[ATMoB-discuss]Sky Quality Meter

[valleli at rcn.com]

Bern,
I do not think the club has a Sky Quality Meter. I needed it to support the Eagle project on L.P.

It is from Canada for about $140 and is very sensitive from daylight to total darkness ( photo darkroom). Not a kit. A new commercially available silicon detector is at the heart of the instrument and is temperature compensated. After the sky reading it displays the temperature in deg.C or F.

Available at http://www.unihedron.com 

""-----------------------------------------------------
"You've got to kick at the brightness 'til it bleeds starlight."
- with apologies to Bruce Cockburn
Sky Quality Meter

Finally, an affordable meter for measuring sky brightness for astronomers!

The "Sky Quality Meter" measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond.

Unprecedented sensitivity in a handheld meter!

Designed by Dr. Doug Welch and Anthony Tekatch
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.

Features:

    * Audible signal while measurement is in progress.
    * Sky brightness displayed in visual magnitudes per square arcsecond.
    * Infrared blocking filter restricts measurement to visual bandpass.
    * Temperature in both Celsius and Fahrenheit as well as model number and serial number can be displayed with different button press sequence.
    * Precision readings at even the darkest sites.
    * Power-saving features designed in for maximum battery life.
    * Reverse battery protection.

Specifications:

    * Operates from 9V battery (included).
    * Size 3.8 x 2.4 x 1 in.
    * Maximum light sampling time: 8 0 seconds.
    * Specifications are subject to change without notice.
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Tony Flanders at S&T also has one and has been taking readings around New England. He was at Stellafane last year and we compared readings. We were within a few hundredths of a magnitude of each other's meter !

GOOD QUESTION! WHY DOESN'T THE CLUB HAVE ONE ?

Paul