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Episode 436: Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

 

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

Automated Raspberry Pi Planet Tracking GOTO Telescope

element14 Presents  |  About Derek  |  Project Videos

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  • Very cool project.

     

    Where did you get the Az El mount?

    Have you considered going to an equatorial mount?

     

    Have you considered adding an RPi 8 megapixel camera?

     

    You have me thinking about getting my own telescope out.

     

    DAB

  • 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 thecurrentsource

    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 ankur608

    I did see several moons - no idea what I was looking at, but I was BLOWN AWAY by how sharp it was. I wanted to mount my DSLR and get some shots,  but the mosquitos were in full effect so I gave up. I really wish I would have gotten some pics.

    Saturn and Venus were kind of fuzzy. Not sure why Jupiter looked so good though. I looked at them on different days, so maybe different atmospheric conditions or maybe condensation inside the OTA. So much to learn.

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