Imagine being able to install a mechanical device on your standard 35mm totally manual film camera, pointing it up into the sky, pushing a start button, and having it shoot on its own - an entire roll of film continuously the entire night without you being there. Such was our dream recently, and after a great deal of experimentation, the project was begun.

Such a camera system could be used for periodic aurora patrol work when the solar wind was expected to rise (at 3am), or an entire night of meteor photography, not missing a single minute around the midnight peak until the first light of the morning (on a work day). Here is a chronology starting with the first working mechanical prototype using a Pentax K1000, and on to developing the microprocessor control system, and electronics for this concept.

Aurora Cam
Hardware 1

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