CookBook 245 

Astronomical CCD Camera

 
                         

These are photos of the astronomical CCD camera I built at home following the recipe in the book The CCD Camera Cookbook by Berry, Kanto and Munger. The Cookbook camera was developed by two radioamateurs, Veikko Kanto, KB7UCZ and John Munger, N7WBQ,
and Richard Berry. 
The camera head with a telescope eyepiece adapter (left) and fitted with a Canon 50mm f/1.4 lens (rigth). The CCD sensor is cooled by a Peltier device, at about minus 25� C vs environment temperature, and the hot side of the Peltier requires refrigeration itself, the black tubes are part of the camera head water cooling system.


 

 

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The Cookboook  with Canon 200 mm lens riding piggy back on the Meade LX90 and the full setup: camera, water cooling system, power supply and computer interface.


         

The TC245 CCD frame transfer chip can be seen in this photo (left). Building the camera head almost requires the skills and care of a neurosurgeon. The camera's power supply (right) was built using 100% parts from my junk-box, it was great fun recycling all those items, from a car battery charger to an old computer power supply.


Copyright (C) 2001 Antonio Fern�ndez

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CCD Astronomy (photos taken with the CB245)