Portable robotic telescope for the teaching of solar astronomy

This work describes a prototype of a miniature robotic telescope, with the didactic purpose of the teaching of solar astronomy, Arduino programming and basic control theory. The telescope is made from low cost components: a 3D printed base that supports a commercial lens (typically used for bird wat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of physics. Conference series Vol. 1514; no. 1; pp. 12005 - 12011
Main Authors González Pérez, J M, Arceo Díaz, S, Bricio Barrios, E E, Ortega Valencia, J C, Pineda Ortega, J A, Moreno Peña, J R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Bristol IOP Publishing 01.03.2020
Subjects
Astronomy
Control theory
Lenses
Physics
Resistors
Stepping motors
Sun
Telescopes
Three dimensional printing
Websites
White light
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Summary:This work describes a prototype of a miniature robotic telescope, with the didactic purpose of the teaching of solar astronomy, Arduino programming and basic control theory. The telescope is made from low cost components: a 3D printed base that supports a commercial lens (typically used for bird watching and covered with a white-light solar filter). The system is guided by a program that uses the amount of light collected by a set of four light detecting resistors as an input signal to rotate a pair of small stepper motors, pointing the lens towards the Sun. A simple control scheme is implemented for ensuring that the image of the Sun is centered within the frame. The images and video captures of the Sun is collected by a small photographic camera and uploaded to a website.
ISSN:1742-6588
1742-6596
DOI:10.1088/1742-6596/1514/1/012005