You can see the cmos clearly by clicking for a larger image. Yes, I mean very clear and large.
I was so happy to see the QHY5 arrived at my doorstep on 13 July 2007. This CMOS camera is designed by Prof. Qiu Hong-Yun for autoguiding and planetary imaging. Its violet hue metallic casing looks very nice and solid. It has a IR filter attached. Below the filter is the CMOS which has 1.30Mpixels and each pixel has an area of 5.2µm x 5.2µm. It has a guider port and a USB port. There’s a red LED too.
2 ports and 1 LED on the bottom of QHY5
Anyway, review on this cmos camera will be made within one weeks time. The curse of new equipment has come, the weather has changed to hazy. A lot of amateur astronomers have this weather curse (normally, cloudy days) after they got their new equipments but mine is due to the forest burning in Indonesia.
Published on
March 21, 2007 in
Cameras.
Holyshit… The cable bundled with the LPI is totally a shit. Just after using several times (How many times? I forgot…), the computer told me that the USB device is unable to be recognised. This made me extremely frustrated because I was planning to do the collimation the Monday night. I plug in, plug out, reinstall the driver, uninstall the driver and reinstall again. None of them helped. My experience told me it might be the cable problem so I replaced it with a spare USB cable stored in my drawer. The new cable works.
Why can’t Meade choose better cable for their cameras? Astronomical stuffs are so expensive but they included such a lousy cable in the box. Please, every manufacturer please make everything bundled with your product up to the standard. I just recalled, the diagonal bundled with my Meade 8″ LX90 was down.
To master your imaging platform, you’ll have to know the resolution of your setup. The setup mentioned is consisted of a telescope optical tube assembly (OTA), a mount and a camera.
Let’s say, if your setup’s resolution is sub arcsec/pixel (less than 1 arcsec/pixel), you need a very stable and precise mount, usually a high end German Equatorial Mount (GEM), for this. As the resolution is higher (the lower the value of arcsec/pixel), your setup is more sensitive to vibration, atmostpheric turbulence, wind, flexure between optical tube and GEM head and the mis-polar-alignment. In a simple phrase, the margin of error is limited.
Therefore, before you start taking image, you should know the highest possible resolution of your setup so that you do not end up with a imaging resolution that exceeded the conditions allowed. Nobody likes poor quality photo. Well, let’s get into the math part.
To calculate the resolution, follow the simple formula:
Resolution (arcsecond) = [CCD Pixel Size (in micron) ÷ Focal Length (mm)] * 205
Credit to Webfoot at Cloudy Nights forum for providing this formula. 
Published on
August 21, 2006 in
Cameras.
Right: New QHY2 case
Yes, I am going to get QHY2 as an imager specially for deep sky imaging. QHY2 is designed by Dr.Qiu Hong Yun, a PhD of Precision Measurement Technology and Instrument from Beijing Tsing Hua University.
What makes me choose this over Meade DSI II? Let me reveal it when I have it in my hand. 
The CCD of QHY2 is changeable. Therefore, it’s possible for you to opt a higher sentivity monochrome CCD with filter wheel and filters. Now, I’m going to get it with the original colour CCD. It’s the ICX412, a Sony Super HAD CCD that has 3.3 mega pixels in 1/1.8″ CCD array. Its pixel size is 3.45*3.45 which is small enough to tame the short focal length telescope.
(Hey wait, mine is a long one.. Got to get a focal reducer!)
I will do a review on this imager once I have received it, the estimated arrival time is October May June 07. QHY is designing a new case. The new case is done. It’s the one at the right on the picture above.
Edited:
1. Wrong CCD version, it should be ICX412 (2X sensitive of ICX262)
2. Designation given to QHY as he is now a PhD. Congratulations! (Editted on 9 April 2007)
3. Some minors changes made.
Continuing the Pros and Cons of DSLR Astrophotography, Pros and Cons of CCD Imager is here. The chip of the DSLR is not as great as the specially designed CCD imager’s chip. Let’s look at its speciality!
Cooling system
Operating the imager under low temperature allows you to easily capture a library of fixed-temperature dark frames always needed in serious astrophotography.
Left: SBIG’s STL11000M
Noise is also significantly reduced becaused of the low temperature. There is a form of cooling called TEP (Thermo-Electric Power) fixing the temperature at a certain degree kevin. This is the best cooling system ever used.
Convenient
All of the imagers are controlled by a computer. You don’t have to click on the shutter or press on the bulb cable. As far as I know, every imagers are compatible on all of the commercial telescopes. Whenever you get a new scope, you don’t have to get an adapter.
Cost-saving
You could get a built-in autoguider imager to save the cost to buy a guide scope and a autoguider or another autoguiding capable imager. However, some of the autoguiding capable imagers are more expensive than the combo of guide scope and autoguider.
Antiblooming
Antiblooming is a must-have for long exposure imaging or the stars in the view will have long tails. Blooming is caused by the overwhelming photos in a pixel. Nevertheless, non antiblooming CCD has higher sentivity which shortens the exposure.
Others
Smaller chip is able to focus faster and transfer the data faster to the computer. B&W (Black & White/Monochrome) chip allows LRGB (Luminance, Red, Green and Blue) imaging by using a wheel of filters set and etc. B&W chip is always more sensitive than colour chip. Therefore, the photo by combining LRGB images into colour is more cheerful than one shot colour chip. A monochorme chip with a certain colour filter is more sensitive to that certain colour. It comes in handy to stress on certain features.
Cons
I would say that the only con of CCD imager is a large CCD chip is very expensive. Let’s say the SBIG’s STL11000XM Monochorme CCD imager. It costs USD10,000! It is possible to take a large image with a small imager by doing mosaic. It saves money but it takes time.
I’m sure that some of your know what does DSLR stands for. It’s Digital Single Lens Reflex. Let’s straight into the topic this time.
Dual Use
As you see from the left image, DSLR is just like a conventional camera. Therefore, it’s able to take both your family’s photos and astrophotographs. It’s more valuable!
Larger Chip Larger FOV
What does you get this time? This is maybe the greatest advantage over CCD imager. It has larger chip, thus it typically has more pixels in the chip. What can you do with this? You may print a poster! If you want to get the CCD imager which is as large as the CCD of DSLR, you need USD3k-6k. Let’s take SBIG’s ST-2000XM as an example, it costs USD2695 during the offer period! If you are concerned about the pixels, it does only have nearly 2 mega pixels but Canon EOS20Da has 8.2 mega pixels. However, don’t judge it just by the pixels. Everything has its advantages and disadvantages. (I suddenly remembered that we can print larger photos just by doing mosaic. This will be explained in Sunday)
Cheaper in the same chip size range
Just by comparing the Canon EOS20Da and ST-2000XM, you will know why I say so. Sure, it doesn’t mean that ST-2000XM is not a good buy.
Convenient
DSLR can be operated with batteries and the man’s hand. It does not need a laptop to control it. It does also take all colours in one step (this can be a disadvantage though, you may refer to The Best Imager: Monochrome CCD to know the pros of monochrome CCD).
However, DSLR usually producees more noises. It has to be modified in order to be cooled using the devices like the astrophotographers usually use. If the DSLR is not specially designed for astronomical use, it cuts the lights which is considered important by astronomer but unwanted by the public.
This Sunday, I am going to write about the CCD imager. Stay tuned! 
Isn’t it a GoTo telescope is capable of tracking celestial objects? Why do I need the autoguiding? ![:-\](http://www.astronomynotes.net/smilies/yahoo_question.gif ":-\")
At first, tracking is just similiar to guiding. For instance in the Autostar Suite from Meade, tracking allows you to define a bright spot (centroid) that it (Autostar Suite) will use to anchor images when combining (stacking) them into one image.
Continue reading ‘Autoguiding By Imager’
Don’t you find that most of the high end imagers are made of monochrome CCD? If you don’t believe, just take a look on Meade Deep Sky Imager II Pro (DSI II Pro) as well as its predecessor, the DSI Pro. Obviously, both of them are made of monochrome CCD sensor.
Isn’t the picture captured tasteless without any colour? What are the advantages of monochrome CCD over colour CCD?
If you find it bored, you can always get a set of colour filters which is always an optional item when you buy this range of imagers.
A monochrome CCD has higher sensitivity which allows you to get the same exposure in lesser time. It’s also low in thermal when capturing images thus less thermal noise is found. Furthermore, it has greater dynamic range which is very important in photography as it’s the factor which decides the luminosity range a camera can photograph. At last, its biggest advantage is it can be equipped with several colour filters to enhance the contrast of the objects.
If you just like to take simple procedure at astrophotographing, a imager made of colour CCD will always please you.
