That first all-sky camera image I caught still sticks with me 5 years later

I was out at a star party in Julian, California back in 2019 when someone set up one of those all-sky cameras for the first time I'd ever seen. It was a simple setup, just a fisheye lens pointing straight up on a tripod with a cheap intervalometer. Watching that full dome view of the Milky Way rolling overhead on his laptop screen totally changed how I think about wide-field astrophotography. Since then I've built two of my own rigs with old security cameras and raspberry pis, trying to get that same feeling. The first one cost me maybe $60 total and the image quality was pretty rough compared to what I get now after 3 iterations. Has anyone else gone down this rabbit hole of all-sky setups or am I just weird for obsessing over a single damn photo?

2 comments

2 Comments

blakem371mo ago

Man that first all-sky view really hooks you doesn't it. I built one from an old webcam and a raspberry pi zero a couple years back and the result was so grainy I almost tossed it. But I kept tweaking the exposure times and finally got a shot of the summer triangle that looked halfway decent. Now I'm on my fourth version with a proper sensor and it's crazy how much you learn just from trial and error. The fact you pulled off a working rig for 60 bucks is impressive most people would give up after the first failed attempt.

pat_coleman1mo ago

That setup in Julian sounds like a real treat, light pollution out there is minimal enough to make the Milky Way pop like crazy. My own first all-sky attempt was just a GoPro duct-taped to a fence post in my backyard, waiting for a meteor shower that never really materialized. The image was a blurry mess but it started an obsession with capturing the whole sky that I haven't shaken since.