OVER THE LAST DECADE, the deep sky astrophotography industry has undergone rapid changes. The growth in the size and sensitivity of digital detectors, dominated until recently by charge-coupled devices (CCDs), fueled the rising popularity of fast, well-corrected astrographs that take advantage of these new detectors. This in turn helped to drive the development of computerised mounts and software to enable these scopes to record deep, colourful images of the universe around us.
CCDs had a good run, but inevitably a newer detector emerged and quickly rose to prominence. Complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) detectors, which are less expensive and easier to manufacture, became the dominant detector in popular consumer electronics such as digital cameras and smartphones. The explosive growth in these markets drove trends in the much smaller astronomical community. So, it wasn’t a big surprise when at the end of the last decade, the largest manufacturers of CCD detectors announced they would cease production. At the time, CMOS performance wasn’t thought to be quite ready
