Ecliptic Camera: History of the Cameras — Peter Grecian

Era 1: The Original v1 Camera (OV5647) Retired

The original ecliptic camera used an OmniVision OV5647 sensor (Raspberry Pi Camera Module v1) with a stock 53.5° lens. It operated in coadded mode, summing 10 frames per exposure with an electronic black level of 15.9 ADU per frame.

It captured daytime stills and night exposures along the ecliptic, providing initial measurements of southern sky brightness and establishing continuous monitoring routines. When the v3 Wide arrived, the v1 was kept mounted on the chassis but left dormant until its retirement in October 2026.

Era 2: The v3 Wide Camera (IMX708 Wide) Active

In June 2026, the rig was upgraded with a Sony IMX708 sensor (Raspberry Pi Camera Module 3 Wide), opening up a massive 100° slice of the southern sky.

The v3 Wide captures continuous 60 s streaming integrations in Rice-compressed FITS. Astrometric plate solves confirmed a rectilinear gnomonic projection, and focus was calibrated to 3.30 dioptres for sharp star profiles across the full field. Over months of observation, it has tracked the retrograde loops of Saturn and Neptune across the zodiac and recorded meteor and satellite transients across the celestial equator.

Era 3: Dual-Camera Rig with the HQ 16 mm Commissioning

In mid-October 2026, the dormant v1 module was unmounted from the windowsill rig. In its place, a Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera (Sony IMX477) paired with a 16 mm C-mount lens was fitted beside the v3 Wide.

This transforms the installation into a true dual-camera instrument: the v3 Wide provides context and whole-sky monitoring across 100°, while the HQ16 delivers a high-resolution narrow view (22° × 17°) with 19.9 arcsec/photosite resolution into the heart of the ecliptic. Both cameras buffer to a local solid-state drive to ensure continuous recording regardless of network conditions.

Hardware Comparison