Baker Nunn.org » Original Cameras

Boller & Chivens

MM — Sun, 21 Jul 2013 12:10:48 +0000

This is just a very short entry to say that the company that built the cameras (Boller & Chivens) has an excellent website describing the Baker-Nunn cameras. They discuss not only the SAO and Air Force tracking cameras but also the ‘Missile Re-entry Camera’ that was produced. I had never heard of this one before but it’s pretty cool. Take a regular Baker-Nunn camera modify the mount somewhat, change the film transport mechanism, stick some fiber optic bundles at the focus, and add a set of prisms in front of the corrector to disperse the light. Pretty simple, really… ;-) The amazing thing is that, not only did it work, but it could pull the 4″ wide film through the camera at a rate of 5 frames per second!

Oslo Spacetrack Station

MM — Sat, 20 Jul 2013 16:45:59 +0000

The bit that I know about the Oslo (actually at Harestua) Baker-Nunn comes from the document ‘Science in War and Peace’ (in Norwegian). It’s actually quite an interesting read and gives a very good history of the early days of the BN and how there came to be a camera at Harestua. Here are a few of the more relevant bits that I picked out from it…

At the end of July, 1959, a Baker-Nunn camera was delivered to the Oslo Solar Observatory at Harestua.
Construction on the ‘satellite house’, the building that would house the instrumentation and provide accommodation for the staff, was finished in February of 1960.
The camera was installed on its base and then underwent a one-month period of testing that finished at the end of April.
Routine observations began in August 1960, but, because of the bright summer nights, observations were really only possible between the months of August and May.
During the first two years of observations, nearly 300 nights were either lost to fog or cloud while 274 were observable.
The station continued in operation until 1968 when it was dismantled and sent to a military base in New Zealand.

I had thought that this was the camera that went to Mt. John so am still trying to find some clarity on this. Did it go to a military base as suggested or not?

The Natal (Brazil) BNC

MM — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 16:28:42 +0000

The Brazilian camera, for me, has always been a bit of an enigma. I knew that one existed but wasn’t sure of it’s history nor what had happened to it. The rumour that I had heard was that it was last seen rotting away on a dock somewhere. Although it seemed shocking, it turned out that it wasn’t too far from the truth.

After returning from a collimation weekend on the Spanish TFRM, I found myself (as usual) digging around the web for new information on Baker-Nunn cameras. To my surprise, I found that there was a lot of good info out there that I had never seen before. I became excited by this and found myself googling into the wee hours of the morning. My daughter obviously noticed my excitement, which must have been contagious, because she came to me one morning with some images that I hadn’t seen before. The one that shocked me the most showed a very rusty Baker-Nunn camera. A few clicks and we found this site,

Projeto Baker-Nunn (1967)

Although it starts off looking okay (the picture at the top is actually the Japanese BNC), scrolling down to the bottom of the page reveals a quite unserviceable example of a Baker-Nunn camera.

The serial number of 2474-9 confirms that this camera was originally stationed at Curacao before being moved to Natal in 1967. It operated for about 10 years before being taken out of service. In 2011, it was moved to the Center for Culture and Tourist Information where it is currently on display.