Sky Cam for Obsy...

[MarsG76]

Hello all...

After completing the build of my observatory, I keep adding to it, slowly inching toward a fully automated system... the latest addition is a sky cam to keep an eye on the sky conditions when I'm imaging and away from the obsy/home which I tend to be quite often, imaging while at work or the gym.

I can remote into my obsy computer through VNC and, over the mobile network, see the status of my guiding, images and now.. sky/cloud condition.... If, for example, I'm at work and I get a cloud patch go over the imaged object that might take 20 minutes to pass, I can now see when the coast is clear and, if need be, move the guide star back into position and resume guiding/exposing etc.

There are a few dedicated Sky monitoring kits available, but, not only am I one of those types that like to design and put things together myself rather than buy ready made (yes the take the long hard way kind a guy, perhaps even a tight as$)... and I have 2 Imaging source cameras and generally only use one at a time (also the Skyris 618C), so the other camera can be the sky monitor... in tonight's case it was the DMK41.

I got a $9 C-mount lens for the IS DMK cameras and a security camera dome through eBay and mounted it in the roof.

There are a few teething problems, as with every project, but nothing that can't be solved... the first problem is the street light in the corner of the street refracting with in the dome and fading out the sky view... so as a temporary solution, I gaffa taped a cardboard to cast a shadow on the dome and boom, clear view... the permanent shade will end up being a small aluminium semi circle riveted into place.

The other problem is the dew, soon enough there was so much dew on the dome that I couldn't see anything but the brightest stars through a very low contrast sky view.

Initially I'm thinking of heating the inside of the dome to generate a few degrees of heat and stop the dew from settling on the bubble. Method, few 3.9kR 10W ceramic resistors (that I have laying around) hooked up to the 12V 60A supply in parallel inside the dome should do the trick. If that doesn't heat up enough, I'll get a few 1kR ceramics...

Ultimately my plan... I'm hoping to get the scope to Park & Hibernate, shut down the computer and the obsy to roll it self over the gear at the end of the session or in the event of where it suddenly starts to rain (my scope was rained on a couple of times as I was imaging and fell asleep, waking up at 5 or 6 am to rain, rushing out to close the obsy hut, it was like a cold shower wake up call).

I'm using the iCap software to view the Sky, but if anyone knows of good weather/sky related software for this kind of purpose, please share.

Thanks for looking.

MG

 

[happy-kat]

Another great project to read.

I did see mention of a thread I had read on a weather detecting program, I will see if I can find the same thread again (different site) tomorrow.

[MarsG76]

All I need now is auto close...

[happy-kat]

Found it, the program that I saw mentioned was called Tektite Skies, I have never used it or have affiliation to it but saw it in relation to an all sky camera build.

[MarsG76]

11 hours ago, happy-kat said:

Found it, the program that I saw mentioned was called Tektite Skies, I have never used it or have affiliation to it but saw it in relation to an all sky camera build.

Awesome... looks like exactly something that I'm looking for... thank you...