This computer reduction shows the first scientific results from an original
RunCam Night Eagle. It plots multiple results of the light curve of the
momentary disappearance of stars behind asteroid 206 Hersilia. DAVID DUNHAM
double or triple the system’s focal length,
making the planets much more viewable.
Required accessories
RunCam produces and sells the Night
Eagle 2 on its own. The Night Eagle 2 Astro
Edition, which contains the aforementioned
enhancements, is available only through
IOTA. That organization offers three differ-
ent kits. For $79 plus shipping, you’ll receive
just the camera with a wide-angle lens.
For $149 plus shipping, you get the cam-
era, plus all accessories (M12 to C adapter,
5mm spacer rings, camera C-mount to 1¼"
adapter) except the 0.5x focal reducer. IOTA
includes the Knight Owl 0.5 Focal Reducer
and everything else for $179 plus shipping.
In the picture to the left, you can see a
black bracket attached to the camera.
While the company designed this bracket
for mounting the camera in quadcopters
(an environment where there would be lit-
tle or no stray light), users found that the
mounting holes let in light that can
impinge on the sensor. So, I recommend
attaching this bracket both to seal out stray
light and to relieve strain on the delicate
power and video cables.
Even with the bracket holes sealed,
though, some light can get in around the
edges of the camera case. For advice for
dealing with this issue, visit IOTA’s web-
site: http://occultations.org/documents/
AstroMetalTapeLightLeakSolution.pdf.
Recording video
You can record the camera’s output direct-
This montage of the Moon combines 11 exposures. The photographer set
the gain to 1 and the brightness to 8. This test image shows how well the
camera can handle saturation issues. TONY GEORGE/IOTA
PRODUCT INFORMATION
RunCam Night Eagle 2
Astro Edition
Image sensor: 11⁄8" CMOS
Horizontal resolution: 800 TVL
Screen format: 4:3
Signal system: NTSC/PAL switchable
Signal-to-noise ratio: 50 dB
Electronic shutter speed: Auto
Maximum gain: 1–9
Minimum illumination: 0.00001 lux
Power: DC 5 to 36 volts
Work current: 90mA at 12 volts, 200mA
at 5 volts
Housing: Aluminum alloy
Weight: 0.56 ounce (16 grams)
Price: $79 to $179 plus shipping
URL: occultations.org/test-night-eagle-
ordering-page
ly onto a small portable video camera
(like the Canon ZR or Elura series, which
both use DV tape and little compression),
a full-size VCR recorder, or a computer
hard drive. For computer capture, a USB
3.0 port and a frame grabber (like the
StarTech SVID2USB23) are required.
IOTA does not recommend using small
portable digital video recorders because
they compress the images to a point where
their scientific value is degraded.
You can download for free all the soft-
ware offered by IOTA members in support
of occultation recording. You’ll find it at
www.asteroidoccultation.com/observations.
Most useful to the beginner will probably
be the IOTA Video Capture program,
which allows a Windows computer to cap-
ture the video stream and convert it to an
AVI file for later analysis. Further down on
the webpage, you’ll find the link to a dedi-
cated YouTube channel that contains
examples of RunCam Night Eagle 2 Astro
Edition videos and images.
Precision timing
In occultation work, accurate timing of
the disappearance and reappearance of a
star is extremely important. To help you
out, IOTA has developed the IOTA-VTI
v3 video time inserter, which you’ll find at
http://videotimers.com/home.html.
This small, battery-powered device con-
tains a GPS antenna and adds a time stamp
(accurate to milliseconds) to the bottom of
every frame of your occultation video. It
also allows you to record the exact location
at which you made the observation.
Recording stellar occultations allows
amateur astronomers to make real scien-
tific contributions to the study of the solar
system, double stars, and more. The combi-
nation of the RunCam Night Eagle 2 Astro
Camera and the IOTA-VTI v3 offers an
inexpensive way to get into this exciting
branch of citizen science.
Richard P. Wilds is a member of the American
Astronomical Society’s Historical Astronomy
Division and IOTA.
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