DISCOVER NEW HORIZONS
C/2025 A6 (Lemmon)
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Imaging Camera QHY600
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Total Integration 12min
L: 450sec
R: 90sec
G: 90sec
B: 90sec
Astrophotographer
Michael Jäger,
Gerald Rhemann G00

DISCOVER NEW HORIZONS
L: 450sec
R: 90sec
G: 90sec
B: 90sec
QHY6060 Pro is a scientific CMOS camera with 37.7 Megapixels, 61mm square (89mm diagonal) sensor, 10um pixel size, 14bit ADC and 6K*6K resolution. It has both back-illuminated version and front-illuminated versions. The BSI version has 95% peak QE and has soft X-ray response. QHY6060 Pro supports both air and liquid cooling.
In order to use it in a full vacuum environment. The camera needs to be put into a vacuum environment. QHYCCD can offer a special customized design of the full vacuum version. Please contact QHYCCD if you need this version.
*Please contact QHYCCD about the price.
Model | QHY6060 Pro |
Image Sensor | Gpixel GSENSE6060 |
Sensor Type | Mono Only |
FSI/BSI | Both Available |
Pixel Size | 10μm*10μm |
Effective Pixels | 37.6 Megapixels |
Effective Image Area | 61.34mm*61.34mm |
Effective Pixel Area | 6134*6134 |
Total Pixel Area | 7936*6134 (Include the optic black area on left side and right side) |
A/D | 14-bit A/D |
Full Well Capacity (1×1, 2×2, 3×3)
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QHY6060FSI 70ke-
QHY6060BSI TBD |
Read Noise | 4.7e- (at max analog gain in high gain channel) |
Dark Current | FSI: 0.2e-/pixel/sec @-15℃
BSI: TBD |
Exposure Time Range | 20μs-300sec |
Shutter Type | Electronic Rolling Shutter |
Computer Interface | USB3.0
2*10Gigabit Fiber |
Filter Wheel Interface
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4PIN QHYCCD CFW Port |
Trigger Port | Programmable TrigOut, High Speed Sync Port / GPS interface Port |
Full Frame Rates | USB3.0:
5.6FPS@8bit 4.0FPS@16bit
PCIE Mode: 5.6FPS@8bit 5.6FPS@16bit
speed3(still in development): 11FPS@8bit |
ROI Frame Rates
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USB3.0:
2048lines, 16.8FPS@8bit,12.1FPS@16bit 1080lines, 30.6FPS@8bit, 23.1FPS@16bit 768lines, 35.2FPS@8bit, 32.1FPS@16bit 480lines, 66.3FPS@8bit, 49.1FPS@16bit PCIE Mode: 2048lines, 16.8FPS@8bit, 16.8FPS@16bit 1080lines, 30.6FPS@8bit,30.6FPS@16bit 768lines, 35.2FPS@8bit,35.2FPS@16bit 480lines, 66.3FPS@8bit, 66.3FPS@16bit |
Built-in Image Buffer | 2GB DDR3 Memory Buffer |
Air Cooling System | Dual Stage TEC cooler:
-25℃ below ambient (Test temperature 20℃) |
Liquid Cooling | Available.
-35℃ to -37℃ below ambient temperature (water temperature 26℃, test temperature +20℃) -45℃ to -47℃ below ambient temperature (water temperature 10℃, test temperature +20℃) |
Recommended Flow Rates | 12ml/s |
Anti-Dew Heater | Available |
Humidity Sensor | Available |
Firmware/FPGA remote Upgrade | Available via Camera USB port |
Optic Window Type | AR+AR High Quality Multi-Layer Anti-Reflection Coating |
Back Focal Length | TBD |
Adapters | Customization |
Weight | TBD |
Power | TBD |
*This definition is from the developer of Gsense sensors , not from QHYCCD. Please contact us if any question.
Maximum allowed defect numbers are indicated below*.
Item | Grade 0 | Grade 1 | Grade 2 |
Total Defect Pixel | 800 | 1200 | 2000 |
Total Defect Column and Defect Row | 2 | 6 | 10 |
*Any Defects on the glass lid are excluded.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0168900222000985?via%3Dihub#!
The camera requires an input voltage between 11V and 13.8V. If the input voltage is too low the camera will stop functioning or it may reboot when the TEC power percent is high, causing a drain on the power. Therefore, please make sure the input voltage arrived to the camera is adequate. 12V is the best but please note that a 12V cable that is very long or a cable with small conductor wire may exhibit enough resistance to cause a voltage drop between the power supply and the camera. The formular is: V(drop) = I * R (cable). It is advised that a very long 12V power cable not be used. It is better to place the 12V AC adapter closer to the camera.
First connect the 12V power supply, then connect the camera to your computer via the USB3.0 cable. Make sure the camera is plugged in before connecting the camera to the computer, otherwise the camera will not be recognized. When you connect the camera for the first time, the system discovers the new device and looks for drivers for it. You can skip the online search step by clicking “Skip obtaining the driver software from Windows Update” and the computer will automatically find the driver locally and install it. If we take the 5IIISeries driver as an example (shown below), after the driver software is successfully installed, you will see QHY5IIISeries_IO in the device manager.
Please note that the input voltage cannot be lower than 11.5v, otherwise the device will be unable to work normally.
All-in-one Pack supports most QHYCCD models only except PoleMaster and several discontinued CCD cameras.
Download Page: https://www.qhyccd.com/download/
Video Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/embed/mZDxIK0GZRc?start=1
Before using software, make sure you have connected the cooling camera to the 12V power supply and connected it to the computer with a USB3.0 data cable. If it’s an uncooled camera, 12V power is not needed. We recommend 64-bit Software, like SharpCAP x64 , N.I.N.A x64. etc., especially when you’re using 16bit cameras.
In NINA, you can select the device to connect to QHY Camera directly without ASCOM driver.
If connecting to the camera via ASCOM is desired, first make sure you have installed both the QHYCCD ASCOM Drivers and ASCOM Platform. Then you would select the appropriate camera driver under the ASCOM section. Then click the Connect icon. Here we take NINA as an example, but it’s similar to other software packages supporting ASCOM, like MaxDL, The SkyX, etc.
Launch SharpCap. If the software and drivers mentioned above are installed successfully, the video image will appear automatically about 3 seconds after the software loads. You will also see the frame rate in the lower left corner of the software window as shown below.
If you have already started the SharpCap software before connecting the camera, in order to open the camera, click on the “camera” in the menu bar and then select the device.
Offset adjustment. When you completely block the camera (i.e., like taking a dark frame) you may find that the image is not really zero. Sometimes this will reduce the quality of the image contrast. You can get a better dark field by adjusting the offset. You can confirm this by opening the histogram as indicated in the figure below.
If you want to enter the 16-bit image mode, select the “RAW16” mode.
By selecting the “LX” mode you can expand the exposure setting range and take long exposures.
After cooling devices connected to the 12V power supply, the temperature control circuit will be activated. You can control the CMOS temperature by adjusting the settings in the figure below. Basically, you can control the temperature of CMOS by either adjusting “Cooler Power” or clicking “Auto” and setting “Target Temperature”. You can also see the CMOS temperature at the lower-left corner of the software window.
Since QHY6060 Pro is usually connected to a large telescope, especially the main focus of a large telescope, it is not convenient to disassemble it at this time. Therefore, QHY6060 Pro has designed an external drying system to facilitate maintenance work and solve the maintenance-free problem of long-term use.
6. Use EZCAP_QT software to turn off the camera cooling (TEC OFF), and observe the humidity display curve (RH) of EZCAP_QT. The cyclic dehumidification function in the software is added on 2020-11-27, please use 20-11-27 or later versions.
Added functions related to BURST mode in SDK. Currently, cameras that support Burst function include QHY600, QHY411, QHY461, QHY268, QHY6060, QHY4040, QHY4040PRO, QHY2020, QHY42PRO, QHY183A
This mode is a sub-mode of continuous mode. This function can only be used in continuous mode. When this function is enabled, the camera will stop outputting image data, and the software frame rate will be reduced to 0. At this time, send relevant commands to the camera, and the camera will Output the image data with the specified frame number according to the settings, for example, set Start End to 1 6, the camera will output the image data with the frame number 2 3 4 5 when receiving the command.
Note:
1. When using Burst mode in fiber mode, the first Burst shot will be one less. For example, if the start end is set to 1 6, the output of 2 3 4 5 is normal, but in fact, only 3 4 will be output during the first burst shot. 5, 2 will not be received, the second and subsequent shots can normally obtain Burst images 2 3 4 5. This problem will be fixed later.
2. QHY2020, QHY4040 found that the frame number that came out when the exposure time was short is [start+1,end-1] but the one that came out under long exposure was [start+2,end]
3. When the camera is just connected, if the set end value is relatively large, the camera will directly output the picture after entering the burst mode. Therefore, it is necessary to set the camera to enter the IDLE state and then set the start end and related burst operations.
The following is the usage of Burst mode related functions: