[dba-Tech] [SPAM SUSPECT] Re: [SPAM SUSPECT] Re: OT: Is anyone into controllers?

It is a home-built telescope.  It is a 10" Dobsonian and is not motorized.

I had a friend (who has since moved away) that did this with one of his
scopes.  Once you did the alignment on 3 stars, the controller kept track of
the time and knew where the scope was pointed.

The idea is that the controller itself would display the coordinates of
where the scope was pointing.  This alone can get you anywhere you want to
go.  But it would also be able to interface to a laptop/pc.  There are
protocols that could be followed that allow many of the commercial software
astronomy programs to be able to interface with the controller and show you
on the screen where you are pointed.

Bobby

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Subject: [SPAM SUSPECT] Re: [dba-Tech] [SPAM SUSPECT] Re: OT: Is anyone into
controllers?
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That may be a case of "better to buy it".  It is probably quite easy to
control the motors, but the professional controllers for telescopes
automatically sense the position of the telescope using GPS, do tracking to
account for the movement of the earth while viewing etc, plus they have a
database of all the objects.  

Of course if your manufacturer doesn't offer one then it might be up to you.



John W. Colby
Colby Consulting
www.ColbyConsulting.com