System and method for automatically aligning a telescope without requiring user intervention

A system for aligning a telescope, comprising:

• a processor, for establishing an initial time value and date value and an initial location value:
• a mount model, for specifying a relationship between a telescopic coordinate system and a celestial coordinate system, the mount model being initialized based on the initial time, date, and location values;
• a pointing error measurement module, for measuring a pointing error for the mount model with respect to at least one alignment reference point, based on the time, date, and location values;
• an iterative adjustment module, for iteratively adjusting at least one of the time, date, and location values to reduce the pointing error of the mount model;
• and
• a microcontroller, for applying the mount model to point the telescope.

A computer program product for aligning a telescope, comprising:

• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium;
• and
• computer program code, encoded on the medium, for causing at least one processor to perform the steps of:
• a) establishing an initial time value and date value;
• b) establishing an initial location value;
• c) initializing a mount model based on the initial time, date, and location values, the mount model specifying a relationship between a telescopic coordinate system and a celestial coordinate system;
• d) measuring a pointing error for the mount model with respect to at least one alignment reference point, based on the time, date, and location values;
• and
• e) iteratively adjusting at least one of the time, date, and location values to reduce the pointing error of the mount model;
• and
• f) performing at least one selected from the group consisting of:
• outputting the mount model;
• storing the mount model in a storage device;
• and
• applying the mount model to point the telescope.