Unihedron Sky Quality Meter with Lens - Narrow Field of View / RS232 Connection
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An affordable meter for continual, connected measuring of sky brightness for astronomers! The "Sky Quality Meter - LR" measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond. Designed by Dr. Doug Welch and Anthony Tekatch, the Unihedron Sky Quality Meter offers unprecedented sensitivity in a handheld meter.
Uses:
- Find out how good the night or site REALLY is.
- Compare the sky brightness at different sites quantitatively.
- Document the evolution of light pollution in your area.
- Set planetarium dome illumination to mimic the skies people are likely to experience elsewhere in the city.
- Monitor sky brightness through the night, night-to-night, and year-to-year.
- Determine which nights show the greatest promise for finding the 'faintest fuzzies'!
- Calibrate the effect of sky brightness on qualitative measures such as the Bortle Scale.
- Investigate how sky brightness correlates with the solar cycle and month-to-month sunspot activity.
- Help provide local ground truth for future sky brightness prediction with the Clear Sky Clock.
- CCD users can make a correlation between the SQM reading and when the background reaches some ADC level.
Deployment
- Legacy computer interface installations.
- MODEM interface installations.
- Simple electronic interface projects.
Features:
- Sky brightness reported in visual magnitudes per square arcsecond.
- Infrared blocking filter restricts measurement to visual bandpass.
- Sensor temperature, model number, and serial number are provided.
- Precision readings at even the darkest sites.
- Field-upgradeable firmware.
- Open protocol document.
Specifications:
- RS232 connectivity.
- Included applications for reading data in Perl.
- The Half Width Half Maximum (HWHM) of the angular sensitivity is ~10°. The Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) is then ~20°. The sensitivity to a point source ~19° off-axis is a factor of 10 lower than on-axis. A point source ~20° and ~40° off-axis would register 3.0 and 5.0 magnitudes fainter, respectively.
- Size 3.6 x 2.6 x 1.1 in.
- Maximum light sampling time: 80 seconds.
- Minimum light sampling time: 1 seconds.
- Specifications are subject to change without notice.
What You Get:
- SQM-LR unit
- International AC adapter
- SQM-LR users manual
- USB flash drive containing the users manual, operation software (UDM), and example software. This can also be found online here.
- 6ft RS232 straight through cable
- Calibration sheet indicates unit serial number and calibration values
Other Information
- Country of Manufacture: Canada
An affordable meter for continual, connected measuring of sky brightness for astronomers! The "Sky Quality Meter - LR" measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond. Designed by Dr. Doug Welch and Anthony Tekatch, the Unihedron Sky Quality Meter offers unprecedented sensitivity in a handheld meter.
Uses:
- Find out how good the night or site REALLY is.
- Compare the sky brightness at different sites quantitatively.
- Document the evolution of light pollution in your area.
- Set planetarium dome illumination to mimic the skies people are likely to experience elsewhere in the city.
- Monitor sky brightness through the night, night-to-night, and year-to-year.
- Determine which nights show the greatest promise for finding the 'faintest fuzzies'!
- Calibrate the effect of sky brightness on qualitative measures such as the Bortle Scale.
- Investigate how sky brightness correlates with the solar cycle and month-to-month sunspot activity.
- Help provide local ground truth for future sky brightness prediction with the Clear Sky Clock.
- CCD users can make a correlation between the SQM reading and when the background reaches some ADC level.
Deployment
- Legacy computer interface installations.
- MODEM interface installations.
- Simple electronic interface projects.
Features:
- Sky brightness reported in visual magnitudes per square arcsecond.
- Infrared blocking filter restricts measurement to visual bandpass.
- Sensor temperature, model number, and serial number are provided.
- Precision readings at even the darkest sites.
- Field-upgradeable firmware.
- Open protocol document.
Specifications:
- RS232 connectivity.
- Included applications for reading data in Perl.
- The Half Width Half Maximum (HWHM) of the angular sensitivity is ~10°. The Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) is then ~20°. The sensitivity to a point source ~19° off-axis is a factor of 10 lower than on-axis. A point source ~20° and ~40° off-axis would register 3.0 and 5.0 magnitudes fainter, respectively.
- Size 3.6 x 2.6 x 1.1 in.
- Maximum light sampling time: 80 seconds.
- Minimum light sampling time: 1 seconds.
- Specifications are subject to change without notice.
What You Get:
- SQM-LR unit
- International AC adapter
- SQM-LR users manual
- USB flash drive containing the users manual, operation software (UDM), and example software. This can also be found online here.
- 6ft RS232 straight through cable
- Calibration sheet indicates unit serial number and calibration values
An affordable meter for continual, connected measuring of sky brightness for astronomers! The "Sky Quality Meter - LR" measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond. Designed by Dr. Doug Welch and Anthony Tekatch, the Unihedron Sky Quality Meter offers unprecedented sensitivity in a handheld meter.
Uses:
- Find out how good the night or site REALLY is.
- Compare the sky brightness at different sites quantitatively.
- Document the evolution of light pollution in your area.
- Set planetarium dome illumination to mimic the skies people are likely to experience elsewhere in the city.
- Monitor sky brightness through the night, night-to-night, and year-to-year.
- Determine which nights show the greatest promise for finding the 'faintest fuzzies'!
- Calibrate the effect of sky brightness on qualitative measures such as the Bortle Scale.
- Investigate how sky brightness correlates with the solar cycle and month-to-month sunspot activity.
- Help provide local ground truth for future sky brightness prediction with the Clear Sky Clock.
- CCD users can make a correlation between the SQM reading and when the background reaches some ADC level.
Deployment
- Legacy computer interface installations.
- MODEM interface installations.
- Simple electronic interface projects.
Features:
- Sky brightness reported in visual magnitudes per square arcsecond.
- Infrared blocking filter restricts measurement to visual bandpass.
- Sensor temperature, model number, and serial number are provided.
- Precision readings at even the darkest sites.
- Field-upgradeable firmware.
- Open protocol document.
Specifications:
- RS232 connectivity.
- Included applications for reading data in Perl.
- The Half Width Half Maximum (HWHM) of the angular sensitivity is ~10°. The Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) is then ~20°. The sensitivity to a point source ~19° off-axis is a factor of 10 lower than on-axis. A point source ~20° and ~40° off-axis would register 3.0 and 5.0 magnitudes fainter, respectively.
- Size 3.6 x 2.6 x 1.1 in.
- Maximum light sampling time: 80 seconds.
- Minimum light sampling time: 1 seconds.
- Specifications are subject to change without notice.
What You Get:
- SQM-LR unit
- International AC adapter
- SQM-LR users manual
- USB flash drive containing the users manual, operation software (UDM), and example software. This can also be found online here.
- 6ft RS232 straight through cable
- Calibration sheet indicates unit serial number and calibration values
Other Information
- Country of Manufacture: Canada
Unihedron Sky Quality Meter with Lens - Narrow Field of View / RS232 Connection