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.
10 Sep–16 Sepbrowse all nights →
2026-09-16
2026-09-16148/578 · 18.0 mag/arcsec² · 4.3 bits
2026-09-15
2026-09-15522/574 · 17.9 mag/arcsec² · 4.4 bits
2026-09-14
2026-09-1449/570 · 17.1 mag/arcsec² · 5.5 bits
2026-09-13
2026-09-13219/566 · 18.2 mag/arcsec² · 4.0 bits
2026-09-12
2026-09-1242/562 · 16.9 mag/arcsec² · 5.8 bits
2026-09-11
2026-09-11390/558 · 18.0 mag/arcsec² · 4.3 bits
2026-09-10
2026-09-1056/432 · 18.3 mag/arcsec² · 4.0 bits
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