Canon’s 8-inch CMOS sensor can record SPACE at 60fps

TOKYO, September 15, 2011-Canon Inc. today announced that an ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor developed by the corporate has enabled the video recording across a large 3.3° x 3.3° field of view of meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10.*1 The sensor, with a chip size measuring 202 x 205 mm, the world’s largest*2 surface area for a CMOS sensor, was installed inside the Schmidt telescope on the University of Tokyo’s Kiso Observatory, Institute of Astronomy, School of Science (Kiso-gun, Nagano prefecture).

With a chip size of 202 x 205 mm, the ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, developed by Canon last year, is definitely one of the largest which might be comprised of an approximately 300-mm (12 inch) wafer.*2 The device is approximately 40 times the dimensions of Canon’s largest commercial CMOS sensor*3 and makes possible video recording in dark conditions with as low as 0.3 lux*4 of illumination. In January this year, the CMOS sensor was installed at the focal plane of the Kiso Observatory’s 105 cm Schmidt telescope and used to record video at approximately 60 frames per second, leading to the successful video recording of faint meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 across a large 3.3° x 3.3° field of view.

Detecting faint meteors with apparent magnitudes more than 7 has proven difficult using conventional observation technologies, with sightings of meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 limited to simply 10 per year. However, video recorded using the ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, combined with the Schmidt telescope, which enables observation across a large field of view, yielded a one-minute segment in which more meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 may be detected than could previously be identified throughout the span of a year.

Statistical analysis of the video data may lead to an increased understanding of the influence that meteors could have exerted at the development of life on the earth.

Additionally, as the combination of the CMOS sensor and Schmidt telescope facilitates the highly efficient investigation of objects traveling at high speeds around the sky, it makes possible the detection of an increased collection of celestial phenomena besides meteors, corresponding to space debris*5 and heavenly bodies moving inside the solar system. Accordingly, the technology is predicted to contribute to improved measuring accuracy in determining the location and speed of those objects.

During the further development of distinctive CMOS image sensors, Canon will break new ground on earth of recent image expression, within the areas of still images in addition to video.

The result of the abovementioned observations might be presented on the Astronomical Society of Japan’s autumn 2011 meeting, that may be held from September 19 (Mon.) to 22 (Thu.) at Kagoshima University in Kyushu, Japan.

*1
Apparent magnitude is a measure of a star’s brightness as seen by an observer on the planet. The brighter the celestial body appears, the lower the price of its apparent magnitude. The darkest star visible to the naked eye has an apparent magnitude of roughly 6.
*2
As of September 12, 2011. According to a Canon study.
*3
The approximately 21.1 megapixel 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor employed within the company’s EOS-1Ds Mark III and EOS 5D Mark II digital SLR cameras.
*4
The extent of brightness during a whole moon.
*5
Refers to numerous human-made debris in orbit around Earth, including artificial satellites and the rockets used to launch them into orbit.