The AST16200-B cameras are based on 16-megapixels monochrome and color KAF-16200 CCD Sensors (class 2) and are equipped with integrated 4, 5 or 7 position Filter-Wheel. Wireless keyboard included.

Cameras Features

New concept low-vacuum CCD sensor chamber that guarantees no-frost with -40°C DeltaT at only 2.5A of power consumption
Total Noise of 9e- rms using low-noise acquisition mode
Powerful 1GHz microprocessor for stand alone wire-free operation (no PC is needed)
6 um pixel size
PC like use with operating system, graphic desktop, Web access, applications that can be created, installed and removed
Optional 5" 800x480 touchscreen full color display (removable)
Optional mini wireless keyboard/touchpad
Integrated WiFi connection and Gbit Ethernet to PC / Tablet / Smartphone
16 GB (expandable up to 32 GB) internal storage plus external USB thumb drive or hard-disk
2 HS USB, TX/RX serial port, I2C, SPI, +3.3V, +5V, +12V DC output power supplies
User configurable I/O lines to implement triggers, alarms, custom interfaces
SmartCamera Approach

The Astrel Instruments cameras are powered by a 1000MHz Processor with 1Gb of memory and up to 32Gb of on-board storage.

The camera can autonomously autoguide with many commercial USB autoguider cameras and use planetarium applications to control the mount operations (alignment, goto, etc) on most commercial mounts. Many other commercial devices like motorized focusers, external filter wheels, can also be directly connected and managed autonomously by the camera.

The wireless mode lets the user communicate with the camera through a WiFi connection established between his Tablet / Smartphone (or of course a PC) and the camera.

Integrated Swapable Filter Wheel

The AST16200-B features an integrated filter wheel with 7, 5 or 4 positions. The whole wheel can be easily swapped with another one if more than 4 or 5 filters are required. The following integrated wheels are available:
• 7 positions: 36 mm round unmounted filters
• 5 positions: custom 42 mm unmounted filters available at the moment only from Astronomik
• 4 positions: 2" or 50 mm round unmounted filters, 1 to 3 mm thickness
Astrel cameras with an integrated filter-wheel can be fit with filters directly during camera assembly. We can directly buy and mount the filters selected by the customer.

Cooling and Vacuum Chamber

The sensor and the cooling chain are contained in a vacuum proof chamber: using the included vacuum pump connected to the valve on the rear of the camera body, in less than a minute the air can be pumped-out. This has 2 fundamental effects: it eliminates the possibility of frost forming inside the chamber and minimizes the convention up and down heat transfer inside the chamber, optimizing the heat removal via the cold finger and avoiding cooling of the optical window that could lead to fogging.

No desiccant is needed

The Base Package Includes

Suitcase filled with protective foam for camera and accessories
AST16200-B camera body with WiFi antenna
Vacuum pump with incorporated pressure gauge, tube and joint
Mini wireless keyboard touchpad with backlight
Ethernet cable
Battery power cable: power cable extension with car lighter plug

Optional Accessories

5" Touch Screen LCD
Select up to 5 filters for the integrated filter wheel
Flatbox controller for perfect and quick flats
USB cable adapter for serial connection

Specifications

Sensor Specifications

CCD .......... On-Semi(Kodak) KAF-16200 (mono/color, class 2)
Pixel Array ... 4500 x 3600 pixels
Pixel Size .....6 um
CCD Size ...... 27 x 21.6 mm
Total Pixels .. 16.2 Million
Full Well ..... ~40000 e-
Dark Current .. 0.03e-/pixel/sec at -20°C
Antiblooming .. 2000X

Camera Characteristics

Shutter ....... Mechanical

Filter wheel... Integrated 4x2", 5x42mm, 7x36mm unmounted filters
Camera Size ... 160 mm diameter x 90 mm
Mounting ...... M48
Weight ........ 1Kg (w/ integrated filter-wheel , w/o display)
Backfocus ..... 25 mm (including integrated filter-wheel)
Interfaces .... USB 2.0 Host HS x2, Gbit Eth, WiFi, UART, GPIO

Camera Performance

Sampling Mode . Digital multi-sample CDS

A/D Converter . 16 bit
Gain .......... 0.9 e-/ADU
Total Noise ... 9 e- rms typ
Binning Modes . up to 10x10
Readout Speed . 500 Kpxls/sec (about 30 sec)
Max Cooling ... -40 °C ±0.1°C regulated
Power ......... 12VDC @ 2.5 A max (operational at 100% Peltier)