Product Spotlight - Moonglow Technologies All Sky Cam

Written by Tammy Plotner

So when it comes to messin' around with a lot of fancy equipment, I love to see the results - but I'm afraid of the technology behind it. Oh, don't get me wrong. If you give me long enough, I'll figure anything out, but what I don't want is to be frustrated with an expensive gadget, or be afraid to use it because it is expensive. And speaking of the E-word, I also don't want to invest a large amount of money in something I might or might not use. That's why when I saw the Moonglow Technologies All Sky Camera, I knew I had to take a closer look.

Now here's the kind of technology I could really get into. This color All-Sky camera is as easy as mounting it on a pole and running the cable to your television monitor. It's broadcasting real time video images from a 360 degree perspective aimed at the sky. There's nothing tricky here... just a low lux capable video camera that can also take direct sunlight. It is going to reveal everything from sunrises to sunsets, clouds to rainbows, the Milky Way to meteor showers.

The All Sky Camera's interior is completely sealed from the elements and humidity, and contains a clay desiccant (DMF-free) to prevent fogging inside the glass dome. The sturdy glass dome protects the camera from rain, snow, and moderate hail. Light snow and ice will be melted off by the camera's 1.5 watt internal power consumption. In cold climates during large snowfalls, it may be desirable to brush snow off of the camera to speed the melting process. In summertime, heat generated inside the dome by solar insolation is reduced by the reflective anodized aluminum surface, and removed by conduction through the aluminum housing.



The very best part is that it just simply doesn't need to be technical, nor confusing. The Moonglow Technologies All Sky Camera could be mounted on a garage roof and connected inside to an old television and VCR to record meteor showers. Or how about being part of your home observatory or your astronomy club's building? If you're more into it, there are simple (and inexpensive) cables which will allow you to convert the signal (or recordings) into a computer format for use on You Tube and more. Remember how thrilling the first video eyepieces were for a telescope... and how easy and fun they were (and still are) to use? Well, this little All-Sky camera is offering you the same thing. A chance to play around with technology at a price most of us can afford.

And there's nothing confusing about that!