BSI sensors, allowing photons of longer wavelength to penetrate deeper into the substrate. This dramatically increases the sensor’s sensitivity to red and near infrared (NIR) light. The RGB filters over the pixels become transparent at NIR wavelengths, so the sensor displays almost equal peak sensitivity to NIR light as it does to light in the visible spectrum.

The peak QE in the NIR around 800nm is as high as the peak QE in the visible wavelengths. For planetary imagers using a methane filter that passes light around 880nm this is welcome news.

BSI

One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved sensitivity. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor.

In the back- illuminated sensor the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

Extended Near Infrared Sensitivity

Logically, one would think, each generation of Exmor sensor would be built upon and incorporate all of the improvements of the generation immediately preceding. However, this was not the case with the fifth generation Exmor R sensors.

The first back-illuminated sensors used shallower pixel wells (like the third-generation front- illuminated designs) than the physically deeper pixels of the fourth generation. So, while the back- illuminated structure increased the sensitivity in the visible range by 2X, the shallower pixels did not improve the NIR. The answer to this is seen in the latest, sixth generation, Sony Exmor R sensors, like the IMX462. Using physically deeper pixels in conjunction with the back-illuminated structure has dramatically improved the sensor’s sensitivity to both the visible and near infrared wavelengths.

sHCG Mode

Another advantage of the QHY5III462 is the camera’s “Super High Conversion Gain” capability. By using a lower capacitance, a small amount of charge can be converted to a high voltage resulting in higher sensitivity in low-light conditions. The readout noise of the QHY5III462 in high gain mode is as low as 0.5 electrons!

The test exposures below demonstrate the low light improvement over the IMX290 sensor. The QHY5III462C image is on the left and the corresponding QHY5III290C image is on the right. The low light conditions and exposures are identical for each top and bottom pair of images and a UV/IR filter was in place for each camera. So this test demonstrates the QHY5III462C’s increase in sensitivity and SNR over the QHY5III290C under the same conditions in the visual light spectrum alone.

Color and Mono Imaging

The filter matrix in the IMX462 uses organic dye filters. These filters are very efficient at visible wavelengths but become completely transparent in the NIR. For this reason, good RGB color balance requires an external UV/IR filter that blocks NIR wavelengths.

Many color cameras build this UV/IR filter into the camera or optical window for normal color imaging. However, in order to fully exploit the capabilities of the 462C sensor, in the QHY5III462C camera the optical window is AR coated only with no UV or IR blocking. Instead, the QHY5III462C camera includes two 1.25″ screw-in filters, a UV/IR cut filter to isolate the visible wavelengths for normal RGB imaging and an IR850 filter that will cut the visible wavelengths but pass wavelengths above 850nm.

Specifications

Camera Curves

The new CFW3 series filter wheels are available in four sizes to accommodate filters from 1.25-inch to 50 millimeters square.

For filter wheel control a custom QHY 4-pin filter wheel port is included that provides power and control signals for QHY dual control filter wheels like the series 3 filter wheels. Both the series 2 and new series 3 filter wheels can be controlled by either an independent external program using the filter wheel’s USB port or via the QHY 4-pin serial port. When connected to the QHY 4-pin port there is no need for an additional power cable or control program. All of the filter wheel functions are controlled through the camera and its operating Software.

The series 3 filter wheels utilize a new motor with direct drive and will reverse direction to take the shortest path when moving from one filter to another. For Example, in this demonstration the wheel moves from filter position 1 to position 2 to position 3 and then back to 1 again, over to position 7 and back to position 1 without ever making a complete rotation of the carousel. This saves time if you’re doing a lot of filter changes in one imaging session.

LED changes color for each filter position. The tricolor LED assigns one unique color or combination of colors to each filter position so you can tell if it’s moved to the correct position without removing it from the Telescope.

The CFW3 is also thin. This feature and the short back focus of the COLDMOS cameras means you can add one of several camera lens adapters for Canon and Nikon camera lenses for wide field imaging with the filter wheel.

In the center of the back plate is a 12-volt DC power port. This port is threaded for a short extension cable that is supplied with the camera that securely attaches such that it will not accidentally disconnect while you are imaging.

The new CFW3 series filter wheels are available in four sizes to accommodate filters from 1.25-inch to 50 millimeters square.

For filter wheel control a custom QHY 4-pin filter wheel port is included that provides power and control signals for QHY dual control filter wheels like the series 3 filter wheels. Both the series 2 and new series 3 filter wheels can be controlled by either an independent external program using the filter wheel’s USB port or via the QHY 4-pin serial port. When connected to the QHY 4-pin port there is no need for an additional power cable or control program. All of the filter wheel functions are controlled through the camera and its operating Software.

The series 3 filter wheels utilize a new motor with direct drive and will reverse direction to take the shortest path when moving from one filter to another. For Example, in this demonstration the wheel moves from filter position 1 to position 2 to position 3 and then back to 1 again, over to position 7 and back to position 1 without ever making a complete rotation of the carousel. This saves time if you’re doing a lot of filter changes in one imaging session.

LED changes color for each filter position. The tricolor LED assigns one unique color or combination of colors to each filter position so you can tell if it’s moved to the correct position without removing it from the Telescope.

The CFW3 is also thin. This feature and the short back focus of the COLDMOS cameras means you can add one of several camera lens adapters for Canon and Nikon camera lenses for wide field imaging with the filter wheel.

In the center of the back plate is a 12-volt DC power port. This port is threaded for a short extension cable that is supplied with the camera that securely attaches such that it will not accidentally disconnect while you are imaging.

Specifications

Suggested Guide Cameras

At just over 4 inches in diameter and a few inches thick (IMX585), the new miniCAM8 is a compact, high-resolution, high-performance, cooled imaging system capable of exceptional, high-quality deep space images as well as high-quality, high-resolution planetary images.

So often, compactness in astroimaging is achieved at the expense of some other critical feature found in multi-component cooled systems, such as sensor quality or thermoelectric cooling, etc. Such is not the case with the new miniCAM8. Based on Sony’s IMX585 8 MP sensor, the miniCAM8 includes full TE cooling capable of reaching a delta of -45℃ from ambient along with a built-in 8-position filter wheel for complete LRGB and narrowband imaging.

High Near-Infrared Sensitivity

The IMX585 is a Sony Starvis II processor that enables high sensitivity and high dynamic range (HDR). It also improves sensitivity in the near-infrared range by approximately 1.7 times* compared to the IMX485. The new camera miniCAM8 has a maximum quantum efficiency of 60% in the near-infrared band and 92% in the visible wavelength band.

*This data is officially provided by Sony: https://www.sony-semicon.com/cn/news/2021/2021062901.html

BSI

One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full-well capacity. This is particularly helpful for sensors with small pixels. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor.

In the back-illuminated sensor, the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case, the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer, and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency, the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons, and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

Zero Amplify Glow

miniCAM8 is also a zero amplifier glow camera.

Anti-Dew Technology

Based on almost 20-year cooled camera design experience, the QHY cooled camera has implemented the fully dew control solutions. The optic window has a built-in dew heater, and the chamber is protected from internal humidity condensation. An electric heating board for the chamber window can prevent the formation of dew, and the sensor itself is kept dry with our silicon gel tube socket design for control of humidity within the sensor chamber.

Cooling

In addition to dual-stage TE cooling, QHYCCD implements proprietary technology in hardware to control the dark current noise.

Filters

The astronomical filters included with the miniCAM8 deepsky combos are custom-designed to match the specific characteristics of the cameras. The size is 19 mm * 12 mm * 1.1 mm. The LRGB and SHO narrowband filters for the miniCAM8M deepsky combo are customized by XiMei Filters. The LRGB filters have an optical density (OD) value of 3, while the narrowband filters have an OD value of 5.

QHYCCD has designed a dedicated Off-Axis Guider (OAG) for the miniCAM8, featuring a large 14×10mm prism. The oversized prism maximizes light throughput to the guide camera, enabling higher guiding precision. It comes with a standard M48 telescope interface for easy connection and maintains a 55mm back focal distance for broad compatibility with imaging setups.

Stable and Strong
High Parallelism

The PoleMaster is an easy, convenient and fast way to achieve excellent polar alignment. It has been recognized by astronomy enthusiasts around the world and has become a must-have for anyone using an equatorial mount for visual use or for imaging. The PoleMaster electronic polar axis alignment device is a patented product of QHYCCD and is protected by Chinese, US patents and International PCT.

As any seasoned astronomer would agree, achieving good polar alignment is not an easy task. You may spend hours under precious dark sky trying to get that perfect polar alignment, but in the end you may not know whether good alignment has in fact been achieved. Even after you have obtained good alignment, a gentle knock on the mount may send the polar alignment off and you may have no other choice but to start from scratch again. With an hour here and an hour there trying to get polar aligned, it soon will be dawn and time to pack up the gear.

The PoleMaster is a great solution to this problem. The PoleMaster is an innovative product pioneered by QHYCCD to relieve the pain of polar alignment. Using PoleMaster and following a few simple, easy-to-follow, steps you can achieve perfect polar alignment in 2-3 minutes, with an accuracy of up to 30 arc seconds.

With PoleMaster, You don’t need to rotate the telescope to some uncomfortable position to keep the optical polar axis of the equatorial mount unobstructed. Also, you don’t need to squat down to look through the polar axis scope. You don’t need to turn off all the light sources to allow the naked eye to adapt to the darkness and look for the Polaris in the field of view. You also don’t need to enter the date and time and then rotate the equatorial mount to a strange angle, finally you don’t need to adjust the equatorial level. With the PoleMaster you can observe the alignment of the polar axis at any time, as well as continuously monitor the polar axis. When the equatorial mount moves inadvertently, you can also tune it back without having to redo everything.

The PoleMaster’s pixel resolution is approximately 30 arc seconds. The camera’s pixel matrix itself is a good ruler, so the accuracy it measures is much higher than the accuracy of the macroscopic lens. In the best case it can achieve an alignment accuracy of 30 arc seconds.

Wide Field of View: The electronic polar mirror has a large field of view of 11 degrees x 8 degrees, so it is easy to find the Polaris.

Once you have calibrated with a PoleMaster, you only need to perform a single-star sync (one-star calibration). This greatly facilitates the setup of an equatorial mount.

With a suitable adapter ring, the PoleMaster can be mounted to any equatorial mount. Even single-axis equatorial mounts that have no ability to correct in declination will benefit because with the PoleMaster, after the polar axis is aligned, the amount of drift in the declination direction will be very small, which can further improve the performance of such an equatorial mount.

QHY183C is a model designed for astrophotography beginners. It exhibits excellent sensitivity and low noise, with the back illuminated QHY183C having higher sensitivity and somewhat higher resolution. It is well suited to planetary and deep-space imaging particularly when mated with the CFW3 filter wheel. This model has two-stage thermal electric cooling of the sensor to about minus 40 degrees C below ambient for maximum reduction of dark current noise in long exposures.

QHY183 incorporates QHY’s Anti-Amp Glow technology to significantly reduce typical CMOS amplifier glow to a minimum, allowing excellent calibration by subtracting a dark frame.

QHY183 utilizes the Anti-Dew features common to the QHY COLDMOS cameras. Dew is moisture that condenses from the air onto the outside of the chamber window. Frost is water vapor that freezes when it comes into contact with the inside of the chamber window or the surface of the sensor. QHY has nearly 20 years of experience designing cooled cameras and these models benefit from those years of anti-dew and anti-frost design experience. To help prevent dew from forming on the chamber window heating elements are built into the light shield just above the chamber. To avoid frost from forming inside the chamber a desiccant tube is provided that can easily be attached by the user to the outside of the camera when needed to dry the internal atmosphere of the chamber and remove any built-up moisture.

QHY183 models can be used as guiding devices, too. The opto-isolated guiding port is a standard ST-4 configuration using an RJ11 style Jack. A guiding cable is included with each camera.

The 183 with its smaller higher resolution sensor is a good match to short focal length telescopes or for imaging smaller dim objects through a large scope. The larger 163 gives a greater field of view and would be a good choice for imaging larger areas of the sky such as nebula or when coupled to a longer focal length telescope to take greater advantage of the scopes full field.

The QHY183M is a one-inch, 20 Megapixel back-illuminated monochrome CMOS camera with a peak QE of 84%. The pixel size is 2.4um, yielding high-resolution with modest size telescopes. The camera is capable of producing 15FPS@20 Megapixels. It has a two-stage TEC that cools the sensor to -40C to -45C below ambient. The ADC is 12-bit / 16-bit with 1e- read noise! The computer interface is USB 3.0 and exposure times can be set from 50us to 3600sec.

Specifications

The QHY268M/C is a new generation of back-illuminated CMOS cameras with true 16-bit A/D and 3.76um pixels. This new Sony sensor is an ideal CMOS sensor exhibiting no amplifer glow. 16-bit A/D gives high resolution sampling of the whole full well range. Digitizing 0-65535 levels yields a smooth image with continuous gradation of greyscale levels. The QHY268M/C is a cooled, back-illuminated, CMOS camera based on the Sony IMX571 sensor with native 16-bit A/D and 3.76um pixels.

1GB DDR3 image buffer

In order to provide smooth uninterrupted data transfer of the entire 26MP sensor at high speed, the QHY268 has 1GB DDR3 image buffer. The pixel count of the latest generation of CMOS sensors is very high resulting in greater memory requirements for temporary and permanent storage. The QHY268 has adopted a large-capacity memory of up to 1GB. Data throughput is doubled. This large image buffer meets the needs of high-speed image acquisition and transmission of the new generation of CMOS, making shooting of multiple frames smoother and less stuttered, further reducing the pressure on the computer CPU.

Internal Humidity Sensor

QHY268M has a unique internal humidity sensor (while QHY268C doesn’t). The Blue curve shown below represents humidity.

Native 16 bit A/D: The new Sony sensor has native 16-bit A/D on-chip. The output is real 16-bits with 65536 levels. Compared to 12-bit and 14-bit A/D, a 16-bit A/D yields higher sample resolution and the system gain will be less than 1e-/ADU with no sample error noise and very low read noise.

BSI: One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full well capacity. This is particularly helpful for sensors with small pixels. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor. In the back- illuminated sensor the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

Zero Amplify Glow: This is also a zero amplifer glow camera.

TRUE RAW Data: In the DSLR implementation there is a RAW image output, but typically it is not completely RAW. Some evidence of noise reduction and hot pixel removal is still visible on close inspection. This can have a negative effect on the image for astronomy such as the “star eater” effect. However, QHY Cameras offer TRUE RAW IMAGE OUTPUT and produces an image comprised of the original signal only, thereby maintaining the maximum flexibility for post-acquisition astronomical image processing programs and other scientific imaging applications.

Anti-Dew Technology: Based on almost 20-year cooled camera design experience, The QHY cooled camera has implemented the fully dew control solutions. The optic window has built-in dew heater and the chamber is protected from internal humidity condensation. An electric heating board for the chamber window can prevent the formation of dew and the sensor itself is kept dry with our silicon gel tube socket design for control of humidity within the sensor chamber.

Cooling: In addition to dual stage TE cooling, QHYCCD implements proprietary technology in hardware to control the dark current noise.

With the advantage of low readout noise and high-speed readout, CMOS technology has revolutionized astronomical imaging. A monochrome, back-illuminated, high-sensitivity, astronomical imaging camera is the ideal choice for astro-imagers.

The QHY268M/C is a new generation of back-illuminated CMOS cameras with true 16-bit A/D and 3.76um pixels. This new Sony sensor is an ideal CMOS sensor exhibiting no amplifer glow. 16-bit A/D gives high resolution sampling of the whole full well range. Digitizing 0-65535 levels yields a smooth image with continuous gradation of greyscale levels. The QHY268M/C is a cooled, back-illuminated, CMOS camera based on the Sony IMX571 sensor with native 16-bit A/D and 3.76um pixels.

1GB DDR3 image buffer

In order to provide smooth uninterrupted data transfer of the entire 26MP sensor at high speed, the QHY268 has 1GB DDR3 image buffer. The pixel count of the latest generation of CMOS sensors is very high resulting in greater memory requirements for temporary and permanent storage. The QHY268 has adopted a large-capacity memory of up to 1GB. Data throughput is doubled. This large image buffer meets the needs of high-speed image acquisition and transmission of the new generation of CMOS, making shooting of multiple frames smoother and less stuttered, further reducing the pressure on the computer CPU.

Internal Humidity Sensor

QHY268M has a unique internal humidity sensor (while QHY268C doesn’t). The Blue curve shown below represents humidity.

Native 16 bit A/D: The new Sony sensor has native 16-bit A/D on-chip. The output is real 16-bits with 65536 levels. Compared to 12-bit and 14-bit A/D, a 16-bit A/D yields higher sample resolution and the system gain will be less than 1e-/ADU with no sample error noise and very low read noise.

BSI: One benefit of the back-illuminated CMOS structure is improved full well capacity. This is particularly helpful for sensors with small pixels. In a typical front-illuminated sensor, photons from the target entering the photosensitive layer of the sensor must first pass through the metal wiring that is embedded just above the photosensitive layer. The wiring structure reflects some of the photons and reduces the efficiency of the sensor. In the back- illuminated sensor the light is allowed to enter the photosensitive surface from the reverse side. In this case the sensor’s embedded wiring structure is below the photosensitive layer. As a result, more incoming photons strike the photosensitive layer and more electrons are generated and captured in the pixel well. This ratio of photon to electron production is called quantum efficiency. The higher the quantum efficiency the more efficient the sensor is at converting photons to electrons and hence the more sensitive the sensor is to capturing an image of something dim.

Zero Amplify Glow: This is also a zero amplifer glow camera.

TRUE RAW Data: In the DSLR implementation there is a RAW image output, but typically it is not completely RAW. Some evidence of noise reduction and hot pixel removal is still visible on close inspection. This can have a negative effect on the image for astronomy such as the “star eater” effect. However, QHY Cameras offer TRUE RAW IMAGE OUTPUT and produces an image comprised of the original signal only, thereby maintaining the maximum flexibility for post-acquisition astronomical image processing programs and other scientific imaging applications.

Anti-Dew Technology: Based on almost 20-year cooled camera design experience, The QHY cooled camera has implemented the fully dew control solutions. The optic window has built-in dew heater and the chamber is protected from internal humidity condensation. An electric heating board for the chamber window can prevent the formation of dew and the sensor itself is kept dry with our silicon gel tube socket design for control of humidity within the sensor chamber.

Cooling: In addition to dual stage TE cooling, QHYCCD implements proprietary technology in hardware to control the dark current noise.

The QHY294 Pro is a 4/3-inch back-illuminated camera, equipped with Sony IMX294 (Color) and IMX 492 (Mono) sensor. The 294 Pro has 11.7 MP at 4.63um, 14-bits A/D. The IMX294 and IMX492 chips have 46.8 million 2.315um pixels, which Sony 2×2 bins on-chip to create the sensor’s advertised 11.7 million 4.63um pixel array. The QHY294 Pro series camera is capable of locking and unlocking the on-chip binning to provide two readout modes. The first mode reads the sensor “locked” mode to produce 11.6mp images with 4.63um pixel size and 14 bits per pixel. The second read mode unlocks the binning to produce 46.8mp images with 2.315um pixel size at 12 bits per pixel.

The QHY294 Pro CMOS sensor has a dual gain mode, HGC (high gain) and LGC (Low gain). The QHY294 Pro will switch the two modes automatically when the gain is set to 1600 you will get the benefits of the ultra low read noise (1e- to 1.6e-) of the HGC mode and a full well capacity of about 14.5ke- at the switch point setting.