I've recently started using an STT-3200 non anti blooming camera on a 12" SCT at a college where I am in charge of the observatory. It is the only camera we have. Many stars in most of my images bloom to a greater or lesser degree even with short exposures. Naturally this is not good for photography which is what I primarily like to do. My own personal camera is an ST-8 with an anti blooming gate. It does not bloom other than on the brightest stars with long exposures.That is what I'm accustomed to. Is there anything I can do with the STT-3200 to help my situation ? Any help from anyone would be appreciated. Thanks, Frank
The KAF-3200 sensor specifically permits blooming, and is designed for applications like Photometry (Variable Stars) and Exoplanet follow up. Anti-blooming gates on other CCDs eliminate extra charge, which cannot be accounted for numerically, making photometry difficult on brighter stars. You can either use dimmer targets, or maybe you should have a look at one of our astrophotography cameras, like the STC-7 or Aluma 814 CCD: https://diffractionlimited.com/astrophotography-cameras/
