Both the NiteCam night sky camera and DAYcam share the same basic optical design. The camera is suspended vertically above a silvered "gazing ball" (actually a Christmas tree ornament). The camera lens is focused on the virtual image of the surroundings seen in the ball.

An animation of a recent day of DayCam images is displayed above. When the sun is not obscurred by clouds it may overload the sensor and appear as a black spot. Recent GIF all day animations have been archived here.

This sample frame shows the cardinal directions in this "God's eye" view of the sky. The current DayCam image can be seen here.