RunCam Night Eagle Astro

Great Camera for Occultation Astronomy

Posted by Tony George, IOTA North America on 1st May 2017

The camera, in addition to night flying for drones, was conceived for use as a sensitive occultation astronomy video camera system.

How did it work? The RunCam Night Eagle Astro is as sensitive as the WAT910HX -- a standard for high sensitivity and linear response in the astronomical community. The response is not linear, but it is a standard 0.45 gamma response. With a standard 0.45 inverse gamma correction the camera can be used for accurate photometric measurements.

The AGC has 9 user adjustable settings. For maximum sensitivity, AGC-9 should be used. All other settings have less sensitivity.

The sensor chip is a CMOS design which uses a rolling shutter. For the timing of astronomical events, the rolling shutter poses the additional problem of having to correct for the position of the star on the chip when applying times to measured events. This is easy to do and correction equations are available.

The RunCam Night Eagle Astro Edition comes with a very handy OSD controller. This works as well as any OSD controller that I have seen provided with any other NTSD/EIA CCD video camera. The menu is very intuitive and very complete. The large number of features available outnumber the number of features that need to be used in occultation astronomy, however the FPV fraternity will find them all very handy and easy to program.

The case is made of magnesium alloy. It is light proof, very sturdy and well designed. The camera has such a sensitive chip that ANY light leak will be detected. It was found that some light can leak through the screw holes in the case (need to be plugged with screws provided) and around the seam of the back panel and connectors. All the light leaks were easy to solve with application of opaque tape -- I used metal heat duct tape.

The camera was tested for linearity and found to have very good gamma 0.45 response. The camera was tested for sensitivity to small 0.2 magnitude changes in brightness. The camera was able to detect more than 2.5 magnitudes of brightness change with a very acceptable response, with corresponding response steps varying from 0.2 to 0.3 magnitudes, and very good signal-to-noise ratio even after 2.5 magnitude change in overall brightness.

The camera lens supplied is quite nice, but to couple the camera to a telescope an M12-to-CMount adapter must be purchased at a cost of around $10. This allows the camera to be attached to a CMount-1" 1/4 adapter that allows the camera to fit a standard eyepiece mounting socket.

The camera will feel hot to the touch, but I have left mine running for days and there is no problem with overheating.

The RunCam Nigh Eagle Astro is a much better camera than the RunCam OWL, RunCam OWL Plus, and Night Eagle, particularly at low light. The camera as a Night Shutter that will integrate the video for 2x, 4x, or 8x fields (NTSC or PAL). This allows the camera to be even more sensitive than any of the other cameras mentioned. It truly can see by star light.

The cost of the RunCam Night Eagle Astro Edition is reasonable. It can be purchased without a lens for astronomical use. At the current price point, the RunCam Night Eagle Astro Edition is the best camera of its type on the market.

This camera was designed in cooperation with IOTA (International Occultation Timing Association) and is recommended to the astronomical community as a very good low-cost entry-level camera for occultation astronomy.