Semi-Automatic Telescope Aiming System

Looking up at the night sky is interesting, and relatively untrained observes should be able to at least find the moon and happily misidentify a few stars and planets without much trouble. On the other hand, there is an entire galaxy out there for you to explore, and finding what you’d actually like to observe takes time and experience. One way to get around this is to use a motorized telescope that automatically positions itself based on what you want to see, but these devices tend to be extremely expensive. This project, however, indicates where you need to point your telescope for observation, letting you to do the actual work of physically aiming.

The system uses an Arduino Mega to store a database of celestial objects, and a GPS module to determine where on earth you’re located. Objects are selected with a rocker switch, lighting directional LEDs that tell you how your telescope must be adjusted.

Horizontal and vertical angles are input via potentiometers, calibrated by lining everything up with Polaris, the North Star. If what you’ve selected has a negative altitude — and thus can’t be observed — the device will reply back with the response of “IS BELOW HORIZON” on its LCD screen, informing you to move on to something different.