AllSky Camera (astronomy)

This is an all-weather housing for an All-Sky camera which can make use of any 1-1/4" body 'eyepiece' type camera from makers such as Altair or QHY etc. The lens f/l is optional, but the best for this job are probably 1.8 to 2.1mm focal length (offering 180-150deg FOV respectively).

Note that this design needs an optical acrylic dome of some sort, the one used here is sold at modest price by Orion as a spare part for their own AllSky camera (;-)). It is worthwhile using a quality dome like this to get the best image quality possible, a cheap dome will cause distortions and probably reflections too.

The seal can either be made from a dual-row of 3mm O-rings (I have made my own like this using cut lengths super-glued together). The seal part shown here can also be printed using TPE flexible fillament (shown above in white) and that seems to work well also.

There are two electrical connections provided - the first is the necessary USB connection, and in this design I use a pair