Amateur astronomer putting Winkler’s sky out to the world

An amateur astronomer in Winkler is bringing southern Manitoba’s night sky to the world. CTV’s Harrison Shin reports.

An amateur astronomer in southern Manitoba is pitching the province’s night sky beauty to the world by building a camera.

Kenton Dyck, a Winkler resident, is building an All Sky camera made up of three components: a lens, a Raspberry Pi minicomputer, and an enclosure, which will be connected to a group of All Sky cameras on the internet.

“This is a group of enthusiasts who build devices like this,” Dyck told CTV News on Monday. “As far as I know, there’s no commercially available, complete All Sky camera build out there.”

Dyck said the production involves soldering and writing lines of customized computer codes. Once the camera is set up, it will log data and communicate with other All Sky cameras around the world, he said.

“The goal of (the camera) is not only to take long-exposure photography and timelapses, but also to have a sensor platform that just regular people can just log into,” he said.

Dyck, who is also the founder of Pembina Valley Astro Club, said his inspiration for the project was to capture the moments from his club’s events.

“Some of the events we had in the past two years while we’ve been out looking with our telescopes, we’ve had auroras, and they’ve been truly breathtaking moments that I’ve been able to share with the local community,” he said.

“One of the things that is an advantage of putting rural Manitoba on the map … it’s just a way to share the beauty that Manitoba has with the rest of the world.

“(It’s) almost irresponsible not to, at this point.”

In addition to capturing photographs of Winkler’s sky, the camera will feature several sensors to capture metrics such as barometric pressure, atmospheric temperature, and humidity. Dyck said the additions came from his experience working on a farm.

“One of the things that I always heard from all of the older generation was, ‘It seems so much hotter this year; this spring is really weird; I don’t remember us ever having anything like this.’

“One of my thoughts was, ‘It would be really cool if we could get hard data on that.’”

Educating and inspiring future generations

Dyck owns three telescopes and brings them out for his club’s events.

“All of the telescopes that I have completely break down; they fit in my car, and I travel to your location.”

On one occasion, around 170 people showed up for an event on a weekday night, Dyck said.

The club’s activity has expanded, with Dyck now offering educational sessions to local students.

“That’s all astronomy really is. It’s passing on knowledge to the next generation, and that’s what we’ve been doing for hundreds of years.

“I’m hoping we can continue to do it for thousands of years.”