Related
Recommended
Engagement
  • Author Author: tariq.ahmad
  • Date Created: Date Created
  • Last Updated Last Updated:
  • Views 9073 views
  • Likes 12 likes
  • Comments 24 comments

Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope -- Episode 436

 

In this video Derek takes a Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope, inertial measurement unit, CCD camera and a beefed-up pan & tilt mechanism to create an automated planet tracker. Everything is orchestrated via a custom arcade-style controller centered around a Raspberry Pi running C++/OpenCV code to run the UI and control positioning.

Bill of Materials

Product Name Manufacturer Quantity Buy Kit
Arduino Uno Arduino Uno 1 Buy Now
Raspberry Pi 3 Raspberry Pi 1 Buy Now
100k Pullup Resistors MCF 0.25W 100K 2 Buy Now
Attachments:
PlanetTrackingTelescope_Resources.zip
image

Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

element14 Presents  |  About Derek  |  Project Videos

Actions
  • in reply to picopi

    Hi Mai,

    I'm using an RTL-SDR V3 that I believe "goes up" to 1.766GHz for the frequency range, but I'm not sure what it'll show on the screen in one shot. That's a tough one, as who knows what frequency, modulation mode and bandwidth the UFO's are using! image

    I recently got into SDR to monitor the amateur radio bands and was quite disappointed that I couldn't monitor all of the 70cm UHF band at once.

    I'm going to dig into this too (without 100 dongle approach).

     

    Derek

  • in reply to ankur608

    AR would be awesome!

    That looks like a great setup. I'm still pretty new to astronomy and this project was really a Frankenstein mashup of parts; OTA, welded tripod from stuff in my garage, custom driver PCB and software. I'll have to do more research on what's already out there. I find that the best way to learn about something is to swim around in the subject and build something. So it was very beneficial to cobble this project together - I learned a ton. Though I admit I didn't research commercial solutions.

    You can also get a TON of information from JPL including trajectory, mass, etc., and that might be worth throwing up on the screen as well. BLE would have been a nice solution, but I opted for a hard-wired solution so I don't "lose steps". And I've had trouble with other hardware I've designed operating in a BLE rich environments - usually trade shows. Too many devices causing connection failures. Though in the backyard I think you'd be ok!

     

    Derek

  • in reply to Derek (DCtoDaylight)

    Were you able to see the trio moons of Jupiter!

    I usually prefer it over Saturn, despite it's chalky rings it still feels dead over Jupiter's halo.

  • in reply to DAB

    I got the pan/tilt positioner from my local surplus, non-working and covered in a layer of dust; they knew nothing about it. 75 (or 100?) bucks later and I had a nice paperweight. The original idea was to track rocket launches here at Kennedy Space Center (I live a stone's throw away), but I'm still stuck in machine vision code for now. I did a teardown and made a custom interface/motor driver PCB on my personal channel if you're interested in more info:

    Part1:

     

    Part2:

     

    I bought the OTA (optical tube assembly) off eBay without a tripod, so it was a pretty cheap/good deal. I considered different mounts, but I got a deal on a bunch of pipe and some steel plate, so it was quick and dirty to weld up my own tripod, which I didn't really show off in the video. If I had the cash, I'd just buy an equatorial mount.

    BUT... the pan/tilt will serve two purposes. One is the telescope, the other is, well you'll have to come back and see, but it'll find it's way into the next video!

     

    I had considered the RPi camera, but after battling with the camera /OpenCV/Darknet object training for the rocket tracking I'd initially worked on, I opted for a purpose built camera. Maybe I'll try it later.

     

    I'm still pretty new to astronomy, but I definitely got the bug after this project.. especially after seeing Jupiter more closely - a little dot in the sky that I thought was a star.

     

    Derek

  • in reply to picopi

    Have you been able to get the hydrogen line in the SDR receiver spectrum window..?

  • in reply to ankur608

    I wanted to use SDR to hunt for UFO transmissions.
    It turns out the windows that one of these dongles can scan, is only 20MHz if I remember right.
    That means 100 dongles to monitor up to 2GHz!
    Let me know if you find a better way to monitor 0-1Ghz without having to buy 50 dongles.

  • AWESOME...

    Electronics and Astrophysics are only the two topics that have boldly expanded their true understanding for applied physics.

     

    I think of integrating the optical and radio astronomy through SDR based Telescopy, which has the potential of becoming the next open-source SETI Projectimage...any insights.

     

    -Ankur

  • Nice one, Maybe one can add AR functionality to this version, by getting feedback from StarChart VR app running on Android, that would display a 3D model of the celestial body along with meaningful insights (trajectory, position, composition, mass, distance, terrain map, etc,).

    I have also submitted a similar proposal for the nanorama ;despite it would be done through the Nano33BLESense, with it's ready to use features for similar task. Still wondering for the control & feedback system for my bulky Celestron's Astromaster 130AZ in my backyard.

    image

  • in reply to cstanton

    Going to look into whether these will be made available but don't see anything currently.   Will follow up first thing next week and if there is something more that can be added will do so asap.