Sony 12.3MP sensor with excellent low-light performance

180° fisheye lens with accessible focusing

Heated dome & active ventilation system

Integrated temperature, humidity & pressure sensors

Power over Ethernet (PoE+, IEEE 802.3at) single-cable installation

Pre-configured software ready to operate

AMASC01 – AstroMeters AllSky Camera

The AMASC01 is an AllSky camera designed for continuous sky monitoring in astronomical and environmental applications. It integrates the Sony IMX477 image sensor with a 180° fisheye lens, providing high sensitivity required for night-sky imaging and long-term observation.

AMASC01 AllSky cameras, revision D.

Applications

• Astronomy and astrophotography – continuous all-sky monitoring, timelapses of the whole night and Milky Way imaging from your observatory.
• Meteor and bolide detection – every frame is stored with an accurate timestamp, so fireballs and meteor showers are caught and can be analysed or shared with networks.
• Cloud cover and observing conditions – decide at a glance whether to open the roof, or feed the data into observatory automation together with AMSKY02.
• Nowcasting – short-term (minutes to hours) prediction of cloud cover and sky conditions from frame sequences, useful for observatory scheduling and weather services.
• PV production forecasting – cloud movement and sun-obscuration estimates feeding short-term photovoltaic power prediction for solar plants and grid operators.
• Remote and robotic observatories – single PoE+ cable, RTC and unattended operation make it suitable for sites without a reliable internet connection.
• Atmospheric phenomena – aurora, airglow, noctilucent clouds, halo phenomena and lightning, with the sensor data to correlate them.
• Education and outreach – live sky view for schools, public observatories and planetariums.
• Environmental and research monitoring – long-term sky brightness and weather records, with raw FITS/DNG output for scientific processing.

Durable Construction for Outdoor Deployment

The camera is housed in a weather-resistant enclosure suitable for year-round outdoor operation. Key design elements include:

• Wide-angle lens covering the entire sky.
• Accessible precision focusing mechanism enabling straightforward installation and adjustment.
• Heated optical dome and active ventilation, preventing fogging and helping maintain stable internal conditions to ensure long operational life.
• Built for permanent sky exposure – the camera is designed to face the open sky around the clock, so direct sunlight on the dome during the day is part of normal operation.

AMASC01 installed in an outdoor observatory environment.

Integrated Electronics and Sensors

AMASC01 incorporates several internal systems that support autonomous and reliable operation:

• Environmental sensors: humidity, temperature and pressure.
• RTC (Real-Time Clock) for accurate timestamping and work without internet connection.
• PoE+ power supply for simple single-cable installation.
• Custom control electronics managing heating, ventilation, and other peripheral components.

Connectivity and Power

The device supports 1000BASE-T Ethernet communication with Power over Ethernet (PoE+, IEEE 802.3at), enabling both data transfer and power delivery through a single cable. This simplifies installation, particularly in remote or difficult-to-access locations.

Example image captured by the AMASC01 all-sky camera.

Software

The AMASC01 camera is shipped fully pre-installed and pre-configured. All required software components, system settings, and operational parameters are prepared at the factory, allowing the camera to function immediately after installation.
No complex modifications or manual configuration steps are needed. Simply connect the device via Ethernet/PoE, access the web interface, and begin operating the system.

The primary software is Caelum, an open-source headless capture engine for all-sky cameras developed by AstroMeters. Key features include:

• Sky-aware auto-exposure driven by Sun and Moon positions, with separate settings for day, twilight and night
• RAM-first image pipeline with raw FITS/DNG output and calibration
• Built-in keograms and meteor detection, extensible with plugins
• Local storage with retention policy and automatic upload to a remote archive
• Web-based user interface with live view, recordings by night and updates from the browser

Caelum web interface: live view, night playback, per-frame metadata (exposure, Sun/Moon position, focus score) and RAW/DNG download.

More details are in the Caelum documentation and on caelum.astrometers.eu.

Keogram from AMASC01 AllSky camera

Other Software Options

AMASC01 is also compatible with AllskyTeam/allsky (the default software for cameras sold before October 2026) and indi-allsky.

Optional and Future Software Solutions

AstroMeters is developing optional software variants aimed at specialized observational tasks, built on Caelum. Planned extensions include:

• High-precision meteor and bolide detection
• Enhanced data processing pipelines for event-specific analysis
• Tools for exporting scientific-grade data and integration with research workflows
• Outputs based on customers requests, feel free to contact us with your requirements

These upcoming modules will expand the potential of the AMASC01 for users requiring advanced analytical features or specialized observational capabilities.

Customization

Need a modified version of AMASC01? Whether it is software/firmware, hardware, or camera parameters (e.g. lens and field of view, sensor, interface, power, or mounting), we are happy to adapt it to your needs. Since the design, development, and manufacturing are all done in-house, such modifications can be made quickly and easily.

If you are interested, please contact us.