EclipsePhoto

** 1 - Hardware & Data Foundation

Concept

Reliability and autonomy for a “one-shot” astronomical event. The system handles guiding, exposure ramping (Holy Grail), and error recovery (watchdogs) so the photographer can experience the eclipse while the system secures the data.

Quick Facts


Status	** 1 - Hardware & Data Foundation
Language	N/A
Started	2026

What This Is

A “fire and forget” Raspberry Pi-based controller for autonomous solar eclipse photography. It coordinates a camera (via gphoto2) and a high-end mount (ZWO AM5 / Benro Polaris via INDI) to capture a complete eclipse sequence from C1 (First Contact) to C4 (Fourth Contact) without manual intervention.

Key Features

Holy Grail Exposure Ramping: PI controller combining histogram analysis and TSL2591 light sensor data for smooth exposure transitions through the eclipse phases
Crescent-Aware Guiding: OpenCV-based solar disk tracking (Hough circles/centroiding) to keep the sun centered throughout the event
INDI Mount Control: Native integration for ZWO AM5 and Benro Polaris mounts
Mission Control: Mobile app (FastAPI/BLE) for telemetry monitoring — no live-streaming, just status
Resilience: USB watchdog, auto-resume on power failure, best-effort background data backup

Architecture

Raspberry Pi
  ├── Sequencer (Asyncio) — Eclipse state machine, exposure loops
  ├── Guiding Engine (Multiprocessing) — Star/crescent detection, PID loop
  ├── Camera HAL — gphoto2 with failover support
  ├── Mount HAL — INDI protocol
  └── Mission Control API (FastAPI/BLE)

Roadmap

Phase 1: Hardware & Data Foundation — INDI mount integration, camera capture, background backup
Phase 2: Time-Critical Sequencing — GPS time sync, eclipse state machine (C1→C2→C3→C4)
Phase 3: Exposure Ramping — PI controller, TSL2591 sensor fusion, Holy Grail transitions
Phase 4: Intelligent Solar Guiding — Crescent tracking, blind tracking fallback for totality
Phase 5: Remote Connectivity & Safety — FastAPI telemetry, BLE emergency stop
Phase 6: System Resilience — Auto-resume, USB watchdog recovery, monitoring dashboard

Tech Stack

Python (asyncio, multiprocessing), OpenCV, INDI, gphoto2, TSL2591 light sensor, FastAPI, ZeroMQ

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