Ecliptic Camera
night · 2026-10-14
2026-10-212026-10-202026-10-192026-10-182026-10-172026-10-152026-10-142026-10-132026-10-122026-10-112026-10-102026-10-092026-10-082026-10-07
IMX708 Wide (v3w)
The deep sky
eclipticam v3w · night of 14 Oct 2026
Each 10 minute window's frames registered on the drifting stars and averaged, then the static scene's background removed: the faintest stars on a clean dark sky. · full-res1How dark the night was
676 frames of 59.9 s, 19:12 to 06:25 (London time). Darkest sky 3.61 stops above black.
402 / 676
frames in star trails / captured
3.61
darkest sky, stops above black
2598
bad pixels
eclipticam v3w · night of 14 Oct 2026
Sky brightness of every frame (log₂: one stop is twice the light). Dusk and dawn are the slopes at each end; cloud shows as a bump. The star-trail stack uses only frames within 30% of the darkest 10 minutes, so twilight and cloud are left out of it. Left out is not thrown away: those frames still go into the videos.2What the camera saw
eclipticam v3w · night of 14 Oct 2026
The raw night: a 10 minute stack sliding on 1 minute per video frame. Dusk, cloud, aircraft and dawn all show here, five seconds for the whole night. · full-res3Stars held still
eclipticam v3w · night of 14 Oct 2026
Each 10 minute window undistorted and shifted with the sky's drift, so the 60 s streaks stack into one sharp, bright streak. · full-res4The whole night in one frame
eclipticam v3w · night of 14 Oct 2026
The brightest value each pixel reached all night: every star draws its trail across the night.IMX477 + 16 mm (HQ16)
1How dark the night was
676 frames of 59.9 s, 19:12 to 06:25 (London time). Darkest sky 7.55 stops above black.
250 / 676
frames in star trails / captured
7.55
darkest sky, stops above black
25
bad pixels
eclipticam-hq16 · night of 14 Oct 2026
Sky brightness of every frame (log₂: one stop is twice the light). Dusk and dawn are the slopes at each end; cloud shows as a bump. The star-trail stack uses only frames within 30% of the darkest 10 minutes, so twilight and cloud are left out of it. Left out is not thrown away: those frames still go into the videos.2What the camera saw
eclipticam-hq16 · night of 14 Oct 2026
The raw night: a 10 minute stack sliding on 1 minute per video frame. Dusk, cloud, aircraft and dawn all show here, five seconds for the whole night. · full-res3The whole night in one frame
eclipticam-hq16 · night of 14 Oct 2026
The brightest value each pixel reached all night: every star draws its trail across the night.