I got a chance to play with a Stellina scope and it pretty much does what you're talking about, but they went one step further and integrated the telescope and camera together. It works astonishingly well, but the downside is that it has the telescope and camera built in. I love your idea of doing it all in the mount, and then you just put whatever telescope camera bundle you want on top. Okay, I'm in. Let's make it.

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

You have my sword ... 🗡

@JeremyTaylorNZ

4 жыл бұрын

Actually this isn't a dumb idea... and no one actually needs to start up a factory to actually make it. Create an open-source-hardware project to design the mount, we all collaborate, and once it is complete, any existing mount manufacturer or any other fabricator with the equipment necessary could produce the design and sell it. But in the spirit of Dylan's video, it wouldn't be their IP, so they couldn't make it exclusive.

@adityams1659

4 жыл бұрын

actually I'm in too.... like I'm an engineering student and problem is obviously not much money to buy these stuffs, so I decided to design my own mount..... May be if we collabarate and make it open source.... its good for our fellow astronomers.... we could also call the group from OnStep. great guys... they have open source telescope controllers....

@aedrex

4 жыл бұрын

KICKSTARTER! I'm in for two mounts...I was just complaining to my wife about the lack of just this one issue in the market. I'd consider purchasing 4 mounts and donating 2 for outreach programs.

@gcg2927

3 жыл бұрын

I'm in Canberra and bought a stellina to get into the game, it can't be modified at all so I'm looking at a different setup now, the Avalon instruments look great For the bases, there is an Australian inventor that has developed self leveling cafe tables using hydraulics, this would be a great addition PS I'll loan you the stellina if you want to do a review on it

I would like it to have the ability to see through houses, trees and cloud

@skesinis

2 жыл бұрын

Ok, let’s build a radio telescope then! 😊

This could be so greatly simplified by just building in a small camera and plate-solver to the mount itself. Boot up mount, point generally north (or South, for Dylan) and connect or flip the plate-solver camera into the light path just like a Phoroptor. With proper plate solving, even alignment and level isn't so very important because any drift or deviation from the polar axes can be accommodated for in the guiding algorithm. We have lots of camera technology for facial rec and pattern matching, even the cheapest home security cams can do auto-masking of tree's and things like pets. This seems like a solution that is really simply to implement. Perhaps it just isn't a big enough problem for the relatively few manufacturers who are out there, to solve. The accessory industry is clearly more important to the hobby than a proper auto-aligning mount.

Hey Dylan, Good idea and I loved the way you have put the word across on having a solution to the day to day hassle of manual or go to telescopes. Keep going!!! You are doing a great job.....

Another interesting and informative video Dylan. Highpoint Scientific is my number one choice for telescope equipment! They have an extraordinary knowledgeable staff willing to help.

How about a closed loop system for the RA/Dec steppers? We're still dealing with backlash when there are a number of ways to read the distance the mount has actually moved by. Yes some mounts do this, but not enough.

Always amazes me with the huge tech advances in our hobby and life on general we still level mounts with bubbles !

Be great to add cloud, rain, humidity sensors and a dew controller as well, love the video btw!

Pretty nice design which i'm sure will be out soon. My Celestron Evolution does some of what you mentioned. All i do is set it up correctly then let the Celestron SkyPortal App using my Android device do everything from auto align, polar align to any star or planet plus i can use up to 10 calibration stars eliminating the use of an autoguider. My alt/az mount has a 10 hour lithium ion battery so need for a power tank. The mount generates it's own wifi in order to connect a iPhone or Android device eliminating the use of the traditional hand controller. Mounted on the Pro HD Wedge i don't get the meridian flip ☺

Good vid to get ideas out there. Certainly plate solving has been a great tool to make polar alignment easier and slewing to your chosen target amazingly accurate. Agree this could be done in your single scope idea connected to the mounts “built in computer”. We can only hope 🙏🏼

@Nottsboy24

4 жыл бұрын

My Celestron Nexstar Evolution telescope does some of what Dylan mentioned. All i do is set it up correctly then let the Celestron SkyPortal App using my Android device do everything from auto align, polar align to any star or planet plus i can use up to 10 calibration stars eliminating the use of an autoguider. My alt/az mount has a 10 hour lithium ion battery so need for a power tank. The mount generates it's own wifi in order to connect a iPhone or Android device eliminating the use of the traditional hand controller. Mounted on the Pro HD Wedge i don't get the meridian flip ☺

That all-in-one guide scope is a fantastic idea. Personally my ideal mount would be one that is machined with fantastic tolerances and has absolute encoders as an option, like a 10micron, astrophysics. Companies like celestron and iOptron seem to build their mounts to the point where they are 'decent' and try to make up the rest with tools in the hand controller. The two mounts that really stand out to me are the Mesu 200 and JTW trident. Very simple and very well made, only thing they lack is a large company backing their development so its a slow process and more expensive.

A lot of this ideas remind me of when I made the jump from using the hand controller/star alignment to plate solving. There was this moment of 'oh my god, it can do THAT?!' when I first passed SGP an image I had shot a month prior, and the mount took off and pointed to within pixels of the center of the shot. Still blows my mind. I agree though if plate solving exists, by motorizing the RA/dec adjustments, 'platesolving' polar alignment should absolutely be doable in 2019.

Nice Video Dylan. I would love to see motorized Alt/AZ controls for polar alignment. Just that would help a lot because if it's cold or lots of bugs are out, I have to stay outside till I am polar aligned. This would be nice to do remotely.

My ASCOM capable mount pointed a beeline to Uranus yesterday. Still just a nice blueish green dot.

This actually plays into a future setup I was going to play with, when I had the equipment, but you could use an intermediate clamp between your mount and telescope to mount a small scope in line with your main scope, and assuming your mount is zeroed, you might be able to use that small scope to achieve what you want to do as far as polar aligning and guiding goes, and maybe even star detection. Using video camera clamps and rods, like smallrig, should help solve that problem. It's not one button, but it gets you closer. EDIT: You could also maybe attach the scope directly to the dovetail on the underside of the telescope.

Like the idea of mount knowing where it is and at least roughly polar align it self. Also one polar scope for polar aligning and guiding.

You might need to adjust the worm screw and ring gear for easy smooth operation, that's what I had to do with my CGX mount. It was put together at the Chinese factory really tight and the belts we're really really tight. After all of the readjusting it works like it should.

Can't software take care of all the misalignment? As I understand it, space telescopes aren't leveled, polar aligned, or have fixed GPS. And yet they can always lock onto the same target orbit after orbit.

I got me an ASA DDM85 arriving tomorrow. Can't wait to see how this beauty goes. Absolute encoders with 12 million clicks per axis. Not too worried about the bubble level!

@promethium752

4 жыл бұрын

DDM85? I was thinking this mount discontinued. I've heard it's a jewel!

For someone starting out but now knowing enough to be dangerous, this mount would be amazing. The funniest thing of all though is that all the tech to do this exists and is cheap. Maybe mount designers need to do some astronomy and astrophotography.

Need a mount to work on a boat, like the navy has high round shooters on their boats that can track incoming jets, while doing 40 knots, coupled with auto Polar and star alignment, with gyroscopes and actuators to keep it level , like the pilots use in their simulators, and stabalisers to overcome gusting winds. Any Ideas Dylan O'Donnell.

@skesinis

2 жыл бұрын

I think that it’s doable, but it would probably cost more than the boat! 😂

Thanks for the video. Somehow you and I are thinking the same thing again... amazing! And I’m working on this here with nuts and bolts. Might have it work out this weekend... why can’t I just slide my iPhone into the mount to find true North/South. I have the CGX-L mount and drive. No noise after a year and it works great! If you put the CGX/tripod next to the CGX-L/tripod it’s like David and Goliath. Unfortunately the vibration pads that Celestron makes won’t work with the CGX-L. The CGX-L is too big and heavy to use them.

@astronomylivestream

4 жыл бұрын

I tested both the iPhone X and iPad 12.9 Pro to see how accurate the compass are in both devices. I open SkySafari Pro and used the compass within the app and point both devices to a star. Mmm well... the star drifted a few arch minutes within a few minutes and a few hours the star drifted a few degrees. The compress isn't very accurate so I would say you can't use these devices to polar align a telescope to true north.

Hey Dylan - at NEAF this past year I met some guys from a company who are working on a mount with most of the features you listed.

Dylan, the all magic of astronomy is to experience and learn about these difficulties, to overcome problems and face challenges. Whats a point to go to field, drop your equipment and drink beer? People today are already dumb enough because of all that technology. And even if it would be so good and easy, it will cost like a good car. If you really want people to be interested in astronomy then only way is to make reasonably prices and quality on equipment. After 3 years in that hobby i still can't believe that simple 25mm eyepiece cost same like lens for cropped sensor camera or ZWO1600 cost same price i paid for Celeron AVX with 8" CS and 1/4 eyepiece kit. It is insane!!!

@Nottsboy24

4 жыл бұрын

I fully understand what your saying but i'm pretty sure Dylan is refering to a mount for star parties that is quicker to setup because of time restraints. Remember there are different types of of telescopes which requires different styles of setups and other types which are easy setups. The design he is taking about would be nice for schools and colleges as they would still learn the basics on alignments, gps, coordinates and so on....clear skies my friend ☺

@henri-julienchartrand3387

4 жыл бұрын

Hello Quantum Decay, I agree with you on this. But I think we can transfer the fun of learning on the processing challenges of the data collected. There is a lot to learn there. I'm getting pretty good in collecting the data but still need a Quantum leap in PI, PS and all the other image processing software. The learning curve for me is like climbing the Table Mountain using the longest and most difficult trail. Don't get me wrong, I'm up to it. It is a matter of managing expectations. Clear skies. Henri-Julien Chartrand, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

@hairballusa

4 жыл бұрын

Fair enough, Q, but one man's Magic is another man's Waste-of-Time.

@Nottsboy24

4 жыл бұрын

@@hairballusa if one man's magic is a waste of time! why does it contribute to science....that's the whole idea to find quicker and easier ways to get the data we need when stargazing. That's why better and faster telescopes are being built and sent into space for greater results

@Reburned32

4 жыл бұрын

I'm completely agree with you all, guys. Fast adjustable telescope for parties-is just a way to go: MORE TIME FOR BEER :D But still i wish prices would be closer to Earth then up to the stars. Even if to use for educational purposes this level of advanced telescope mount or system would be ridiculously expensive for schools. By the way schools are closed when dark, or else there is a party :D and telescopes :D :D :D Clear skies guys!!! (Oh,no!!! Elon and his satellites!!!)

Three things you forgot.....thermoelectric beverage cooler, cup holders and discrete urine deposit mechanism. Now THAT is how you put the PARTY in star party!!!!

Hi Dylan, love your work. I’m trying to decide if I should get the celestron cpc deluxe 1100 hd or the celestron cpc deluxe 925 HD, any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated, I keep to ing and fro ing.

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Hey thanks! I'd get neither and go straight for an equatorial mount like the CGX and add any kind of Edge HD scope later.

@deanmurphy73

4 жыл бұрын

Dylan O'Donnell oh ok, thanks!

Thank you! I was dreaming up the same a cpl of months ago.. I dream bout time to design and build this..

Did you use a kind like HDR photography on some Deep sky objects? How you doing it.

Switched to portrait on phone for 5 seconds half way though just to like the vid. That is how much I enjoyed it 🙏 I never switch to portrait! Eveeeer.

While you were rattling off all those requirements, I was thinking to myself that it sounded a lot like Unistellar's eVscope. And then you mentioned it. It really does seem like an incredible piece of technology and it's useful for more than just general observation and photography. There's some real scientific potential there. I actually backed the Kickstarter and am hoping to get mine soon. I threw your name in the comments on the campaign page and mentioned this video. Maybe they'll see fit to send you a review unit once all the backer units go out.

I was binging all of your other videos, now i see you in my recommended

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Alec Craig haha thank you algorithm !

I think I have your mount ;-). I have put Raspberry Pis on mount (equipped with GPS) and telescope and added 1/4 million lines of code. Everything over WLAN, no flexing cables. GUI client on the Mac can control the whole system remotely. Works pretty automatically now, except for the turning of the screws on the mount for polar alignment ;-)

@skesinis

2 жыл бұрын

This sounds like a great project! I’m trying to do something similar for my old Celestron NexStar SLT mount, combining open source projects, and writing code for my own little accessories, to make it portable.

I have also been thinking about this for a while. I like your ideas, but there are a few more things I would consider. GPS can give you a very accurate date and time. All you need is to make sure the mount knows the current epoch. Smartphones have a compass, but the compass is kind of useless if the mount has not an up to date magnetic pole to geo pole correction data (besides being very susceptible to ferromagnetic materials we can easily find on most mounts). Instead, we could use a very sensitive gyro, enough to sense the earth’s rotation, so at least a little bit more sensitive that what we can find on a smartphone. Not sure how ferromagnetic materials will affect a gyro, though. I guess there are probably some diamagnetic materials we could use to replace the ferromagnetic ones on the mount. INDI, plz! I currently can do everything without using crappy Windows, so let’s keep it that way :) Also, CCDs aggregate all the data internally and then the acquisition software just pulls the final data from the CCDs memory. But if, instead, we had a CCD that would just stream the data directly to a computer as it detects photons, we could have software that would do the acquisition (by building the final image locally based on the data coming from the stream), while doing real time photometric analysis. The computer could actually use the data coming from the main camera to autoguide, avoiding the need to have a guide camera at all. This last part I believe would actually be the most revolutionary thing about this. Not really because we’re removing the extra camera, but because of the flexibility we would have to analyze the data in real time while building the final raw file. This would probably require the CCD sensor to work very differently, though, as it needs to keep accumulating change while reading what we already have in there without discharging everything. This would also probably require something better than a Pi (though, maybe a headless Pi 4 with 2 or 4GB connected to a fast SSD would work).

@skesinis

2 жыл бұрын

It’s a great idea to integrate the guiding to the main camera, but I think that one more limitation apart from those that you’ve already mentioned is that the guide scope should have a bit of a greater resolution than the main camera, to detect and correct sub-pixel movements before they become apparent on the main one.

And this mount should of course use donuts as counterweight in the true Homer Simpson spirit 😁... great video! I happen to be a Kickstarter backer of the Unistellar evScope, can't wait for your review of it!

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Haha I like it. I'll reach out to Unistellar and see what they say.

A separate all-in-one guide scope thingy whatever, mounted in the place you suggested, is no upgrade over a good off axis system. If my scope is massive, flexure in relation to mounting plate, dovetail etc will always be present. Hope this makes sense...

In your opinion who makes the most reliable , most accurate tracking mount? Why is mount accuracy almost never talked about? Thanks

Btw hey Team Celestron how do you make your Flats ? (Darks maybe with a filter-drawer ^^) But how to do the Flats ? ;)

LOVE LOVE LOVE your mount design. You will automatically get atomic clock accurate date/time if it has a GPS, as this is data received from the GPS satellites - no 5G required, but you might want that for connectivity. I like the idea of auto-rotate and self-levelling, but that would require two more motors, and I'm not 100% convinced they are required, as long as the other stuff you suggest is there - you actually don't need the mount to level out exactly, all you want is a (fairly) good alignment of the RA axis on the pole. So you need easy-to-adjust but still nice and sturdy locking on the alt and az, and something smart to tell you how much to adjust the alt and az to get that RA polar alignment. And that could TOTALLY come from your built-in pointing-scope-camera plate solving like you get with iPolar (etc) to tell you which way you need to adjust - the adjustments on the mount just need to be way easier to adjust and secure. Maybe with a feather-touch-type reducer for when you are getting close? Got to be cheaper than two extra motors. Built in plate solving and accurate automated multipoint sky modelling yes please. Of course lots of this stuff means that the mount needs to be smart, and we know how electronic tech accelerates way faster than hardware tech like motors and scopes. So the only additional idea I would add to the mix is that the smarts don't actually need to be on the mount - it just needs your WiFi (or whatever) connection off to something that is doing the smarts - something that can be upgraded to the latest and greatest to work faster and add new capabilities, without making you discard your $25000 mount and buy a new one. Or, if the smarts are literally on the mount (like the R.Pi idea) then it has to at least be modular so you can upgrade it separately to the mount (like a PrimaLuceLab Eagle3?) and get more grunt/new interfaces/etc when they become available.

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Excellent suggestions! Yeh I was thinking about something with enough memory to have over the air updates and you're right, it doesn't necessarily even need 5g for that or time. Even a swappable PI bay so you could upgrade the brain hardware later if needed. Ideally you could just bring your scope, camera and mount and not need anything else.

@JeremyTaylorNZ

4 жыл бұрын

@@DylanODonnell Yeah, think about how mediocre the software in handsets is... search for an object? pthbbt - you have to scroll through gazillions of catalog names to find what you want. Want to add an object? Oh, you need to buy a special cable to do that... which has an RS-232 connector, last heard of in the Cretaceous Period. So you also need the USB-RS-232 connector. Want to do some solar astrophotography? Sorry, you can't be trusted, 30,000 objects in the DB but Sol isn't one of them. BUT if the scope had no handset but had a wireless ASCOM compliant interface then they could provide a phone app to drive the scope and we could also just use alternative third party software to drive it. All the objects we could ever want, including the sun. The internal controller do to the smarts with the orientation etc doesn't need to be super powerful, but swappable/upgradable would be neat. I have thought that you could offload that to the BYO device driving the mount to make the internal controller even simpler and avoid the imperative to be able to upgrade the brains when tech improves, but processing it on the mount saves pushing those image files over the air to do the orientation. Could be done either way. Another reason for it to be on the mount is the pointing model can be internal to the mount and independent of what ASCOM planetarium software you use to drive the mount so you don't get limited to in-house software to take advantage of the smart pointing. I think that this sort of easy to set up smart accurate pointing mount could be cheaper than premium mounts because of key cost savings: no need for high precision encoders if plate solving pointing and accurate sky modelling is integrated. Because it is BYO device, you have no handset to design/manufacture. But they seem to be addicted to the wee 8-bit controllers running firmware written in assembler...

I would like it to have a timing function and weather app connectivity for radar so you can plonk it out the back and go to bed and when target is closest to zenith and cloud is clear it will automatically do imaging runs and then go to sleep.

Add in: self contained power. Although visual only, the iOptron AZ Mount Pro gets closer to this ideal feature set than many mounts by bypassing a lot of them. And yes, it's obviously not equatorial. But it is quiet.

Very nice, you touched on all the points I'm also sometimes frustrated about :p Some other things maybe: - Nice handle bars / grips on the motor head, because they are so stupidly heavy and unwieldy sometimes. - Auto check balance? Should be fairly easy to add some sort of check on the resistance of the motors so you don't wear them out if you're unbalanced. - A seriously failure proof meridian flip :p

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Great suggestions!

Ok I would like the mount to have internet access so different scopes could be used as a global interferometer

@MatthewHolevinski

4 жыл бұрын

I kind of wish that about every old C and Ku band satellite dish linked together to do some kind of citizen radio astronomy fun.

I also would like to make a telescope mount, it will auto-align to Polaris from where ever you place it, it will auto level the base, it will plate solve, simply it will be placed and solve its location. It will be smaller, camera or 50mm APO size, but the scope will not be present, it will be like the open star tracker but it will not follow that design at all, it will be small and compact, I am thinking 1ft square to transport + OTA ;) I like your ideas, Most likely an extension of N.I.N.A as it does it all already (just about)

I went with a Losmandy G11 because when it breaks I can fix it myself and it's not that bad once you mess with it. Many of the mounts out there look kinda complicated to troubleshoot when it breaks because it will break on you. You can buy parts and even half a mount at a time. I like to keep it da da dumb.

What a great name: D.A.M.M.I.T 4000. It would sale like hotcakes. The only question I have is: "Where is the cup holder?

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Beer holder! How did I forget?

Very interesting indeed. Extremely good idea. It could be even simpler if GPS coupled. As you know what's important is to have the right ascension axis pointing at the celestial pole (computer controlled stepper motor) + declination axis motor (also computer controlled). GPS would inform telescope about azimuth and a sensor could inform mount computer about verticality. There would be no need to have time or date or orientation to stars because GPS and sensors would give all that. Everything would be remotely connected and software controlled. As far as damping is concerned, it could be possible to do this actively through computer controlled sensors and motors to counteract vibration. Power could be built into the body of the mount with the possibility to charge batteries and to remove rechargeable batteries. What do you think?

Dylan the Mind Reader! You should parent this genial idea buddy. One change I would make though is to add a pen-like micro usb powerd pc running windows (that's what I do) so you can run everything any anytime from it then you can RDP over wifi into it from a tablet (android works with external mouse+keyboard) or laptop regardless of the OS. That way you can sit in your tent or home and control the whole shebang.

Dylan!!!! You’ve pretty much hit the bullseye, and have echoed all of my frustrations with the predominant GEM systems in the market today. I would GLADLY pay extra for a DAMMIT 40000 mount like that...heck, we already pay extra for all those additional accoutrements, so why not integrate.

Great minds, I've thought of some of these as well, not really sold on ascom compliance however I reckon the asiair on a broader scale may be the future way to go in that respect. What I would really love currently is mechanised altitude and azimuth adjustment to make polar alignment easier rather than farting around winding and unwinding by hand and not being super accurate, maybe have inbuilt encoders for it to remember their position so long as it is semi permanent mounted, I love the idea of automated polar alignment. Lots of good ideas but what will all the manufacturers of all the peripherals think of this as a mount like that may herald the end of their business. Also wonder what the cost would be to manufacture something like this? I wonder if someone could lend me a mount that they wouldn't mind being pulled apart and re-engineered? (I am a crap engineer but a great ideas person.)

My issue is that I don't have a Dome. Every viewing session follows the same pattern, set it up (the hard part), observe, and finally tear it down. Your ideas would make life very much easier for me. I might just try experimenting. Thanks for the ideas.

Okay manufacturers. Start building this tripod. Then I start inventing a scope that can see right trough the clouds. The future is coming. 😜😜🤣🤣🤣🤣

That would be an awesome mount and I'll take 2 of them

Maybe the mount are capable to Upload the pictures to a nas / FTP Server Temperature/ humidity Sensor for the focusmotor and dewband control And a Software for multible mount-control XD Sensor at the Motors for required Power, if the mount is unbalanced or the telescope is crushing into the mount

See Rduinoscope Project built in GPS, date, time, humidity sensor, a 4" screen with day/night mode, one button and one joystick, ... Also, you are free to use the stepper motor and reduction technology you want to use Pretty easy to make without a high level of engeenering

There is a full featured RPi product that will do just about everything except turn knobs - with the PA and guiding like you say and mounts on the scope with USB hub included. Its called StellarMate (runs Kstars). However, its a hackers delight and although I loved it, I found it unreliable so I've ditched it for Cloudmakers (Mac based software),

When you dream, dream big! It is the only think truly free in life.

Sounds like it would be a badass setup! I think it would need a pole master looking camera in front that would have a laser build in and locks on North Star or a star in the south and Connects to the mount which would polar align the mount by itself.... then slew the mount to a drift star ⭐️ and drifted align it by itself also... the mount should be called “the DOD Astro” aka Dylan O’Donnell Astro mount lol great video man! Oh yeah Awesome commercial Celestron Rasa video you have out. I thought I was watching a space movie trailer

I would buy that mount today.

Four years after this video was made, and first seeing it now, I can still say: "Amen!,"

@DylanODonnell

Жыл бұрын

Heh weirdly enough some of this came to pass with the rise of automatic telescopes BUT my idea was for the mount to be automatic and then BYO scope. The current Gen are all very fixed, inflexible arrangements.

@anvikshiki

Жыл бұрын

Absolutely. New rigs like the Veonis Vespera and ZWO Seestar are nice for some. But a mount that could do all you describe and could accommodate different OTAs would be something I’d be happy to shell out a lot for! By the way, though I realize you have no need for them, what do you think of the new generation of strainwave gear mounts? Love your videos! Cheers!

so do you know something we don't ? such as celestron working an a new mount and trying to survey what features customers wan't most ? for sure auto polar and pointing alignment would be some kind of awesome !!!

I'm confused about the polar/guide scope concept, can you explain this a bit more Dylan? Won't you always be pointing at the celestrial pole hence there won't be much or any drift to correct? The only thing I can think of is if it had some kind of super wide fish eye lens to capture stars way off the CP, then the mount uses software to bring the image back to rectilinear so there isn't any source of error for guiding from having such a curved lens. I might be missing something, I often am!

@henri-julienchartrand3387

4 жыл бұрын

HI there, DIY astro: Good point about the polar and guide scope integration. Henri-Julien Chartrand, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

And a Field rotator!

2:17 new ipad looks great!

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

iPad Pro max 😆

It needs a beach mode where it will point your scope at... well you can figure that one out!

I would settle for a PHD-Pi scope that has one big easy button "guide here" and it just figures it out... Agreed on you're mount as well...

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Exactly!

You forgot one specification for the mount. It should be high quality at a low price 😉

@farrjarr

4 жыл бұрын

👍

DAMMIT, I love it. :-D

When you took the phone out of the box, what app were you using?

@nlbmedia

4 жыл бұрын

Sky Guide

Pluggable Electronics using a standardized housing and connector. This would enable to swap out parts of the controlling electronics when new and better hardware is available!

I don't remember If you have mentioned self balancing. Something like a counterweight on a threaded rod

@yobb89

4 жыл бұрын

yes this would be good, motorized cw that moves around when meridian flip arizes

Automatic levelling and polar alignment would be great. Another feature would be to make it upgradeable- so the motors could be modular so you can start with a smaller payload scope and cheaper motors, and upgrade to larger ones later on. Also good for making a portable lighter setup. You'd have to make the tripod and other parts quite beefy to start with, but that shouldn't(?) add too much to the initial price/weight. Now if someone can crowdfund a frame and get some open source Pi software going...

@JMac85X

4 жыл бұрын

Kind of like Losmandy G11, upgradeable and many modifications.

A cracker of a video, Dylan. You have covered all of the things I have been whingeing about to my astro-mates down here in Tassie for years! How is it, in this day and age, with such accurate GPS (as you rightly point out already works so brilliantly in mobile phones) can we not have a self-polar aligning, fully automated mount which can save us so much time before we begin imaging for the night! Surely there are software engineers who can do this? ALL of the technology you refer to is out there; it just hasn't been put together in one mount. Mind you, so much money is tied up in what is on the market now, that no manufacturer wants to be left with suddenly obsolete hardware....A phasing in is required, but I hope all this happens soon.Maybe somewhere on planet Earth, in a secluded workshop somewhere, a bunch of guys are cobbling together this fabled mount with patents at the ready. They'd make a killing....

Dylan... I know that _most likely_ you weren't intending to commit homicide with this video, but a word of caution... _I was taking a big gulp of my iced tea at __1:43__!_ It was a very close thing. Almost asphyxiated before work. Anyway, carry on then. Excellent work, sir. One could even say, _stellar._

Hello Dylan, H How about a single power source for every accessory (some kind of integrated Pegasus powerbox fully computerized: Eagle 2) and multiple connections (WIFI) ? Henri-Julien Chartrand, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Maybe integrated cables ( in tripod for power supply) or in the mount for camera or due/heater. thanks Dylan for sharing your creativity. maybe you should start your own projet ? :-) to do an usless thing before dying !

While your mount components are awesome and would enable you to do many things "easily" I imagine it would cost a fortune and as you said "it would be accessible to everyone". Then it would be so common it wouldn't be as interesting anymore. Would be like adding cameras to our phones and everyone became photographers all of a sudden. The frustration and the learning required for astrophotography now are part of what makes it interesting to me.

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

We're all different. Some people enjoy the process of fishing whether or not they catch anything. I like eating fish. :)

Make it lightweight (or at least have a lightweight version) so it can live in the back of my car until that rare moment when the sky is clear, and make it work on the equator because I can't see either celestial poles from here and drift alignment is a pain especially when on the move and/or in a hurry (the clouds will ALWAYS be back). Then, take my money.

I designed a telescope case that transforms into a mount but I didn't consider including the need for mothballs.

D..A..M..M..I..T 4000. Love it lol

Aren't the polar align scope and star align scope on two different axis'?

@azcharlie2009

4 жыл бұрын

You might be able to use a camera mounted to the saddle for polar alignment if the mount knew when the saddle and mount axis were aligned exactly the same, but not the other way around.. You would still have flexure to deal with. Maybe the polar scope, alignment, and guide scope should be integrated into the telescope OTA itself? I've always wondered why the camera cannot be designed to take split second images for guiding purposes every so often will still retaining the information gathered during a long duration image. It's all mathematics anyway.

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

I know right. There must be a million more elegant solutions to this compared to how it works now. Polar alignment doesn't necessarily even need a view to the pole it just needs to now where something is pointing in relation to the OTA and account for it.

Much of what you describe up to 4:14 is possible now with an Arduino and 6 DOF sensor. There is an antenna tracker project online that could be adapted to this application I believe. And as a side note, to make this project completely Homer Simpsonesque, it must be Nuclear Powered of course.

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Hehe yes. And a beer holder. And lasers.

Not sure about using the polar scope as the guide scope as it won't be looking at what the scope is looking at and the movement around the pole might not be great enough for accurate tracking. I like all the other ideas though I might need to start going back to the gym to develop the muscles to move this thing around... Cheers, Matt

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

The idea is that you don't actually need a polar scope to polar align. You just need any sort of scope/camera that knows where it in relation to the stars and telescope. That's why all star polar align doesn't even need to see the pole, just a few stars to figure out where it is and where it should be. So yeh, I guess what I should've said is ditch the polar scope and use the guide scope (built into the saddle) for polar alignment.

@madbadger1327

4 жыл бұрын

@@DylanODonnell Ah yes, I forgot about the fact that you don't really need a polar scope for polar aligning. On the flip side I have a polar scope and I can't seem to polar align these days... One thing I think would make life easier would be if the mount manufacturers (SkyWatcher I'm looking at you) made their polar scopes so you could easily shove a web cam/ccd camera on the end of them instead of expecting an ageing population to perform hernia inducing contortions or make adaptors out of sticky backed plastic. Or include a Polemaster with every mount. So have you begun a Kickstarter campaign for DAMMIT yet? Cheers, Badger

@madbadger1327

4 жыл бұрын

@@DylanODonnell Just realised what my point was... I can't see how the polar scope can be used as a star tracker for guiding the telescope as it won't be looking at what the telescope is looking at; I wasn't thinking about polar aligning. But its a moot point if you are going to ditch the polar scope anyway. Cheers, Badger

Hi, 'amateur astronomer' here. YES to all of this (including the outro)!!

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your vote :)

i'd buy that

Is the celestron avx mount a pretty good mount?

@henri-julienchartrand3387

4 жыл бұрын

Hello Gira, Depending on the kind of work you want to do , the AVX can be a very good entry level mount. It is fairly portable and easy to set up. Performance wise, it is good. Pointing and tracking is very good for visual work. The load capacity is around 30 pds. For visual, no issues whatsoever. For astrophotography, don't exceed 60% , around 20 pds. Alt Az adjustments are OK. Skyportal WIFI system is great and is very stable. PWI is excellent for star and polar alignment. I would still recommend the pole master but it is not an absolute necessity. With PHD 2, I am able to achieve RMS error down to 0.20 and 0.66 px. For a mount at that price, it is very good. You will have to experiment with different settings depending on your guide scope and camera. Get the latest version of the AVX which has the USB connector on the handset. Hope this helps. Clear skies !Henri-Julien Chartrand , Montreal, Quebec, Canada

@giraoshaw

4 жыл бұрын

@@henri-julienchartrand3387 thank you so much, I was 100% on getting it but man it gets really nerve racking getting a first computerized mount. Also I greatly appreciate the 60% load capacity tip and just calculated whether the equipment I plan on getting for it would still be within the capacity and it is! Perfectly 60%! (Surprisingly great since I plan on replacing my 5" makustov cassegrain with an 8" edgeHD sct)

@giraoshaw

4 жыл бұрын

@@henri-julienchartrand3387 also do you have a link to the latest version? The one I'm getting is this one: www.highpointscientific.com/celestron-advanced-vx-equatorial-mount-91519

@henri-julienchartrand3387

4 жыл бұрын

@@giraoshaw Hello Gira, Glad I can help and give back a little bit of what I was able to learn from the community of amateur astronomers overs the years. The EdgeHD 8 inc. would be an excellent combination with AVX . Just keep in mind that this max this mount for astrophotography. At 14 lbs, count everything else you will want to add in order not to exceed that limit of 60% (which is a none written rule). The focal length of 2030mm is another important factor. Star and Polar alignment will require your very best in precision. Let this be a formidable challenge (confidence builder) and a great learning opportunity. Planets will look spectacular along with some deep sky objects. Make sure your guide scope is in the 240 to 300mm range with the optional helical focuser.Your guide camera will need to be very sensitive. You may consider seriously an off axis guider. At the focal length of your SCT, it would be best. You might try to deal the ZWO OAG with the ASI 290mm mini. It is a great combination and solves so much issues when it comes to guide an 8 inc SCT like the Edge HD, flexure being one of them. I understand how you feel (nerve racking). Learn and execute at your own pace. Read, study, analyze and go out there. Practice, expect road bumps, learn from those first frutations and move on. You will love it. And if your feel down and discourage, email me at hjc@videotron.ca and we will talk (well, sort of). Good luck, clear skies and let me know how it goes. Respectfully, Henri-Julien Chartrand.

Only If!

10Micron would be close to this idea - if it could have those features... but - considering that today mount with absolute encoders costs >$9K or >$15K with all bells (medium payload) - I bet that mount that can do all mentioned in this video idea - would be peppery pricey :))))

Some parts may not be worth the complexity. Over-engineering is bad; the more parts you have, the more things could go wrong. For example, leveling can be done with a bubble scale. An inclinometer can take care of the latitude/elevation. These are not hard to do. The rest is as you say: can be automated. And some of it already exists. For example, look at OnStep groups.io/g/onstep/wiki/home which is totally Open Source. There is also KStars. If someone writes an auto align add on that would use the built in polar scope that you propose, and use KStars' PAA (Polar Align Assist), it would help a lot. Then the same add on can do the alignment on 3 (or more) stars to get a model of the sky. Autoguiding? Things like PHD2 are quite complex and I just started using it recently, and it varies from one night to the next (seeing, ...etc). So how much of that can be totally automated? I don't know. Anyway, good ideas. Thanks for sharing.

The eVscope looks like an amazing product? Are you kidding?

I understand where some of our periodic error comes from with respect to gear trains ; but I still don't know why , a given model of mount , can't be built precisely and consistently enough so that the periodic error correction could simply be pre-programmed into its firmware

@DylanODonnell

4 жыл бұрын

Agree 100% .. it should auto PEC with zero user intervention.

@chucknance1290

4 жыл бұрын

@@DylanODonnell I have a CGX also . Thanks for all you do . Your videos always make my day 🙂

I like these ideas. Many technical innovations have rendered old skills obsolete. Does anyone here know how to hitch up a horse to a wagon properly? One thought: since your phone has the time, date, gps position; the mount could just use a wifi connection to acquire all this info. The built in wifi would also be handy to operate the mount, guide scope, camera, etc. Additionally, phone or ipad apps could automatically run leveling, polar, and star alignment routines optimized for the target of interest. I would be surprised if all this is not available within 10 years.

Your phone can level itself, so just the actuating motors needed for that.

Ha! I love this. Let's design it. I agree with everything. Built in USB Hub and Power would be brilliant. Only problem is the young whipper snappers wouldn't appreciate all the mess and fuss we had to go through. "Back in my day we had to push three buttons, not just one!"

I would like to have also automatic horizon mapping delivered by email to upload on some observation planning software :)

This is what i always wanted to know. So i wrote to Celestron about this.... Why Don't they create a "Smart Mount" which doesn't need guide scope or polar alignment. Celestron never answered my question...

What was the track from Retnik Beats that you used? And I don't think there is any reason why this mount couldn't exist now. The parts all exist, just pick your chips and parts from a catalog. The biggest challenge --based on my degree in armchair engineering-- would be reliable integration and an intuitive interface. If you're slapping a pi on there, you might as well integrate a touchscreen too lol An astronomer can dream...

Are you planing to try capture the c2019q4 borisov interstellar object?

My dream telescope mount is.... Pluto.

The mount should also have AI so I can give it a voice command, it will read the weather maps, drive itself to a dark sky location, unload and set itself up, take the images and flats, and process the subs on the drive back. It should also phone me on the way home if it's going to be late.

@skesinis

2 жыл бұрын

The Tesla-scope…. One day… One day… 😊

You keep mentioning smartphones. Funny thing is that it could be done using an old Android smartphone , as long as you could get app and software developers on board. If it were not for the lack of RS232 and camera support, I'd be running my mount right now with an old 2011 Motorola Photon or Atrix via their embedded Ubuntu ARM.