QHYCCD QHY174M-GPS

Sony IMX174 Global Shutter: 138 FPS with Zero Artifacts

Unlike rolling shutters that expose different parts of the sensor sequentially, the Sony IMX174's electronic global shutter exposes all 2 million pixels simultaneously. This completely eliminates motion artifacts, which is critical when imaging rapidly rotating planets like Jupiter, turbulent solar prominences, or fast-moving asteroids. At a full resolution of 1920x1200, the camera streams data over USB 3.0 at 138 FPS in 8-bit mode or 75.1 FPS in 16-bit mode, ensuring you can freeze moments of perfect seeing.

GPS-Enabled Precision: 1 Microsecond UTC Time Stamping

The defining feature of the QHY174M-GPS is its integrated GPS receiver, which provides hardware-level time stamping on every captured frame with a precision of 1 microsecond. This capability is essential for scientific work such as timing asteroid occultations to map their size and shape, or recording exoplanet transits to refine orbital data. For pro-am collaborations and time-critical event capture, this removes all timing ambiguity introduced by software or computer clock drift.

Scientific-Grade Cooling: -40°C Delta for Low-Noise Data

To ensure clean data, the QHY174M-GPS employs a powerful dual-stage TEC cooler capable of reaching -40°C below the ambient temperature. This aggressive cooling drastically reduces thermal noise, lowering the dark current to an exceptionally low 0.224e-/pixel/sec when cooled to -20°C. Combined with a read noise as low as 1.6e-, the camera produces clean frames even during longer exposures, pushing its capabilities beyond planetary imaging into more demanding scientific applications.

• Deep Cooling: The -40°C delta T ensures stable, low-noise performance even on warm nights.
• Anti-Dew Heater: An integrated heater for the optical window prevents dew or frost formation during cooling cycles, maintaining a clear optical path.

On-Camera Analysis: 100KB Buffer for Occultations and Seeing

A unique feature for field research is the camera's 512KB built-in memory, with 100KB of user-accessible space. This allows the camera to store hundreds or even thousands of small region-of-interest (ROI) frames directly in its memory, independent of a connected computer. This is ideal for creating a remote seeing monitor, an automated occultation recording system, or for performing on-the-fly optical analysis without the overhead of continuous data transfer.

QHY174M-GPS vs. Standard QHY174M: When Precision Timing Matters

Both cameras share the same excellent Sony IMX174 global shutter sensor, high frame rates, and powerful cooling system. The choice between them comes down to a single question: do you need verifiable, microsecond-accurate time data?

• Choose the Standard QHY174M if: Your primary targets are general solar, lunar, and planetary imaging. The global shutter and high frame rate are the key features you need, and software-based timing is sufficient.
• Choose the QHY174M-GPS if: You are involved in scientific research like asteroid occultations, satellite tracking, exoplanet transit timing, or any other field where your data's temporal accuracy is as important as its image quality. The hardware-based UTC timestamp is the reason this model exists.