ToupTek ATR183C Colour Cooled Camera

The ToupTek ATR183C is a cooled colour astronomy camera with Sony’s IMX183, a 1″ sensor of 20 megapixels with small 2.4 µm pixels.

Small pixels suit short focal lengths: at 400 mm it samples at about 1.24″ per pixel, giving detailed images from a small refractor. On longer telescopes it oversamples, so bin 2×2. Full well is 15 ke⁻, so bright stars saturate sooner; shorter sub-exposures help. The IMX183 is an older sensor with some amp glow, which dark frames remove.

Choose the window when you order. The IR-cut version is for normal colour imaging. Clear AR-coated glass lets infrared through, for use with your own filters in front of the camera, such as a dual-band or UV/IR-cut filter.

Cooling, dew and power

Two-stage cooling takes the sensor up to 42 °C below the air temperature. It holds the set point to within 0.1 °C, so dark frames can be reused from night to night. A heater on the front window has four power settings and can be switched off in software. Cooling needs 12 V; the 12 V 3 A power supply is in the box.

Back focus and connections

Back focus is 17.5 mm from the M42 thread. Adapter rings and extension tubes are included to build out to the spacing your flattener or reducer needs, usually 55 mm. A 512 MB buffer holds each frame while it transfers, so a slow USB link doesn’t drop frames.