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About #2 - I think the 'new' part they're touting here is no longer needing to ensure the telescope knows exactly where north and the horizon are. In other word
by ttyl0125 9y ago
About #2 - I think the 'new' part they're touting here is no longer needing to ensure the telescope knows exactly where north and the horizon are. In other words, given a known location from GPS and some images of stars from the builtin camera, it'd be possible to calculate in which direction (az/el) the telescope was pointing. Is there a general term to describe this sort of thing?
- CydeWeys 9y agoSelf-calibration? Automatic alignment? Real astronomical telescopes have been doing that for forever, even by hand since before computers existed. A compass is just never accurate enough (and magnetic north isn't a constant besides). And yes, there are telescopes already available in the thousands-of-dollars range that calibrate themselves by combining data from GPS, the time, and sightings of a few specific stars. See e.g. http://www.celestron.com/university/astronomy/skyalign-(us-patent-no-7,382,448) http://www.celestron.com/university/astronomy/skyalign-(us-p...