The Allsky Starcam and Telescope.

Update January 09:

The best way to quickly see what's happening with the sky above Temecula is to visit this page here. It shows you what's been happening for the past hour, and you can step frame by frame through the hour if you like. If you are using FireFox (and if not, why not?), then you can click here to open a page that will stream live video from the camera.

Update December 08:

We have moved from Victoria, Australia to Temecula, California, USA. As a result, the allsky camera now looks at the north hemisphere stars.

When we were in Australia, there were very (very) few allsky camera operating and it seemed to be a really good service that we were providing. Now that we are in America, there are a lot (lot) more all sky cameras operating. Most (all) of them costing a LOT more money than mine, and all of them providing a lot better results. However, I still am of the opinion that a camera in downtown Temecula can still be of use. So, I persist and offer the results and accept any thoughts you might have on how to improve it (with a pretty slim budget if I am footing the bill !!).

The camera points straight up (zenith). North is pointed to by the anemometer (the wind speed and direction thingo at the top of the pole (the white blob half way up is the temperature and humidly Stevenson screen and the black 'squarish' thing at the 10 o'clock position is the rain gauge)).

The telescope is down for the moment. I am keen to get it up and running, but am still busy getting settled here in the States. It will be back up and running from the back yard (I don't think I can get it on the tile roof securely) as soon as I can. I am still planning on getting the original 2 point something inch refractor up and running and then following up with a 4 inch reflector on a different mount as time allows..... watch this space and keep looking up!

If you want to see the results of the camera live on your computer, the best way is to take a look at the directions on this page here.

Update April 05:

The Java applet is now working. Click here to open a live feed to the Telescope. Click on devices and you can switch between the telescope and the allsky camera.

Update Dec 04:

The scope is now (very) roughly calibrated, please click on "Display" in Palantir and then on "xyz readings", the sliders will now show where the scope is pointing. Use a start chart / astronomy software to point the scope at objects of interest.

Update Jan 05: You can now select between the Allsky camera and the Telescope camera under "devices" (don't forget to click control). PLEASE return the main feed to the Telescope when you are finished. (Some people wanted a live feed of the Allsky for satellite, aurora and meteor work).

There is no point in using a telescope when its cloudy, this camera makes it possible to see the "whole" sky at a single glance.

It is also a great way to get around the southern sky. (Or look for sucker holes if your desperate!)

Here is the latest allsky view. Hit refresh on your browser ever 2 minutes to update it, or better still, visit this page here.

Here are the grabs from the day, and some of the night. I am working on getting the whole nigh grabs. Take a look at the time, everything forward of the current time is from yesterday.

What follows is from the old Auzi days.... still well worth a look.

Any of the following time lapse "movies" are worth seeing, check-out the one that best suites your internet connection speed;

Click here to see a small (176x144) animated gif of 1 clear moonless night in the winter of 2004(370kb).
Click here to see a mid sized (320x240) animated gif of the same clear night (3.4mb);
Click here to see a large (640x480) animated gif of the same clear night (4.9mb);

Click here to see an animated gif of the past hour and a bit in 15min chunks (518kb);

Lastly this link is probably the most important. It shows the current sky in a special time lapse script. It will open a page that will show a time lapse of every frame (pretty much a whole nights/days worth) captured (with a 5 min interval) with controls to slow it down, speed it up or freeze any frame. Warning! This will load 130 (640x480) jpgs, roughly 3.5mb in total! (but worth every byte)

What you can hope to see.

This next frame gives you some idea of what the stars look like, if the current view doesn't look something like this, then please think twice before getting frustrated trying to use the telescope. It also highlights some southern stars to get you interested....

The Allsky and Telescope Camera.

Is a re-branded Mintron. It integrates 128 frames/fields. The gain is set to auto due to the fact that we need it to "work" during the day as well as the night.

Here are some photos of it (see the 'How to' page for more photos and details on the camera). Note, there is no lens attached for this shot.

 

The mount.

Not very elaborate at the moment, but its a start. Probably the thing to note most is the curved glass on the top. Ben's past experience with the fisheye was that it can see the side of the tube when you use flat glass, the curved glass is off an old clock. It allows the fisheye to stick proud of the edge and thus not be seen (as much). Ben is also hoping that when he coats the glass with some "Rainx" it will help the water run off and keep the glass clean. (Before you ask, no, this is NOT the final resting place for the camera. Ben needed a proof of concept in a hurry)

 

Update: Ben has finally changed the telescope mount to something more ......err.....well, he's just changed it. (The main problem with the original was that the scope hit the back of the mount when looking at zenith).

 

 

Ben found it simpler to align the allsky during the day, but the light washed out the LCD monitor, so the old Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy trick of using a towel came in handy.

The results.

 

As shown in the current and example frames, the results are very good. Ben is hoping that this camera will be as reliable as the past experimental ones and will give many years of continuous service. At some stage he is planning on installing a fan for ambient air cooling (he's not ever going to fit a pettier to this camera).

Update 20th Dec 04

The above was written in winter, now that we are into summer the thermal noise from the CCD is really getting ugly. Ben is re-thinking the whole cooling thing...... (anyone done this to this camera? Let me know, email me at beno dot id dot au at gmail dot com)

While the software grabs a frame every 5 min, the animated gif's only use every third frame. Ben hopes that he will learn how to make nice small gif's out of all the frames soon (its a lot smoother when you do). If he uses every frame, the gif is about 13.5mb!!!!

Ben bought the fish-eye from http://www.astrovid.com/. He bought the camera from Perth, they no longer sell them, but Google around, they are still available in Australia for a much better price than the 'proper' Astronomy ones.

He was not real pleased with the service ("impossible" to talk to a human on the phone, and did not follow my shipping instructions), but the lens is all that they say. YMMV.

"Fujinon - FISH EYE LENSE (MANUAL IRIS / FOCUS/ ZOOM ) - FOR ALL SKY IMAGING 1.4MM - 3.1 MM F/1.4

FISH EYE LENS FOR THE ALL SKY CAMERA FOR METEORS, AURORA, SKY MONITORING FOR CCD IMAGING AND ROBOTIC OBSERVATORIES.

Format Size 1/3"
Focal Length (mm) Zoom Ratio ( ) 1.4 - 3.1(2.2X)
Relative Aperture ( F ) 1 : 1.4
Iris Range
1.4 ~ Close
Horizontal Angle ( ° ) 1/4" 185
1/3" 180.0
1/2" -
Minimum Object Distance (m) 0.2
Back Focal Length (mm) 7.82mm
Filter Diameter (mm) -
Mount CS
Weight ( g ) 70g"