Player One Uranus-C IMX585 Color Planetary Camera

Sony IMX585 STARVIS 2 Sensor: An 8.3 MP, 1/1.2" Format

At the core of the Uranus-C is the Sony IMX585, a large 1/1.2" format color sensor with a 12.85mm diagonal. The chip measures 11.2mm x 6.3mm, a size that is quite big for imaging, and it makes Moon mosaics more efficient. STARVIS 2 is Sony's back-illuminated pixel technology; peak QE is about 91%, and the manual shows Sony's relative QE curve. The colour filter is an RGGB Bayer matrix.

Non-Amp-Glow, 47k e- Full Well and HCG

The Non-Amp-Glow dark frame is the biggest surprise of the Uranus-C: it is totally dark, with no amp glow however much the curve is stretched, as a 300s dark frame shows. This gives a very clean background, which makes high-quality images easier to get. The full well is 47k e-, almost 3.6 times the 13k e- of the IMX485, and readout noise goes down to 0.7e.

• High Conversion Gain (HCG): HCG switches on at gain 210. Player One also offers an HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode for its IMX585 cameras by firmware, which it says gives larger dynamic range and lower readout noise and helps in deep-sky imaging.
• Dead Pixel Suppression (DPS): The camera features built-in DPS technology, which stores a map of fixed abnormal pixels found from many dark frames and gives each one the median of the pixels around it in every frame.
• 12-bit ADC: The 12-bit analog-to-digital converter gives 4,096 levels.

46 FPS at 8.3 MP with a 256MB DDR3 Cache

To ensure stable, high-speed video capture, the Uranus-C integrates a 256MB DDR3 cache. It stabilizes data transmission, effectively avoids frame dropping and greatly reduces readout noise, and with it the camera no longer needs a powerful computer and still performs very well on a USB 2.0 port. Over USB 3.0 the camera runs 46 FPS in RAW8 at the full 3856x2180, 187 FPS at 1920x1080 and 418 FPS at 640x480. Recording speed also depends on your disk; a good solid state drive is recommended.

Optical & Mechanical Integration: 12.5mm Back Focus and 2nd Gen Sensor Tilt Plate

The Uranus-C has a 12.5mm back focal length and M42x0.75 female threads, and comes with a 1.25" T-mount nosepiece. It weighs 160g and is 66mm in diameter.

• 2nd Gen Sensor Tilt Plate: A sensor tilt plate gives a much smaller field curvature of the telescope when imaging deep-sky objects; a built-in high-density sponge pad blocks light from the side slits.
• Passive Cooling System (PCS): It conducts heat from the sensor out of the camera. Add the external air-cooled Active Cooling System (ACS), sold separately: with PCS and ACS the camera runs only about 7°C above ambient, and the ACS can be used in daylight for solar imaging and at night for deep-sky lucky imaging.
• Direct-Bolt Connection: Three M2.5 screw holes on a 27mm radius allow the Uranus-C to bolt directly to Player One filter wheels and off-axis guiders .

One-Shot Colour, Drivers and Guiding

As a one-shot color camera, the Uranus-C uses an RGGB Bayer matrix to capture full-color images in a single exposure, so it needs no filter wheel or colour combination. It is very powerful for EAA and lucky imaging, where many short exposures are stacked.

Player One provides drivers and software on its software download page; the manual mentions SharpCap 4, whose Sensor Analysis function lets you test the readout noise yourself. To guide, connect the supplied ST4 cable from the camera to the AUTO GUIDE port of the equatorial mount. Player One builds in overvoltage and overcurrent protection.