Sky Quality Meter - SQM-LU-DL

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Article number:	SQM-LU-DL
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A USB enabled data-logging light meter for night-time sky brightness monitoring!

An affordable meter for continual, connected or autonomous data-logging to measure sky brightness for astronomers and light pollution investigators.

The "Sky Quality Meter - LU-DL" (SQM-LU-DL) measures the brightness of the night sky in magnitudes per square arcsecond.

Uses:

Measuring the night sky brightness during remote biological field experiments.
Find out how good the night or site REALLY is.
Compare the sky brightness at different sites quantitatively.
Document the evolution of light pollution in your area.
Set planetarium dome illumination to mimic the skies people are likely to experience elsewhere in the city.
Monitor sky brightness through the night, night-to-night, and year-to-year.
Determine which nights show the greatest promise for finding the 'faintest fuzzies'!
Calibrate the effect of sky brightness on qualitative measures such as the Bortle Scale.
Investigate how sky brightness correlates with the solar cycle and month-to-month sunspot activity.
Help provide local ground truth for future sky brightness prediction with the Clear Sky Clock.
CCD users can make a correlation between the SQM reading and when the background reaches some ADC level.

SQM-LU-DL control panel

Features:

Sky brightness reported in visual magnitudes per square arcsecond.
Infrared blocking filter restricts measurement to visual bandpass.
Sensor temperature, model number, and serial number are provided.
Precision readings at even the darkest sites.
Field-upgradeable firmware.
Open protocol document.

Specifications:

USB connectivity
Included applications for reading data in Perl.
The Half Width Half Maximum (HWHM) of the angular sensitivity is ~10°. The Full Width Half Maximum (FWHM) is then ~20°. The sensitivity to a point source ~19° off-axis is a factor of 10 lower than on-axis. A point source ~20° and ~40° off-axis would register 3.0 and 5.0 magnitudes fainter, respectively.
Size 5.5 x 2.6 x 1.1 in.
Maximum light sampling time: 80 seconds.
Minimum light sampling time: 1 seconds.
Specifications are subject to change without notice.

What you get:

SQM-LU-DL unit
SQM-LU-DL users manual
CD with PDF manual and example software
15ft USB cable
Battery-to-USB adapter with 6 AA cells and battery holder
Calibration sheet indicates unit USB serial number, and calibration value

Price $249.99US plus Shipping & Handling.

What you get (with housing):

SQM-LU-DL unit
SQM-LU-DL users manual
CD with PDF manual and example software
15ft USB cable
Battery-to-USB adapter with 6 AA cells and battery holder
Calibration sheet indicates unit USB serial number, and calibration values
Weatherproof housing

Price $289.94US plus Shipping & Handling.

Details:

SQM-LU-DL Users manual
Frequently Asked Questions
Current requirements of the SQM-LU-DL
Optional outdoor housing
SQM mailing list
SQM users links
Magnitudes/arcsecond² to cd/m² converter
Conversion Calculator - NELM (V) to MPSAS (B) systems by K. Fisher
Database of users readings
FITS header integration of connected SQM readings
Twilight measurements with the SQM

Software Downloads:

Contents of CD including other language examples (UDM, Perl, Python)

Reports including the SQM:

Night Sky Photometry with Sky Quality Meter by Pierantonio Cinzano.
"Contributions of artificial lighting sources on light pollution in Hong Kong measured through a night sky brightness monitoring" article by Chun Shing Jason Pun, Chu Wing So, Wai Yan Leung, Chung Fai Wong. Science direct arxiv.
Human Contrast Threshold and Astronomical Visibility paper by Andrew Crumey.
Report on sky colour: Red is the new black; Chris Kyba and colleagues PDF.
Documenting Local Night Sky Brightness report, Jennifer Birriel of MSU.
Measure Night Sky Brightness at Various Zenith Angles report, Jennifer Birriel of MSU.
"Night sky photometry and spectroscopy performed at the Vienna University Observatory" published in the "Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer" Science Direct arXiv.
"The night sky brightness at Potsdam-Babelsberg including overcast and moonlit conditions" published in the "Journal of Quantitative Spectroscopy and Radiative Transfer" Science Direct arXiv.
"Worldwide variations in artificial skyglow" by Christopher C. M. Kyba, Kai Pong Tong, and more. Published in Nature.com : Scientific Reports.
"Intercomparisons of Nine Sky Brightness Detector" by Peter den Outer, Dorien Lolkema, Marty Haaima, Rene van der Hoff, Henk Spoelstra, and Wim Schmidt. Published in 2014 The National Center for Biotechnology Information.
Calibration of SQM-L photometers for the NixNox project, Zamorano Calvo, Jaime and Munoz MarÃn, Victor Manuel (2010), eprints.ucm.es/12262/

eprints.ucm.es/12262/

Zamorano, Jaime & Ruiz Carmona, Roque (2013), Sky Quality Meter cross-calibration for the NixNox project. [ LICA report; no. #03], eprints.ucm.es/18015/
Nievas Rosillo, Miguel & Zamorano, Jaime (2014), *PySQM the UCM open source software to read, plot and store data from SQM photometers*, eprints.ucm.es/25900/
Zamorano, Jaime, Sanchez de Miguel, Alejandro, Martinez Delgado, David & Alfaro Navarro, Emilio (2011) Proyecto NixNox disfrutando de los cielos estrellados de Espana. Astronomia (142). pp. 36-42. ISSN 1699-7751, eprints.ucm.es/24185/
Zamorano, Jaime, Sanchez de Miguel, Alejandro, Nievas Rosillo, Miguel & Tapia Ayuga, Carlos (2014) NixNox procedure to build Night Sky Brightness maps from SQM photometers observations., eprints.ucm.es/26982/
A night sky brightness network with data obtained with fixed SQM photometers of the Spanish Light Pollution Research Network. guaix.fis.ucm.es/splpr/SQM-REECL
"Initial Irish light pollution measurements and a new Sky Quality Meter-based data logger" by B Espey, PhDa,b, and J McCauley, MSca. Published on February 2014 vol. 46 no. 1 67-77. Lighting Research and Technology.
Excursion to Dark Sky Preserves in Canada 2015 by Andreas Hänel.
SQM cross-calibration procedure by the BuioMetria Partecipativa team, 2011 PDF.
Poster on the BuioMetria Partecipativa project presented at the IAU 2012 General Assembly in Beijing.
Dark box for low-light-level measurements of a camera using an SQM-LU PDF by Peter Hiscocks.
Integrating Sphere for Luminance Calibration PDF by Peter Hiscocks.
Birds advance their dawn chorus near airports Report uses SQM to assist in determining bird chorus timing due to other effects. By Diego Gil et al.
Comprehensive list of SQM related reports found on 2017-02-17.
Quantifying and Monitoring Darkness over the RAO (Rothney Astrophysical Observatory) By Phil Langill and Benjamin George.
Temperature Stability of the Sky Quality Meter By by Sabrina Schnitt, Thomas Ruhtz, JÃ¼rgen Fischer, Franz HÃ¶lker, Christopher Kyba.

Light pollution maps / databases:

Unihedron Database of Sky Quality Meter readings from around the world.
Globe at Night : Maps and Data.
Light Pollution Map by Jurij Stare which displays light radiance from NOAA and SQM data from the Unihedron reading database. See this paper for details on map modelling: The first World Atlas of the artificial night sky brightness
Database of readings from Turkey with map.
SQM-Network is a free network of connected SQM meters from around the world.
BuioMetria Partecipativa - Participatory Night Sky Quality Monitoring project base in Italy. Active since 2008.
CORDILIT - Network of light pollution sensors based in Italy. Active since 2011.
SQM network in Southern part of Switzerland
Galician Night Sky Brightness Monitoring Network, using 14 SQM-LR installed at several of its automated weather stations. Real-time and historic data are freely available at MeteoGalicia. More info here.
Loss of the Night - Easily accessible web application.

Useful Light pollution links:

USB information:

164' USB Extender using Standard Ethernet cable

Unihedron supports the goals of the International Dark-Sky Association.

SQM-LU-DL tripod adaptor option

Example

This adaptor kit was designed specifically for the SQM-LU-DL meter which is longer than our other meters.

The adaptor screws into the back of the SQM-LU-DL and allows the meter to be mounted on a tripod with a 1/4-20 thread.

The kit includes one tripod adaptor, 3D-printed plastic, and two longer screws (to replace two short screws already in the meter) 3D part view.

Note: The built in compass on the SQM-LU-DL-V (Vector meter) is very sensitive to hard and soft iron. You may notice variations in the Azimuth (compass reading) while mounted to a metal tripod. Also, brass screws (that come with the SQM-LU-DL-V-battery holder) must be used to secure the adaptor to the SQM-LU-DL-V.

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