Holding the Stars Still: An Inexpensive and Reliable Method For Telescope Guiding Jason Sanborn, Dept. Of Physics & Astronomy Dr. Edward Bowell, Lowell Observatory Dr. Bruce Koehn, Lowell Observatory

L L owell O O bservatory N N ear E E arth O O bject S S earch LONEOS telescope is a 0.6-meter f/1.8 Schmidt Telescope with a 16 mega pixel camera capable of detecting 19th magnitude asteroids.

Methods for following celestial objects Traditional trackingTraditional tracking Telescope Auto-guidingTelescope Auto-guiding

Method’s for telescope tracking Traditional tracking using weight driven clock drives Accuracy: arcsecond Modern tracking using computer driven mounts Accuracy: sub arcsecond

LONEOStelescope tracking LONEOS telescope tracking Movie showing the tracking error of the LONEOS telescope. Duration: 30 minutesMovie showing the tracking error of the LONEOS telescope. Duration: 30 minutes Field of View

Methods for telescope guiding Guiding using non mechanical meansGuiding using non mechanical means Off-axis auto-guidingOff-axis auto-guiding Auto-guiding using separate guide telescope with imaging capabilityAuto-guiding using separate guide telescope with imaging capability

FLOW OF INFORMATION H ands O ff G uider

Psuedocode for HOG software Base_List_Length := 0; loop Get_Frame(Frame); Find_Frame_Sources(Frame, Source_List, List_Length); Match_Source_Lists(Source_List, Base_Source_List, Match, Match_Data); if Match then Report_Correction(Match_Data); else Base_Source_List := Source_List; Base_List_Length := List_Length; end if; end loop;

Hands Off Guider Upgraded LONEOS guiding ability using HOG Requirements:Linux based CPU/Fedora Core O/S Serial port or USB port Video capture card One open PCI card slot CCD Imager Guide telescope Tracking system with MOVE & HOG software Before HOG Using HOG