The All-Sky Camera checks for Aurora

The aurora borealis (and its southern counterpart, the aurora australis) is a fleeting and fairly rare phenomenon that produces bright curtains of color in the sky at extreme latitudes. A popular tourist activity is to travel to areas where the aurora borealis are common in order to catch a glimpse of it. The best chances are in the winter, and since most people don't want to spend hours outside on a cold night in high latitudes, a camera that covers the entire sky Like this one [Frank] It can help notify its users when twilight occurs.

Given the extreme temperatures involved, this is more complicated than simply pointing your camera at the sky and hoping for the best. The case and all electronics must be able to withstand a temperature of -50°C and operate at a temperature of at least -30. For the box, [Frank] PVC tubing is used with a clear glued dome at the top that fits over the end of the tube, providing a waterproof enclosure. A Raspberry Pi with a wide-angle camera sits on a 3D-printed cart so it can easily be slid inside. Electronic devices use Power over Ethernet (PoE) instead of battery due to extreme temperatures, conveniently saving network capabilities for image display.

This is only the first part of this build – the second part [Frank] She plans to build a system that can use this camera array to automatically detect an aurora and send notifications when it sees it. Viewing the night sky from a warm home or sauna isn't the only reason to use an all-sky camera, either. They can also be used to observe meteorites as they fall and then determine the location of the meteorites on Earth.