Poster Session #1
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Dr. Steve Shen
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Applied Computing & Engineering Technology
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Astrophotography is the photographing of celestial objects and phenomena commonly used by amerature and professional astronomers. Due to Earth’s rotation, the stars and constellations appear to move overhead and therefore become blurred in long exposure photographs. To counteract these ‘star trails’ a barn door tracker can be used to move the camera synchronously with the sky overhead. These trackers can be as simple as two pieces of wood with a hinge or as complex as an expensive commercial product. The purpose of this project is to manufacture a barn door tracker inspired by existing methods. Each prototype progressed toward efficiency, stability, and sophistication, moving from cardboard and motor to 3D printed material and circuitry to metal and microcontroller. The design and manufacturing techniques are subject to change to enhance reliability, performance, and portability as needed in response to field experiments. This ongoing project explores design and manufacturing practices while providing means of capturing long exposure astrophotographs without star trails.
Category
Physical Sciences
Integrated Design and the Backyard Astronomer
UC South Ballroom
Astrophotography is the photographing of celestial objects and phenomena commonly used by amerature and professional astronomers. Due to Earth’s rotation, the stars and constellations appear to move overhead and therefore become blurred in long exposure photographs. To counteract these ‘star trails’ a barn door tracker can be used to move the camera synchronously with the sky overhead. These trackers can be as simple as two pieces of wood with a hinge or as complex as an expensive commercial product. The purpose of this project is to manufacture a barn door tracker inspired by existing methods. Each prototype progressed toward efficiency, stability, and sophistication, moving from cardboard and motor to 3D printed material and circuitry to metal and microcontroller. The design and manufacturing techniques are subject to change to enhance reliability, performance, and portability as needed in response to field experiments. This ongoing project explores design and manufacturing practices while providing means of capturing long exposure astrophotographs without star trails.