ToupTek ATR585C Colour Cooled Camera

The ToupTek ATR585C is a cooled colour astronomy camera with Sony’s IMX585, a 1/1.2″ STARVIS 2 sensor of 8.3 megapixels with 2.9 µm pixels. It has strong near-infrared response and no amp glow.

The small pixels and fast readout suit the planets, the Moon and the Sun, and cooling makes it just as useful on small deep-sky targets. For deep-sky work, shorter focal lengths match the small pixels best: at 400 mm it samples at about 1.5″ per pixel. The ADC is 12-bit. In HDR mode the camera combines two readouts at different gains into one 16-bit image.

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 45 °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.