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About Airplanes & Rockets

Kirt Blattenberger, Webmaster - Airplanes and Rockets

Kirt Blattenberger

BSEE - KB3UON

My Engineering Web: RF Cafe

Carpe Diem! (Seize the Day!)

Even during the busiest times of my life I have endeavored to maintain some form of model building activity. This site has been created to help me chronicle my journey through a lifelong involvement in model aviation, which all began in Mayo, MD ...

Airplanes And Rockets Copyright 1996 - 2026

All trademarks, copyrights, patents, and other rights of ownership to images and text used on the Airplanes and Rockets website are hereby acknowledged.

My Main Modeling Websites

Academy of Model Aeronautics (AMA) - Airplanes and RocketsAcademy of Model Aeronautics

Tower Hobbies logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Tower Hobbies

Horizon Hobby logo - Airplanes and Rockets

Horizon Hobby

Sig Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Sig Mfg

Brodak Manufacturing - Airplanes and Rockets

Brodak Mfg

Celestron NexImage Camera Teardown

Celestron released the NexImage camera sometime around 2008 for $100. It has the following specifications:

Sensor: 1/4" format, HAD (Hole-Accumulation Diode),

             color CCD chip

Resolution: VGA 640x480

Sensor Size: 3.6 mm x 2.7 (4.5 mm diagonal)

Pixel Size: 5.6 micron square

Sensitivity: <1 lux

USB Cable: 7ft

Software: AmCap

As usual, if you read online reviews for the NexImage, most people either love it or hate it. My own experience is that the frustration I had initially was due to inexperience in setting up the software and with getting a good focus on the telescope. Once those two obstacles were overcome, I began getting some really good images of the moon and planets.

Celestron NexImage Camera - Airplanes & RocketsCelestron now has a 5 Mpixel version of the camera out called the NexImage 5. It costs $200, and I have not yet decided whether to buy one. I have learned a bit more about imaging CCDs and will do a bit of shopping around first. I really do not want to get a DSLR because they are big and heavy. What would be nice is to buy a medium quality telescope camera for doing deep space imaging and another for planetary work. The investment would be around $1,000, which is what an acceptable DSLR would cost. However, the DSLR will not come with software and, especially for the deep space work, will probably not have as good of a low light level capability as a camera designed for astro imaging.

See moon, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and Mars images that I got using the NexImage and my Celestron NexStar 8SE telescope.

Since the warranty period is over on my NexImage camera, I decided to go ahead and open it up to see what's under the hood. The pictures below show the components on the printed circuit assemblies, and identify  most of the major components. There were a couple that I could not find datasheets for, but of those I could find, there are hyperlinks to them.

If you are interested in seeing the guts of a Celestron NexStar 8SE, please read my teardown report on it.

Celestron NexImage Astrophotography Camera

Celestron NexImage Camera Teardown - Airplanes & Rockets

Printed Circuit Assembly Front Side

Front Side of Both NexImage Printed Circuit Assemblies - Airplanes & Rockets

Front Side of Both NexImage Printed Circuit Assemblies

Back Side of Both NexImage Printed Circuit Assemblies - Airplanes & Rockets

Back Side of Both NexImage Printed Circuit Assemblies

NXP SAA8116HL04

 - Airplanes and Rockets

Digital PC-Camera SPU Microcontroller and USB Interface

 - Airplanes and Rockets

Philips (NXP) TDA8787A 10-bit, 3.0 V, 18 Msps A/D Interface for CCD Cameras

Sony CXD1267AN CCD Vertical Clock Driver Block Diagram - Airplanes & Rockets

Sony CXD1267AN CCD Vertical Clock Driver

NXP PCF8594C-2P 512 x 8-bit CMOS EEPROM with I2C Bus Interface - Airplanes & Rockets

NXP PCF8594C-2P 512 x 8-bit CMOS EEPROM with I2C Bus Interface

Global Semiconductor GS34063 DC-To-DC Converter - Airplanes & Rockets

Global Semiconductor GS34063 DC-To-DC Converter

 

 

Posted May 20, 2012

Model Aviation Magazine, AMA - Airplanes and Rockets