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At a recent society night Keith described how he has built an all-sky camera, mainly from parts he had laying around, the camera is capable of producing a live view of the sky, time laps video summary of the night, can upload the images to a website for public viewing and can be used as an ASCOM compliant sky sensor.
This short article provides some notes to help others wishing to do the same.
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Parts needed:
- PC/Laptop (windows)
- A CCD/CMOS Astronomy camera (with ASCOM drivers)
- Fish eye lens (Keith use a 2.1mm CCTV Cmount lens)
- Long USB cable
- Rechargeable dehumidifier
- Water proof electrical junction box
- 3.5" Acrylic dome (from dewcontrol.com)
- Plumbers Mate putty (to seal the dome to the junction box)
- AllSkEye software
- Tektite Skies software (ASCOM cloud sensor software based on all sky camera)
- 1 Ohm resistors (to make dew heater - although dewcontrol.com make them if you don't want to make your own)
- Rain-X Plastic - to reduce raindrops and dew on the dome.
- USB female panel mount connector
- 12v power supply - for the dew heater
Key Features provided by AllSkEye
- Can run 24/7 automonously
- Acquire images during pre-set or calculated (e.g. night) times
- Place latest image on the Internet (FTP)
- Can automatically creates video files of saved images
- Add overlay on images (e.g. timestamp, compass, text)
- Can save files in FITS format
- Detects meteor trails
Key Features provided by Tektite Skies
- Able to detect stars and clouds
- Can send an email or sound an alert when sky is clear
- Start and stop times
- Optional free ASCOM interface
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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="582"]
All sky camera built by Keith Rickard[/caption]
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More information can be found in Keith's Original Presentation.
Have you made one? Have other ideas on how to make an all sky camera? Leave a comment below
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