Invention Grant
- Patent Title: Tracking device for portable astrophotography of the night sky
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Application No.: US14728905Application Date: 2015-06-02
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Publication No.: US09749522B2Publication Date: 2017-08-29
- Inventor: Alan Holmes
- Applicant: Alan Holmes
- Agency: Koppel, Patrick, Heybl & Philpott
- Main IPC: H04N5/232
- IPC: H04N5/232 ; H04N5/262 ; G01S3/786 ; G06T7/80 ; G06T7/70 ; G03B17/56 ; G01S5/02 ; G02B23/00 ; F16M11/18 ; G01S3/782 ; G02B23/16

Abstract:
A tracking device for use when performing astrophotography comprises a guider camera and at least one tilt stage, with the topmost of the tilt stages arranged to support an astrophotography camera and the guider camera. Actuators are coupled to the tilt stages such that the astrophotography and guider cameras can be tilted about three axes. The guider camera and actuators are connected to electronics which include a computer programmed to operate in a calibration mode and a tracking mode. In calibration mode, a calibration procedure determines the effect of each actuator on the positions of at least two objects within the field-of-view (FOV) of the guider camera. In tracking mode, the actuators are operated as needed to maintain the positions of the at least two objects constant within the said FOV.
Public/Granted literature
- US20160360096A1 TRACKING DEVICE FOR PORTABLE ASTROPHOTOGRAPHY OF THE NIGHT SKY Public/Granted day:2016-12-08
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