AST183-X-M-FW(mono) / AST183-X-C-FW(color)
€ 1350
(VAT excl.)
AST183-X-M-FW-7F (+ 7 Astronomik filters kit: LRGB Ha OIII SII)
€ 1900
(VAT excl.)
The AST183-X is based on the 20.48-megapixels monochrome Sony IMX183CLK-J CMOS Sensor and is equipped with integrated 7 position Filter-Wheel.
The AST183-X is also available in the "7F" version that includes a fully equipped filter-wheel with LRGB + Ha + OIII +SII Astronomik filter set already mounted.
The AST183-X product features:
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New concept low-vacuum CMOS sensor chamber that guarantees no-frost with -35°C DeltaT at only 2.2A of power consumption
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Powerful 1GHz microprocessor for stand alone wire-free operation (no PC is needed)
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PC like use with Operating System, Graphic Desktop, Web access, applications that can be created, installed and removed
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Integrated WiFi connection to PC / Tablet / Smartphone
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8 GB (expandible up to 32 GB) internal storage plus external USB pendrive or hard-disk
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Open-Source Camera Processor Code available to the user to experiment ideas and specific SW application
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2 HS USB ports
Sensor Specifications
CMOS .......... Sony IMX183CLK-J (mono)- IMX183CQJ-J (color)
Pixel Array ... 5496 (H) × 3710 (V) pixels
CMOS Size ..... 13.2x8.8 mm, 15.86 mm diagonal
Total Pixels .. 20 Million
Full Well ..... ~15000 e-
Dark Current .. 0.002 e-/pixel/sec at -20°C
Camera Characteristics
Shutter ....... Digital or Mechanical
Filter wheel... Integrated,7 1.25" unmounted filters + shutter
Camera Size ... 124x124mm, 45mm body, 90mm with heatsink
Mounting ...... M42 T-thread
Weight ........ 850g (w/ integrated filter-wheel)
Backfocus ..... 29 mm (including integrated filter-wheel)
Interfaces .... wiFi, USB 2.0 Host HS x2
Camera Performances
A/D Converter . 12 bit
Gain .......... variable from 0 to 27 dB
Total Noise ... 3.1e- at gain 0, 1.5 e- at max gain (tbc)
Binning Modes . up to 10x10
Readout Speed . 0.5 sec per frame (bin 1)
Max Cooling ... -35 °C ±0.1°C regulated (tbc)
Power ......... 12VDC @ 2.2 A max (100% Peltier) (tbc)
Smartcamera Approach
The Astrel Instruments cameras are powered by a 1000MHz Processor with 1Gb of memory and up to 32Gb of onboard storage.
Thanks to its "intelligence", the camera can do onboard all the operations that other cameras can only do by means of an external PC, because the camera is a PC itself.
Similar to a powerful astrophotography-oriented DSRL, the camera itself offers an integrated complete suite of easy to use graphical applications including:
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Photo sequences programming with filters management
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Temperature setting and monitor
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Liveview with integrated focus mode
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Autoguiding with dithering
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Planetariums with mount control, including plate solving
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Images review
The camera can autonomously autoguide with many commercial USB autoguider cameras and use planetarium applications to control the mount operations (alignment, goto, ...) 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 allows using the camera without a PC.
Liveview: the camera displays a bin 10 image, refreshing up to 3fps. With few seconds exposure even very faint objects become visible, allowing precise framing
Take Photos: start your photo sequence defining, for each filter, the number of frames, exposure time and binning of the sub-frames. It also sends dithering commands to the guider
Focus: enter the focus mode selecting a star in the liveview, which is enlarged up to 8x. The app calculates and displays FWHM and profile with an up to 3fps refresh rate
Monitor: follow the current sub-frame number in the sequence and some info about the camera status. It can also preview the last frame or kill the sequence
Temperature Control: select a setpoint and the minimum number of seconds/°C and start the PID algorithm that will keep the temperature constant within 0.1°C
Guider: connect your autoguider to the camera and use this app, derived from Lin_guider, for guiding your telescope. It features drift graph, statistics and dithering
On camera advanced software
Thanks to the powerful integrated microprocessor and large memory, any Astrel Instruments camera is by any means a PC, running the Ubuntu OS with hundreds of available applications, including many astrophotography related ones. The cameras come with several pre-installed astronomy applications including:
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KStars and Cartes du Ciel, two well known planetarium apps that can control most mounts for alignment and GOTO operation
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Ekos, an image planning and observatory control software using offline Astrometry.net for plate solving and INDI standard for equipment control
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DS9, a powerful app for image review and analysis
Integrated Filter Wheel
The AST183-X includes an integrated 7 position filter wheel using 1.25" unmounted filters.
Precision filter positioning: the AST183-X feature a set of spring loaded balls with corresponding holes for a very precise and repeatable filters positioning: when the correct alignment is reached, the ball enters the hole, elastically recovering any small positioning error.
The AST183-X-7F consists on a complete kit with the filter wheel fully equipped with LRGB + Ha + OIII + SII Astronomik filter set already mounted.
Cooling and vacuum chamber
The AST183-X camera features a power consumption of only 2.2A @ 12V in fully operative state with 100% peltier on. In spite of this very low power consumption, an efficient 2 stages peltier cooling system can lower the regulated CMOS sensor temperature by up to 35°C below ambient.
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.
Every camera is tested to maintain a proper vacuum level for at least 3 days (most cameras can hold the vacuum for several weeks). For customers running remote observatories, it is possible to fill the chamber with inert gas like Argon or Kripton, which will stay in the camera for months. The vacuum level can be controlled through the manometer incorporated in the vacuum pump.
No desiccant is needed.
AST183-X-M-FW(mono) / AST183-X-C-FW(color)
€ 1350
(VAT excl.)
AST183-X-M-FW-7F (+ 7 Astronomik filters kit: LRGB Ha OIII SII)
€ 1900
(VAT excl.)
The base package includes
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AST183-X camera body with WiFi antenna
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Vacuum pump with incorporated pressure gauge, tube and joint
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Battery power cable: power cable extension with car lighter plug
Support & Documentation
Go to Support pages to read Q&A, download Documentation and watch Video Tutorials.
Accessories
Select up to 7 filters for the integrated filter wheel
AC-DC wall socket 12V 3A Power Supplier
Protect your instruments with its specific suitcase
The Wireless mode let the user communicate with the camera through a WiFi connection established between his Tablet / Smartphone (or of course a PC) and the camera. The connection uses remote desktop technology to send the camera display to the connected devices. No wires are needed between the camera and the devices: no risk of stumbling on a wire ruining the work of hours or even damaging your equipment.
As the PC is not needed and the camera only needs a maximum of 2.2A at 12V, in these modes there's no need to carry big battery packs and power inverters: one small battery or even your car's one is enough for a whole night.
All the connected devices use the same integrated software suite: the camera's applications are accessible via remote desktop from any network connected device, including PC, Smartphones and Tablets.
Moreover, thanks to the Open Source license of all the software and the Linux OS, other applications can be easily added by the users, giving the camera more and more capabilities: our aim is to create a community of users and software developers which will add leading edge contents, ranging from innovative readout modes to web enabled applications.
On camera smart software suite
This suite of applications has been developed to make the Astrel Instruments cameras really easy and intuitive to use.
No complicated software: use these apps connecting with your smartphone, tablet, PC and few minutes and clicks are enough to start taking pictures.