A CCD Camera for Cinematographic Use in Astronomy

Publisher Summary This chapter describes a new camera especially designed for the 1- and 2-m telescopes of the Pic-du-Midi observatory. This camera is used for increasing the spatial resolution on long equivalent exposures and for multiaperture photometric experiments. In astronomy, for long exposures, the images are blurred by tracking defects of the telescope and by image motion due to atmospheric wavefront tilt. Without employing speckle techniques, it is, however, possible to freeze the quality of images by using a detector allowing short and consecutive exposures. By addition of selected images after a recentering procedure, an equivalent long exposure can be obtained with the selected quality. Such a technique may be employed in photography where the addition of several plates increases the signal-to-signal ratio. Using a “Cine-charge-coupled device (CCD)” mode is a better solution retaining the advantage of CCD properties: linearity, stability of geometry and noise statistics, good sensitivity, and high dynamic range. The possibilities of a “Cine-CCD” mode have been investigated through observational tests on the telescope. It is possible to substantially increase the resolution and obtain good photometric results on objects whose brightness corresponds to some tenths of the readout noise per pixel, with a bare CCD.