During Covid19
(ongoing..) I acquired a computerized "go-to" telescope made by Celestron. Well, I actually acquired three different ones in succession, returning each of the first two until reaching the desired level of quality and functionality with the third one.
So I've spent a bit of time star-gazing and planet-gazing over the past three years now. But, a lot more time has been spent on the "computerized go-to" aspect of the the telescope mount. I bought into the Celestron brand because they feature one or more "AUX" expansion ports on their mounts, for which some documentation was available.
Celestron sells a number of clever and very expensive electronic accessories that plug into those (RJ12) AUX ports. And I have spent some time reverse-engineering many of those and creating lower cost open-source alternatives. As well as accessories that Celestron has NOT made. As one might expect.
Eg.
WiFi adapters, for control from astro-apps on smartphones and tablets.
GPS adapters to do away with tedious and error-prone data entry before each use
(time and location are vital for a go-to mount).
Bluetooth, because it is more fault-tolerant than WiFi for this application.
Ethernet, because wired is better than wireless for many uses.
Joystick and
Nunchuck interfaces for slewing the mount and adjusting electronic focus motors. And so on.
Anyway, just wondering if anyone else here has Celestron gear, and might benefit from some of these gizmos under "friends and family" costing.
Previous Topic
Index