Systems and methods for automated telescope alignment and orientation

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal altitude and azimuth axes, a method for orienting a telescope for celestial object tracking comprising:

• providing a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a motor control processor coupled to a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis;
• providing a central control processor, the central control processor connected to receive positional reference information from each motor control processor;
• commanding the telescope to a level position;
• commanding the telescope to rotate about the azimuth axis until it points to a cardinal compass point;
• setting the positional reference indicators to respective initial values;
• defining an approximation of an observation latitude;
• slewing the telescope to a desired viewing object;
• recording the displacement vectors of the telescope tube axes from the position indicator's initial values;
• and
• calculating a drive rate for the altitude and azimuth motors from the approximate latitude and the axial displacement vectors of the desired viewing object and subsequently tracking that object's movement through the sky with no further alignment manipulation of the telescope system by the user.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal altitude and azimuth axes, a method for orienting a telescope for celestial object tracking comprising:

• providing a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a motor control processor coupled to a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis;
• providing a central control processor, the central control processor connected to receive positional reference information from each motor control processor;
• commanding the telescope to a level position;
• commanding the telescope to rotate about the azimuth axis until it points to a cardinal compass point;
• setting the positional reference indicators to respective initial values;
• defining an approximation of an observation latitude;
• and
• calculating a drive rate for the altitude and azimuth motors from the approximate latitude and the axial displacement vectors of the desired viewing object and subsequently tracking that object's movement through the sky with no further alignment manipulation of the telescope system by the user.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal axes, a method for orienting a telescope system having an alt-az configuration with respect to a spherical coordinate system, the method comprising:

• providing a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a motor control processor coupled to a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis;
• providing a central control processor, the central control processor connected to receive positional reference information from each motor control processor;
• providing a time and date indicia to the central control processor;
• providing a geographic indicia to the central control processor;
• commanding a first motor control processor to move the telescope about a first one of the axes to a first cartesian reference position;
• recording positional reference data from the respective positional reference indicator as a first positional index;
• commanding a second motor control processor to move the telescope about the second of the axes to a second Cartesian reference position;
• recording positional reference data from the respective positional reference indicator as a second positional index;
• and
• processing the first and second positional indices, the time and date indicia, and the geographic indicia in the central control processor, so as to define a virtual coordinate location of the telescope system with respect to the spherical coordinate system without mechanical alignment manipulation of the telescope system by the user.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal axes, the orthogonal axes defining a first, Cartesian coordinate system, a method for orienting the telescope system with respect to a second, spherical coordinate system, the method comprising:

• providing first and second motors, each motor coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes and coupled to a respective motor control processor;
• providing first and second arcuate position indicators, each position indicator coupled to a respective one of the first and second motor's motor control processors, each position indicator indicating an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis in the first coordinate system;
• providing a central control processor, the processor coupled to receive arcuate positions from the motor control processors;
• commanding the telescope to move about a first one of the axes to a first reference position;
• recording a first arcuate position corresponding to said first reference position of said first axis;
• commanding the telescope to move about a second one of the axes to a second reference position;
• recording a second arcuate position corresponding to said second reference position of said second axis;
• providing a first rotation metric, the first rotation metric rotating the virtual telescope position in the spherical coordinate system in accord with a first major axis of the spherical coordinate system;
• providing a second rotation metric, the second rotation metric rotating the virtual telescope position in the spherical coordinate system in accord with a second major axis of the spherical coordinate system;
• and
• processing the first and second recorded arcuate positions and the first and second rotation metrics so as to translate the telescope position in the first coordinate system to a virtual telescope position in the spherical coordinate system without mechanical alignment manipulation of the telescope system by the user.

A fully automated telescope system with functional intelligence distributed between independent components, the telescope system of the type including a telescope mounted for rotation about two substantially orthogonal axes, the automated telescope system comprising:

• an intelligent motor portion, the motor portion including first processor means for commanding a motor to rotate the telescope a desired arcuate amount about a respective axis, the first processor means further for determining the actual arcuate amount of rotation;
• a command module, including second processor means for translating a user input into telescope positioning signals suitable for transmission to the first processor means, the first processor means processing said positioning signals into motor motion commands;
• and
• a communication bus coupled between the first and second processor means.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal altitude and azimuth axes, the telescope including a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a motor control processor coupled to a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis and a central control processor connected to receive positional reference information from each motor control processor, a method for automatically tracking an object's motion, comprising:

• acquiring an object in a field of view of the telescope;
• manually commanding the telescope to rotate about the axes so as to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view;
• recording an arcuate movement of each axis required to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view;
• predicting a next position of the object;
• and
• automatically commanding the telescope to rotate about the axes so as to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal altitude and azimuth axes, the telescope including a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a motor control processor coupled to a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis and a central control processor connected to receive positional reference information from each motor control processor, a method for automatically tracking an object's motion, comprising:

• defining a level position relationship with respect to the telescope;
• acquiring an object in a field of view of the telescope;
• manually commanding the telescope to rotate about the axes so as to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view;
• recording an arcuate movement of each axis required to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view;
• predicting a next position of the object;
• and
• automatically commanding the telescope to rotate about the axes so as to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view.

In a computerized telescope system of the type including a telescope coupled for rotation about two orthogonal axes defining a telescope coordinate system, the telescope including a pair of motors, each coupled to rotate the telescope about a respective one of the orthogonal axes, each motor including a motor control processor coupled to a positional reference indicator, each positional reference indicator defining an arcuate position of the telescope with respect to its respective axis and a central control processor connected to receive positional reference information from each motor control processor, a method for automatically tracking an object's motion, comprising:

• electronically defining a horizontal aspect of the telescope;
• electronically defining a vertical aspect of the telescope;
• acquiring an object having a known referent in a coordinate system different from the telescope coordinate system, in a field of view of the telescope;
• and
• automatically tracking the object's movement with no further alignment manipulation of the telescope system by the user;
• automatically commanding the telescope to rotate about the axes so as to maintain the object in substantially the center of the telescope's field of view.