• It finally pointed!

    mariajsanchez006 • 03/20/2025 at 03:18 • 0 comments

    After hours of tweaking the code and painstaking calibration by hand, the telescope pointed to Polaris! It was visible through the telescope, although it was a tiny little dot in the sky. My team and I were very grateful to have participated in such a fun class, it was new and exciting and taught us lots!

  • Some challenges.

    mariajsanchez006 • 03/20/2025 at 03:13 • 0 comments

    There have been quite a few challenges with our project:

    1. The stepper motors affect magnetometers because they create magnetic fields, those can no longer be used.

    2. The stepper motors get hot, it tried to melt the plastic, so we can only test minutes at a time. 

    3. Due to the first issue, we have to hand calibrate it accurately before using everytime. 

  • First Testing

    mariajsanchez006 • 03/20/2025 at 03:08 • 0 comments

    We have tested the telescope for the first time. The device ran, but the motors were off by a few degrees. We will need to check the code, and perhaps include wrapping angles to make pointing easier and more efficient.

  • Code can now move motors!

    mariajsanchez006 • 03/20/2025 at 03:08 • 0 comments

    We have successfully created code to move motors based on location of stars live! Time to assemble the parts and test.

  • Parts Printed

    mariajsanchez006 • 03/20/2025 at 03:06 • 0 comments

    The parts for our mount have been printed!