The Apollo series incorporates Sony global shutter sensors and focuses on monochrome sensors.
* Notice: The solar camera requires power rejection and light reducer, such as Baader film or Herschel wedge. Please DO NOT use it directly for imaging the Sun.
Product description
Apollo-M MINI is a solar camera developed by Player One Astronomy, which adopts the 2/3" format Sony IMX429 monochrome sensor. The pixel size of 4.5um accommodates a well depth of 24.8Ke with a total of 2.8MP (resolution is 1944*1472), and the diagonal is 11mm.
Pregius Technology
Apollo-M MINI (IMX429) is based on Pregius 3rd Gen. According to the introduction of the technical documents, the pixel size of 3rd Gen is usually 4.5um, and the full well is 25Ke.
Format
Apollo-M MINI (IMX429) has a 2/3″ format, this size is between IMX178 and IMX174.
Pixel size
The 4.5um pixel size is smaller than that of the IMX174 camera, which means it can provide higher resolution with the same focal length.
HCG mode
Apollo-M MINI has HCG mode, when Gain>71 HCG will open automatically.
Featured
With global shutter, Apollo-M MINI are very suitable for sun and space station imaging. Pixel size 4.5um and resolution 1944*1472, very easy to obtain high resolution images of the Sun.
Recommended accessories:
ACS (Active Cooling System)
ACS is an external air cooling system, designed for large format solar and planetary chambers which already have PCS (Passive Cooling System). ACS can provide much better temperature control, when the camera has PCS + ACS, the temperature is only 7 ℃ higher than ambient, the camera body is a little warm, but not hot! ACS can not only be used in daylight for solar imaging, but also at night for lucky DSO imaging.
For better contrast, the Player One Photosphere 10nm filter will be a good choice.
Photosphere in white light
Chromosphere in H-Alpha
introducing the new 1.25″ ERF filter for Quark Chromosphere (Ha version), designed to reject energy and extend the life of your Quark.
With Lunt or other solar telescopes, Apollo-M MINI can also provide very good performance @ f15-f20 focal ratio.
Apollo-M MINI users:
Features:
The name of the chambers of Player One Astronomy is unique. The solar camera line is named after Apollo, the sun god. The suffix of the name describes the most important feature of the camera.
Download drivers and software: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/software/
Download manuals: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/
Avant-garde design
The planetary cameras developed by Player One Astronomy use a scientific and technological regular hexagon to build the main line of the body, complemented by round chamfers to achieve both rigidity and flexibility. The positive orange, implying solar, is paired with the low-profile and stable black, and the superfine glazing process on the entire surface makes the camera look luxurious and cool, highlighting the style of high-end players.
2nd Gen - Sensor Tilt Plate
When taking solar photography with a prominence telescope, the Newton ring is annoying. A smoother solar image can be taken without Newton ring by adjusting the focal plate. You get a much smaller telescope field curvature.
The built-in high-density sponge shading pad can block the light from the side slits without any side leakage.
Passive cooling system
Solar cameras work in daylight, the temperature can be much higher than at night. Heat from global shutter sensors will be a problem, especially some large format ones like IMX432. Player One adds a new feature called Passive Cooling System to conduct heat from the sensor to the outside.
256M DDR3 Cache
Player One astronomy cameras are the first to incorporate DDR3 cache in all planetary cameras worldwide. It helps stabilize and secure data transmission, effectively prevents dropped frames and greatly reduces read noise.
With the DDR3 cache, the camera no longer has high demands on computing needs, it will still perform excellently even when connected to a USB 2.0 port.
DPS Technology
The planetary chambers of Player One Astronomy feature DPS (Dead Pixel Suppression) technology. DPS analyzes many dark frames to find the abnormal still pixels and record the map in the camera's memory. In image capture, in each exposure frame, the position of the dead pixels will receive an average value depending on the active pixels around that abnormal pixel.
Overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanism
Player One cameras produced by number one ensure the safety of your camera and other equipment through overvoltage and overcurrent protection mechanisms.
Data port
When the camera is connected to the USB3.0 interface and full resolution preview is used, it can reach 84 FPS in RAW8 (12bit ADC) mode. When recording images, since the actual writing speed will be affected by the writing speed of the hard disk itself, when the writing speed of the hard disk is slow, the recording may not reach the theoretical speed. It is recommended to use a high quality solid state drive to record data in order to take full advantage of the camera's performance.
Use the ST4 guide cable to connect the camera and the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount for guiding.
Reading noise
As for the read noise, we solemnly promise that all values are obtained from real tests. And for users, they could use Sharpcap 4 for testing. SC4 has a function called Sensor Analysis, which provides a very simple way to test read noise.
We have written a tutorial on our website: https://player-one-astronomy.com/service/manuals/
After many rigorous read noise tests, this camera can achieve a low read noise of 1.45e with a gain of 380.
If you are interested in testing the reading noise, you can do it yourself, it is very simple.
QE curve
The absolute peak value is approximately 79%.
HCG mode
The Apollo-M MINI camera has a unique HCG mode. The HCG mode can greatly reduce read noise and retain the same high dynamic range as the low gain.
