Quick update on the AllSkyCamera project: summer holidays are close to finish so we are pretty ready to a full comeback on project. During this time we extended the hosting and domain services for other 12 months (Attached is the purchase invoice for other 12 months of the site – € 58.50). See you soon!
Time for the first batch of buys. We started with the main important components of the project: Lens, Astronomical Camera and Micro Computer.
The Lens
To obtain an fisheye effect and to cover all the skydome our choiche goes to Arecont Vision 1/2” 1.55mm f2 CS allsky lens. It costed 96,45 £ (116,81 €) and we will receive it in some days (hoping for no surprises from customs 🙂 damn customs! + 26,48 €).
The Astronomical Camera
Finally we decided to goes right to ZWO ASI 224MC Camera. A great camera which will allow us to obtain great sky images. It costed 270,90 € and yes, it’s already in our hands.
Micro Computer
As already said our choice fell on a compact, high-performance and economical microcomputer: the Raspberry Pi 4 Model B + 4GB RAM. We bought one with a time limited offer for 83,80 € in total and it comes with its case protection, power supply, sandisk 64Gb Memory card and heat dissipators.
Power Supply
Last but not least here below all the purchase receipts (the whole project cost can be consulted here)
During these weeks we are proceeding identifying the components that we will purchase for the construction of the AllSky Camera: but what do we really need to make it? Here is a simple sketch that can help us.
The Lens
It is our photographic “element”, our pupil in a certain sense. The choice will go to a wide-angle and bright model to be able to convey as much light as possible to the element immediately below it.
The Astronomical Camera
All the light collected by the lens goes to our sensitive element: the camera. We will opt for a model designed specifically for astronomical photography: the ZWO ASI. The camera will transfer the datas to the “thinking head” of the ASC.
Micro Computer
Our target is to create a “stand alone” ASC without the need to connect it to a PC or laptop. Our choice fell on a compact, high-performance and economical microcomputer: the Raspberry Pi 4 equipped, among other things, with all the necessary network interfaces, wifi included, for connecting to the internet and sharing the photos and videos taken. The raspberry will also be able to acquire any additional signals for further operational expansions of the ASC.
Power Supply
We excluded the possibility of using a photovoltaic panel at this stage. We will proceed with the use of a standard 220 Vac / 5 Vdc power supply (the tipical one for smartphones). We will also try to integrate a small UPS (uninterruptible power supply / buffer battery) to ensure full operation of the ASC even in the event of a temporary power failure.
Enclosure
Having to work exposed to atmospheric agents and harsh winter temperatures (and hot summer) it will be necessary to protect all the components described above inside a rigid case equipped with a transparent dome that allows the lens to be able to shoot the sky without any problem. To prevent condensation from forming in the dome we will install a small thermal resistor. We are also evaluating the possibility of installing forced ventilation to reduce high summer temperatures without compromising the IP protection degree.
Is it clear enough? 🙂
It’s time to start to fill the www.allskycameraproject.com website, so we proceeded purchasing a customizable WordPress theme from the Envato Market: Enfold. It’s a good theme for our project and it will allow us to make the site simple and responsive. The total amount of the cost is 74,42 $ = 63,09 € (USD 1 = EUR 0.8478). Here attached the invoices receipts
Quick update on the AllSkyCamera project: AGAIN THANKS TO ALL! Thank you very much for your generosity! In a very short time we have largely exceeded the initial goal of the fundraising that we had set for ourselves, reaching the incredible figure of 820 €. In these days of “holidays” I am thinking about how to structure the project but to do it and to be able to share the same with everyone , we need to start from one thing: the purchase of a site hosting service 
Therefore, www.allskycameraproject.com was born today (currently it is still empty) the site where in the coming weeks you will find all the news and developments of the All Sky Camera Project, See you soon! (Attached is the purchase invoice for the first 12 months of the site – € 45.64)
This page is a report of incoming and outcoming project financial resources. As promised last August just after the crowfunding campain success, I “guarantee that everything will be reported to the penny through a constant update of the project developments”. All the voices present in this page are linked to their dedicated post for better detailes.
Please feel free to contact me for any further information required
| 1 | Crowdfunding Campain (August 2020) | 650,00 € | More Infoes |
| 2 | Self Contribute | 170,00 € | More Infoes |
| Total Incoming | 820,00 € |
| 1 | Domain and Hosting Services (from 23/08/2020 to 22/08/2021) | 45,64 € | More Infoes |
| 2 | WordPress Theme (Enfold) | 63,09 € | More Infoes |
| 3 | Arecont Vision 1/2” 1.55mm f2 CS allsky lens | 143,29 € | More Infoes |
| 4 | ZWO ASI 224MC Camera | 270,90 € | More Infoes |
| 5 | Raspberry Pi 4 Model B + 4GB RAM | 83,80 € | More Infoes |
| 6 | Domain and Hosting Services (from 23/08/2021 to 22/08/2022) | 58,50 € | More Infoes |
| Total Outcoming | 665,22 € |
The updated available purchasing resources balance is: +154,78 €
THANK YOU! I don’t really know how to thank you … and I mean seriously … It took just under three days of crowdfunding to be submerged by your generous complicity on this project … € 650.00 of donations to which to add € 170,00 derived from the sale of an old lens of mine that allows the All-Sky Camera Project to be able to count three days after its start of a total budget, so far, of € 820.00! Faced with all this, I can only, for now, thank anyone who has allowed this to happen and guarantee that everything will be reported to the penny through a constant update of the project developments … It will certainly be possible at this point to buy a web site dedicated to the project that will become a reference point for this new adventure! Let’s go!
I have a new project that has been in my head for several months and I think the time has come to try to turn it in reality. The catchtheiridium project has confirmed to me that with the right dose of enthusiasm and passion even the ideas that appear initially complex and difficult can materialize in positive experiences especially when they play the right chords of shared passions with other people. What is it about? Well about a year ago I felt in love with the idea of being able to build an “all-sky camera” for 360 ° night sky monitoring (hence the name “all sky”). And here comes the name: The All-Sky Camera Project.
An all-sky camera is nothing more than an astronomical camera which, properly programmed, spends its nights taking pictures of the sky hoping to being able to capture meteors or satellites flares and so on and which each morning makes available on the net a series of videos and characteristic photos of the night just passed (e.g. startrail and video of the rotation of the constellations around the polar. Have a look herebelow!). A large number of professional solutions (which unfortunately require a huge amount of money) are already available on the market used by public and private observatories.
Fortunately and thanks to the generosity of part of the world community of amateur astronomers, it is possible to find on the net some technical solutions and “do it yourself” projects that allow, by investing time, enthusiasm and energies, to realize at a lower of costs, a fully customizable all-sky camera. After spending the last few months investigating which type of product was most suitable for my case, I am now ready to build, program and install an all-sky camera here in the roof of my house of Serramanna (it would be the first of this type to be installed in Sardinia and one of the few already installed in Italy) and make freely accessible the contents that will be created with it.
The economic investment necessary for the purchase of all the materials of this project is estimated at around 500,00 €, that I hope to recover in part by selling some lens and tools already in my possession to be sacrificed for the cause. Needless to say, the more the recovered budget will approach this estimate, the more performing the components that will make up the all-sky camera will be.
Anyone wishing to help me even with a small donation through the fundraiser open on Paypal will obviously be welcome. Every euro received will be of fundamental importance! It will obviously be my job to constantly update whoever wants it on the development phases of the project and on where and how any euro collected in this sort of strange “crowdfunding” will be invested. Regardless, however, the project and the all-sky camera will continue (perhaps more slowly than expected).
Fingers crossed and clear skies at all: let’s do it!
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