Joyce Hills: Creative Coding: Python Final Project Proposal
Objective: Astrophotography with the Raspberry Pi Camera
Project: AstroCam
After researching various projects beginners could create using the raspberry pi and its accessories, I discovered something exciting to me that I hadn’t thought of. Astrophotography has always been a hobby I’ve wanted to develop. I have a basic telescope, and it has never been possible for me to mount my DSLR camera to it. After discovering that the raspberry pi camera could easily be mounted to the telescope and that, by harnessing python coding power, the raspberry pi camera could take high quality images, I decided I will use the raspberry pi to conduct astrophotography through my telescope. Inspiration credited here: [Raspberry Pi Astro Cam : 8 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables].
My telescope has a mono-eyepiece and is not itself computerized so I have no preferred celestial objects I will target with the camera as I anticipate visibility being an obstacle, but I am wondering if there is a way to render images in real time through the raspberry pi which would enable me to make decisions about what to photograph and how, so this is something I am going to investigate over this week.
I believe I have all the equipment I need to begin this project. I have the raspberry pi, power supply, camera and connector and I plan to follow instructions via the raspberry pi documentation [Getting started - Raspberry Pi Documentation] to set up the computer and access it over the network rather than with a display (I may add a display later). Then I plan to set up the camera, take test images, explore the python code required to control, capture, view and store images, and then set up the telescope mount. I will probably take pictures over a series of nights, playing around with code needed to dictate resolution and other factors.
Use of Python
Python code will be required to dictate and process the images. Determining the exact code I will need will be a lengthy and investigative process, and I am using this guide as a starting point: [Raspberry Pi Astro Cam : 8 Steps (with Pictures) - Instructables].
Audience
This project is primarily for my academic and professional portfolio, so the audience will be peers, potential employers, and visitors to my digital portfolio. If the project goes well then I may post about it or share it more publicly. It would be great if the project leads to a technical achievement of interest to the python coding community. I will strive to produce something that is new not just to our TNS course but to the broader raspberry pi community.
Backup
I am using these sources as backup plans in the event that some unforeseen circumstances (these might be as simple as cloud coverage prohibiting photographing the night sky) impede my project [Raspberry Pi Time-Lapse in Four Easy Steps - Pi My Life Up] [5 Easy Steps To Turn Time-Lapse Images To Video - Pi My Life Up] [5 Ways to Use the Raspberry Pi Camera Module for Time-Lapse Photography (makeuseof.com)] [Make a Stop Motion Video Rig with a Raspberry Pi (makeuseof.com)].
Conclusion
My base goal is to successfully take creative photographs with the raspberry pi camera while my ultimate goal is to have an exciting final for this course and a portfolio-enhancing raspberry pi-operated astrophotography camera. I am excited by this new challenge, and I hope that the configuration and coding process will go smoothly but I am looking forward to what I will be able to learn by engaging with this concept.
Introduction
I documented my process in detail below.
Step 1: Configuring Raspberry Pi and Camera Nodule
I began with the raspberry pi official documentation for both he unit and the camera to set up the devices, troubleshoot, and prepare the equipment.
It took me a few days to get the right equipment. Once everything arrived I got started. Some of the troubleshooting I worked through included first boot getting snagged on the “welcome to raspberry pi” splash screen and being convinced that if I unplugged the device, I would ruin it forever, not being able to progress past camera detection in calibration interfaces and trying out different code to capture stills. With a combination of these sources [Camera software - Raspberry Pi Documentation] [Setting up the Pi NoIR Camera with Raspberry Pi | Raspberry Pi | Maker Pro] [picamera2-manual.pdf (raspberrypi.com)], I was able to take my first test image with the raspberry pi camera 1 NoIR, along with the test setup pictured below. I used the extra-long picam wire to avoid the need to attach the raspberry pi to the telescope tripod.
These are some pictures of the code which resulted in my first test shots [rpicam-still -o pic_name.jpg]:
The following are the lunar photos taken after mounting the picam to the telescope:
I’m astonished this worked out. In the future I will be exploring how to fine tune photographs with python, i.e. controling exposure, framerate, color etc. with custom scripts. As my first attempt to capture something with the picamera, this was an enjoyable experience. There were several roadblocks where I really thought the game was up, but was able to find just the right source or solve to keep moving forward, all the way to this final image. Overall, this was a fun project, and I look forward to doing more with my raspberry pi and picamera, exploring all the cool and fun possibilities!