Builder Frank Prins has designed a Raspberry Pi-powered camera that can detect auroras and alert people that they're visible.
“An out-of-the box all-sky camera will cost at least €2,000 and runs into much higher numbers, so that’s not an option for me,” writes Prins on his website.
“My plan is thus very simple; I’ll build my own budget friendly all-sky camera, set it up on the island and build an app that provides real-time alerts. This post describes the first part, and gives you all the information you’ll need to build your own. It also includes a cost breakdown and the STL/F3D files to print the custom part.”
The island Prins is talking about is Svalbard in Norway, where he recently visited during the winter season. A lot of tourists show up there to try to see the northern lights, but there are many factors that make seeing the beautiful night sky display challenging, including unpredictable solar activity and weather. It’s also too cold for people to wait outside for long periods.
So instead of physically being outside, staring up at the sky, Prins’ all-sky camera does the observing. The enclosure is waterproof and can withstand temperatures down to -50 degrees Celsius .To reduce the number of cables, Prins went with Power over Ethernet . The onboard computer is a Raspberry Pi 4, and it’s paired with a Raspberry Pi HQ Camera and an ultra-wide angle lens that offers a 184.6-degree field of view — plenty to observe a huge swath of the night sky.