AUTOMATIC TRACKING DEVICE FOR ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPE

摘要

PURPOSE:To automatically track a celestial sphere to be observed with high accuracy for a long period by inputting the coordinates of the celestial sphere to be observed and the installation position of a telescope, calculating the optical-axis direction of the telescope, and driving the declination axis and right-ascension axis of the telescope independently. CONSTITUTION:The coordinates of the celestial sphere, the position of an observation point, and the time are inputted to an input/output part 1 having a keyboard and a display part and a processing part 2 calculates the azimuth and altitude of the celestial sphere to be observed, and a declination-axis control part and a right-ascension axis control part 4 calculate the current directions of the declination and right-ascension axis of the telescope, expected directions, and the rotational directions of axes. Driving parts 5 and 6 for both axes are driven to put the celestial sphere to be observed in a visual field and then the telescope is rotated around the right-ascension axis to track the celestial sphere automatically. Therefore, even a dark celestial sphere which is hardly seen can be tracked automatically with high accuracy for a long period by inputting the coordinates of the celestial sphere.