AuroraPhoto
Active
Python Swift
Concept
Automated capture for aurora and other night-sky imagery. A small edge node sits behind each camera, drives it over USB, and maintains focus by watching the Half-Flux Radius of stars in test frames. When the aurora bursts — the moment most worth capturing — exposure sequencing fires automatically, so the photographer can watch the sky instead of the back of the camera.
The control surface is one phone app, regardless of how many camera nodes are running. Adding another rig is one more entry in a list, not another laptop in the field.
Architecture
flowchart TD
CAM["Mirrorless Camera
USB tethered"] NODE["Capture Node
focus loop · exposure scheduler"] HFR["HFR Star Sharpness
focus drift detection"] BURST["Aurora Burst Trigger
activity-driven sequencing"] COORD["Multi-Node Coordinator
fan-out across rigs"] APP["iOS Companion App
live preview · framing · status"] CAM --> NODE NODE --> HFR NODE --> BURST HFR --> NODE BURST --> NODE NODE --> COORD COORD --> APP
USB tethered"] NODE["Capture Node
focus loop · exposure scheduler"] HFR["HFR Star Sharpness
focus drift detection"] BURST["Aurora Burst Trigger
activity-driven sequencing"] COORD["Multi-Node Coordinator
fan-out across rigs"] APP["iOS Companion App
live preview · framing · status"] CAM --> NODE NODE --> HFR NODE --> BURST HFR --> NODE BURST --> NODE NODE --> COORD COORD --> APP
Focus and burst-detection are local to each node — the phone app is a control plane, not a data path, so the system keeps working if the phone walks out of range.