Sky Quality Meter

A particular innovative product for the stargazer - within seconds you can determine the sky brightness using this cigarette-box sized instrument. No "faintest star" estimates any more, no influence of daily condition or vision impairment by the observer.

A high sensitive sensor measures the integrated sky brightness around a solid angle of 42° (FWHM) around the central axis of the instrument. The value will be displayed in magnitudes per square arcseconds.

Using a lens, a sky region of interest gets focused:

While you get an integrated mean value when scanning the sky with the standard Sky Quality Meter SQM, here you use a lens to concentrate on a smaller region of interest to get a more precise value in a particular direction (20°).

Possible applications are for example the unbiased comparision between different sites, the assessment if it is worthwhile to photograph a particular object tonight, the documentation of progressing light pollution and much more.

The sensitivity bandwith of the detector covers the visual range. The measurement itself starts after pressing the trigger button and the maximum time needed is about 8 seconds. The current temperature is displayed as well to cover up slight drifts of different measurements caused by temperature.

Size: 9,5 x 6 x 4 cm, weight: 105 grams. Incl. 9V block battery.

Alternatively, the SQM is also available in the following versions:
SQM without lens
SQM-LU with USB connection for network operation
SQM-LE with Ethernet connection for network operation