High-speed multicolor photometry with CMOS cameras

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that commercial CMOS cameras like the Nikon D90 can be effectively used for high-speed multicolor photometry in astronomy, offering advantages over traditional CCDs.

Contribution

It introduces the use of CMOS sensors for simultaneous multicolor high-speed photometry, showing their practical performance in astronomical observations.

Findings

CMOS sensors enable multicolor photometry in 3 filters simultaneously.

Stars up to V ≈ 14 can be measured with 0.01 mag precision.

Stars up to V ≈ 10 can be observed at 24 fps.

Abstract

We present the results of testing the commercial digital camera Nikon D90 with a CMOS sensor for high-speed photometry with a small telescope Celestron 11" on Peak Terskol. CMOS sensor allows to perform photometry in 3 filters simultaneously that gives a great advantage compared with monochrome CCD detectors. The Bayer BGR color system of CMOS sensors is close to the Johnson BVR system. The results of testing show that we can measure the stars up to V $\simeq$ 14 with the precision of 0.01 mag. Stars up to magnitude V $\sim$ 10 can shoot at 24 frames per second in the video mode.