Graphene-CMOS

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Hi all,

Not sure whether that has been shared already...Looks like a quite interesting development; a sensor sensitive to 300–2,000 nm range. Wondering if that could be used in astrophotography one day...

https://graphene-flagship.eu/graphen...grated-devices

[Atmos (Colin)]

Would you want a sensor with that range of sensitivity for the average astrophotographer?

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Perhaps it could open the doors to near infrared imaging? Longer wavelengths are less scattered by interstellar dust and atmosphere, so adding effective near IR imaging to one's repertoire could be quite interesting

Also, could simultaneous collection of a wider range of wavelengths help with Galaxy imaging? Bringing a wider range of wavelengths to a focus would certainly challenge refracting telescopes, but reflectors would be perfect for the task.

If one day sensors will commonly become sensitive to a wider EM spectrum, perhaps there will be time when refractors will become less useful for amateur astro-photographers and reflectors will dominate in the field of amateur astro-imaging...

[Atmos (Colin)]

IR imaging is good up until about 4 microns, after that atmospheric absorption gets in the way. One of the bigger issues is that if correction. Most refractors don't have the correction over such a wide pass band to make any use of it. Not sure how the Sloan filter set would do as it is heavily for NIR galaxy imaging (think 2dF survey).

At 4 microns I don't think ordinary mirrors have issues but I know past that gold plating is used to significantly help with reflectivity in the IR region.

As for the refractor vs reflector debate, a refractors will probably always be better for wife field imaging. Short focal length reflectors are either cheap and flimsy in comparison or CRAZY expensive due to their complex optical designs.

A new FSQ106 is not cheap but building reflector with remotely the same performance would be significantly more expensive

And in spite of all that, check this out.
Horsehead IR

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

That's a very nice Horsehead, but it took 64 hours to collect this data. QE for ICX814 (used to take this image) approaches zero for 1 micron wavelength (so is the case for most/all? modern sensors), while the new graphene CMOS apparently is sensitive up to 2 microns, so it would certainly help to capture new kind of space data that has been beyond reach for amateurs, given that this type sensors will become affordable.

[multiweb (Marc)]

That IR blend HH is awesome. Always wondered if an amateur was able to do that from a ground base rig and try to emulate that HST shot. Certainly moving rapidly in the CMOS field. I think it's a bad time to buy a camera right now. You might be left with a dinosaur on your hands in a year time. Anything can happen with the new tech coming up too fast.

[Slawomir (Suavi)]

Hi Marc,

I think it may not necessarily be a bad time to buy a camera

While CMOS technology has definitely made larger chips more affordable, I am yet to see deep space amateur astro images takes with CMOS that vastly surpass those taken with CCD-based camera, given that both have been skilfully processed, have equivalent exposure and were acquired with adequate telescope-mount system. Continuous technological improvements are almost a given, so I would recommend to get involved right now and have fun with the rig you have/can buy


Here is a link to a recent interesting article that in a simple way compares the two technologies: https://www.atik-cameras.com/news/di...-cmos-sensors/

[RickS (Rick)]

Thanks for the interesting article, Suavi. I wouldn't mind playing with NIR one day...

Originally Posted by multiweb

I think it's a bad time to buy a camera right now. You might be left with a dinosaur on your hands in a year time. Anything can happen with the new tech coming up too fast.

Just make sure it's a huge sensor, Marc All the new ones are piddly little things