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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

A light pollution survey using INDI

  • Posts: 456
  • Thank you received: 76
This post is to collect general ideas and feedback for a project I'm thinking about starting.

I'm thinking of doing a light pollution survey of the region I live and where my observatory is. Probably a 50k radius or so.
Basically I'm thinking of attaching an SQM to the roof of my car and driving around for a couple of hours on clear dark nights over the Autumn / Winter.
The end product would be a structured dataset containing, timestamp, GPS coord, SQM, and possibly other data.

So I'm thinking in terms of equipenent: An SQM, a small computer / RPI, a GPS provider (module or smartphone maybe).
Just throwing it out here for ideas / feedback and suggestions.
Ideally it would be easy to use so that I could give to other people who could use it to collect data of comparable quality. Just plug in and go sort of thing...

Thanks,
Derek
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq
6 years 8 months ago #17593

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Great idea! Though not sure how "driving in cars" would affect the result, I presume you'll have your car lights on! But yeah, with RPI + GPS and a modified SQM driver, you can continuously export to a CSV file SQM data + geo tags + timestamp. Maybe some external button to start/stop recording data, or reset..etc.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Derek
6 years 8 months ago #17594

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  • Posts: 456
  • Thank you received: 76
Very good point!! yes, I was hoping of driving with my lights on and collecting data constantly..... However, if the lights interfere then I need to re-think this.
I would need to avoid motorways and main roads and switch off my lights when I take a sample. I think those SQM devices have a narrow field, however I will need to test with car lights on/off to see what it does to the data. Maybe it could be subtracted (like a bias signal).

Thanks for the feedback! I want to collect the best data I possibly can, so any ideas/suggestions are great.
6 years 8 months ago #17595

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