A long exposure CCD camera |
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Long exposure cameras are used for astronomical or other near-dark pictures. A CCD sensor may be used for this purpose, since it's dark current is low, especially when the sensor is kept at a low temperature. In this case, a peltier element is used to cool the sensor.
The pictures are read through a high-speed USB link, that even supplies the power for the electronics and the sensor.
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To allow flexible use of other sensor chips with the same read-out electronics, an FPGA is used. The FPGA is programmed over the USB.
The timing and analog to digital conversion is done by the FPGA. Lines of the image are read and transferred to the PC for further processing and storage on disc.
Stars at night
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Examples
