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Digital Setting Circles for Amateur Telescopes
The why, how, and what of computer aided observing.
by Larry Bogan
Finding An Object in the Sky with
No Setting Circles.
The 'traditional' and most enjoyable
method of finding an object in the
telescope requires learning the
sky. Example: The Saturn Nebula in
Aquila, NGC7009
Hubble Image
1. Locate the constellation and the general position of the object in the current
night sky.
Use a Large Scale Finder Chart showing constellations and object location
relative to the horizon.
2. Learn the star pattern around the object required to find it in the finder or
binoculars
Use a Smaller Scale Finder Chart showing the star patterns in a region about 5
degrees in diameter.
3. Finally learn the location of the object within the small field of view of the
telescope.
This requires a Fine Scale Finder Chart if the object is dim and hidden among
stars of similar brightness. That would not be necessary for the Saturn Nebula
which is brighter than all the stars in the field of view of the telescope.
4. If the object is to be imaged using a CCD camera an even a More Detailed
Finder Chart is required.
Coordinate Systems and Setting Circles
6 pm 5 November
The positions of celestial objects are
specified with celestial coordinates.
If an Equatorial mounted telescope
is used and properly aligned with the sky,
the object can be found using its
coordinates and the telescope setting
circles, [one standard bright star and its celestial coordinates are needed]
If an Atitude-azimuth mounted telescope is used then a complicated
calculation is needed before setting circles can be used to find an object in the
sky. This is not a very practical system without a computer controlled
telescope.
REVIEW of Celestial Coordinate System:
Diagram showing Celestial Coordinates and the Horizon including the origin
fixed in the sky called the Vernal Equinox.
DiagramDefinition of Right Ascension and Declination Celestial
Coordinates relative to the Vernal Equinox.
Diagram showing Saturn Nebula's Position at RA = 21h 4m and dec = -11o 22'
To Illustrate the difficulties in using the Altitude-Azimuth system the following
diagrams show the Horizon System position versus time and date. Position of the
Saturn Nebula on:
Nov 8, 7pm AST
Nov 8, 8pm AST
Nov 15, 7pm AST
To illustrate the difficulty of calculating the horizon position,
a page shows the details of the conversion between celestial and horizon coordinate
systems
Advantages of Computer Aided Location of Celestial
Objects.
Location of a very dim object among dim stars.
Location of many objects quickly in a routine survey or research
Substitution of digital setting circles for mechanical ones.
A transducer must be used to send the angular position of the axes of the telescope to
a computer. The computer then calculates the telescopes position relative to the sky
(with input of latitude, longitude, and time). The most accurage transducer is an
optical angular position encoder.
Encoders as angular position indicators
How Does It Work:?
Shown in the diagrams are the
important parts of a typical optical
encoder. A transparent disk with
equally spaced dark radial marks is
attached to the rotation axis. A
fixed light (LED) sent through the
series of dark stripes is sensed with
a photodetector. The electrical
output is high with light and low
with no light. As the axis rotates the
electrical signal will change in step
movement of the movement of the
stripes beneath the light sensor.
Two light sensor set near each other
provide information to determine
the difference in rotation direction.
These also create a method of quadrupling the resolution of the encoder.
Incremental Encoder Electrical Output: - two channels A and B
Count at 1 per step (one cycle per optical mark)
Count at 4 per step (four cycles per optical mark)
Determine direction of moment
360 deg/revolution
Resolutions: Incremental Encoders
Optical
Cycles/Revolution Resolution
Ticks
Max. Rotation Max. Rotation
8000 Hz read 50,000 Hz read
MGIII
Ouranos
1000
4000
5.4' arc
2 rev/s
12 rev/s
2000
8000
2.7' arc
1 rev/s
6 rev/s
Encoder Interface
A special interface is needed between the encoder and the computer. This has a
microprocessor (computer) that
(1) keeps track of the encoder position and direction of rotation by polling the
optical sensors at a high rate,
(2) converting the information to numbers and
(3) communication with the outside world (or other computer).
Operations of the Encoder Interface and Computer: (Interface has clock and
microprocessor)
Clock and Microprocessor Counts and Interprets movement of the Encoder.
Microprocessor receives commands from RS232 port and sends back status
and/or positions of encoder.
Computer with database of astronomical objects and a control program
calculates geometry of the telescope and converts encoder positions to
telescope direction angles.
Sky Programs show where the telescope in pointed in the Sky (When properly
aligned!!!).
Commercial Computer Interfaces and/or Encoder Controllers
(only representative and not a complete list)
Orion Telescopes
SkyView Pro IntelliScope
Mead - Magellan "Telescope Computer Systems"
Celestron Astromaster
Microguider (Nova Astronomics)
Dave Ek's Digital Setting Circles Project Home Page
TL SYSTEMS EzDSC "DSC object finder in your pocket"
Jim's Mobile, Inc. (SGT-Max)
Others.....
The Brooklyn Street Observatory Installed Ditial Setting Circles
An working system showing attachment of the encoders and wiring to the computerencoder interface. A 33 cm Newtonian on Dobsonian mount using the Outranous
interface (no longer available). Page of Details
Acadia University's
Celestron 8 with Encoders
and Computer Interface
An example of a telescope
retrofit with encoders is the
one shown below. It allows
students not completely
familiar with the sky to find
celestial object to image with
the CCD camera. The
environment in which the
telescope is used is light
polluted which makes it all the
more difficult to find celestial
objects using the traditional
star hopping using star
patterns. The computer aided telescope is a big help in this environment.
Earth Centred Universe 3.0A - Sky Program
Orion Sky Wizard CTI (9 V battery required)
4000 cycles/rev encoders
Santa Barbara Group ST-7 CCD Camera
CCDOps DOS software
Laptop with Windows 98
A couple of Sky Programs that can talk to an encoder interface
Earth Centred Universe
Guide (Project Pluto)