Re: Clear Sky Detector

[Michael Koppelman <lolife@bitstream.net>]

You are the man, Tom.

Any chance that cloud cover would make for good flat fields?

Michael Koppelman


On Tuesday, February 11, 2003, at 11:41 AM, Tom Droege wrote:

> Last night was almost solid clouds.  I set up the Mark IV so that it 
> would take darks when the sky was cloudy and object frames when the 
> Clear Sky Detector said it was OK.  The result was that the detector 
> found 3 patches of clear sky out of about 150 images.  Since only one 
> of these was really clear, I think I have it set about right.
>
> Next comes the Day/Night detector.  I found a Panasonic device that 
> might do the trick.  The PNA4603H.  I ordered 10 at $3.51 each.  We 
> shall see.
>
> I will then just turn on at dusk and let the Mark IV decide what to do.
>
> For those that have asked, the TEC I am using is a Melcor 
> CP1.0-127-05L.  If I were designing from scratch rather than taking a 
> device out of a cabinet, I would use one with longer junctions.  For 
> this purpose I would pick one with the largest number of junctions.  
> The signal is of order a millivolt so a low offset amplifier is > needed.
>
> Edison is supposed to have said "Invention is having an idea and a lot 
> of junk".  I do have a wonderful collection of junk.