Cold camera photography

[1] For astrophotography in the near infra-red, such as with the James Webb Space Telescope, cameras are cooled to cryogenic temperatures in order to eliminate thermal noise sources.

[2] This technique was popularized by renowned astrophotographer Jack B. Newton, and even earlier, Evered Kreimer used his own design to obtain the images in the Messier Album that he co-authored with John Malias.

Many amateur and professional astronomers have had to design and make their own cold cameras for cooled traditional film astrophotography.

The natural thermal insulating property of the plastic meant that the front surface, exposed to the humidity in the air, would not become cold enough to ice-over during the course of the long exposure.

Williams showed this camera at the Stellafane Convention in Springfield, VT, Celestron International soon licensed his patent and produced them commercially for several years.

Guerra's main innovation[4] was to eliminate the need for the thick plastic plug by placing the film in a sealed chamber that contained a desiccant.

The crosshairs illumination is provided by a red light emitting diode powered by two penlight cells contained within the volume."

And the cameras were each shipped with a custom zippered case, designed and hand-sewn by Suzanne Gaudette (later Guerra), in black and white Naugahyde with a plush red felt lining.

All told, over 60 cameras were produced by hand and sold to customers around the world: England, W. Germany, Japan, Mexico, Canada, and throughout the United States.

The following descriptive is an excerpt from a Sky & Telescope Test Report authored by Johnny Horne, himself an amateur astrophotographer of Jack Newton's standing: .

Mounted on the back of the film holder is the dry-ice chamber with its screw-on cap and spring-loaded plunger for pressing the dry ice against the cold plate.

The chamber holds about three tablespoonfuls of granular dry ice, which lasted about 40 minutes on a night when the air temperature was about 60|degrees~ Fahrenheit.

With cooling to control read-out and other sources of electronic noise, the image results are professional observatory quality, even with modest back-yard amateur telescopes.