Astro Camera

night-by-night colour sweeps and stacks with a camera facing north and towards the pole and zenith
The Astro Camera: a clear plastic box taped shut, on a wooden arm outside the window above the garden
Pi 4 and v3 camera in a sandwich box from an upstairs window. The white triangle is a lens cover driven by the Pi with an SG90 servo (not visible, far outside of box). The lens is covered with a phone protector glass.
per-night brightness curves overlaid
astrocam v3
brightness curves (and an old reference) for a week. Clouds are bright in the suburbs and overcast is about 8, deep darkness about 4. 4 stops or bits is 16x more photons. The pedestal is 6 bits and must be greater than the electrical noise of the sensor.
27 Aug–2 Sepbrowse all nights →
2026-09-02
2026-09-0247/520 · 16.8 mag/arcsec² · 5.9 bits
2026-09-01
2026-09-0148/515 · 16.4 mag/arcsec² · 6.4 bits
2026-08-31
2026-08-31159/511 · 17.8 mag/arcsec² · 4.6 bits
2026-08-30
2026-08-30177/384 · 17.8 mag/arcsec² · 4.6 bits
2026-08-29
2026-08-29150/503 · 17.6 mag/arcsec² · 4.8 bits
2026-08-28
2026-08-2854/493 · 17.4 mag/arcsec² · 5.1 bits
2026-08-27
2026-08-27280/494 · 17.9 mag/arcsec² · 4.4 bits