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Forum Challenge: Equatorial Mount for Astrophotography (Computer Controlled?)
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  • build_challenge
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Challenge: Equatorial Mount for Astrophotography (Computer Controlled?)

Former Member
Former Member over 12 years ago

Hey Ben,

I would love to see you take on the challenge of building a equatorial mount to help ametuer astrophotographers take long-exposure photographs of planets, stars and other deep-space objects such as Galaxy's and Nebulae.

For those who don't know what an 'equatorial mount' is, it is a motorized tripod-mount-thing to cancel the effect of the earths rotation during the exposure time of a DSLR camera with telephoto lens and/or telescope.

Adding computer control could further improve the design by assisting the focusing and positioning of stars etc.

I realize this is a step up from your time lapse trolley imagebut if a challenge like this what to be solved, it would benefit a lot of astrophotographers like myself.

Thanks a lot for your time. (And for making an awesome channel on electronic DIY projects)

Liam

 

 

EDIT: Picture and Caption Below, Few Grammatical and caption updates

 

image

Picture (Above): A Picture taken from a fixed tripod of the night sky. Exposure time:30 seconds. If you look closely, you will notice that the stars are slightly elongated; this is motion blur due to the earths rotation, having a equatorial mount wont only eliminate these spoils in the photographs, but will also allow for longer exposure times, and a deeper, clearer view into space. The two orange lights on the horizon are (from left to right), a city 30 minutes away and a town 10 minutes away.

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago +1
    Assumption One: Understands the term "Declination",in re:Northern and Southern Hemispheres Assumption Two: Understands the difference between Right Ascension(R.A.) and Left Ascension(LA). Assumption Three…
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to Former Member +1
    Wow that's awesome! You'll never believe that I am 16 and building an equatorial mount then . If I (and Ben possibly) were to build a computer controlled mount, is there any other movements we could factor…
  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to benheck +1
    Cost is relative to the value of the equipment being used and whether this is to be a lifetime avocation or a teenager's whim. I have a portable;trailer-mounted observatory,that I built from my own plans…
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  • benheck
    benheck over 12 years ago

    So a computer controlled rotation module to rotate the camera against the rotation of the Earth, to keep the stars fixed?

     

    How much does an existing solution cost?

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to benheck

    Exactly. You could probally add computer control so it could fix onto comets and other things that move around. I think commercial solutions prices range around $1000. But a guy by the name of 'Hash' managed to build a simple one for $200 (http://petapixel.com/2013/08/10/buidling-a-diy-barn-door-tracking-mount-for-long-exposure-astrophotography/). I don't think adding computer control would be too hard with an arduino with the serial port. The only real issue is finding software compatible with the whole set up.

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  • Former Member
    Former Member over 12 years ago in reply to benheck

    Exactly. You could probally add computer control so it could fix onto comets and other things that move around. I think commercial solutions prices range around $1000. But a guy by the name of 'Hash' managed to build a simple one for $200 (http://petapixel.com/2013/08/10/buidling-a-diy-barn-door-tracking-mount-for-long-exposure-astrophotography/). I don't think adding computer control would be too hard with an arduino with the serial port. The only real issue is finding software compatible with the whole set up.

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