Would you buy a night sky meter for under $100 ??

Hello SAA,

Last week or so I responded to a request from the thread :
Subject:
Towards a Cheap, Effective Light-Pollution Meter

And as a result have continued to correspond with Steve Taylor in a
collaboration
that will attempt to produce a sky photometer.

I have tested two sensors so far and conclude that a sky meter might be
able to be built
for under $100. The goal is for a $50 device that will measure V band
and unfiltered
sky. The unfiltered mode is useful as the detector has about the same
response in the
red / near infrared as a CCD camera.

The final cost will depend on which detector and micro we use.

The device will be battery powered, have a digital display, and a RS232
or USB port.
We also will try to have limited logging so that at least 1000 date,
time, and brightness
values are stored.

I have taken data with our prototype detector from my house in Tucson
and have yet to take it to
a site with a photometer for better calibration and so I can not say for
sure what the limiting
magnitude and resolution is.

If, (a big if) and when we have a final design, we will seek away to
make a limited production of these meters
for evaluation. Our goal is to provide these at cost and in some cases
give them to groups that
are active in night sky issues.

We are not made of money and will seek funding to do this from private
sources.
(Any one interested ??)

The question to SAA is:

How many of you are interested to buy the first and maybe the only
generation
of this device ?

We will publish the design on Steve's web site so that the technically
inclined can
build their own. (http://www.astronomycentre.org.uk)

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

Clear Dark and Steady

Dan McKenna

Steward Observatory (this is not a U of A Steward Obs project)