CN1328742A - Device and method for remote control astronomical observation telescope - Google Patents

Abstract

A remote control device for astronomical observation telescopes, comprising one or more telescopes controlled by respective computers, at least one server connected to the computer by means of a local area network, the server being connected to a wide area data network for receiving requests from users to use the one or more telescopes, the server decoding said requests and transmitting instructions to the control computer for actuating the astronomical telescope according to the user's requirements.

Description

Device and method for remote control astronomical observation telescope

The invention relates to a device and a method for remotely controlling an astronomical telescope.

It is well known that astronomy is an increasingly popular science around the world, and it is also the starting point for establishing more in-depth research involving biology, physics, medicine, etc.

The use of professional telescopes is currently limited to a limited number of individuals. The general public is forced to buy business-type personal telescopes in most cases due to high prices, and to install telescopes in appropriate places for observation, so they cannot use professional telescopes.

Therefore, it is necessary for the user to go to the observation site and transport the telescope to take time and transportation means to be available.

Moreover, when the user arrives at the observation site, the atmospheric conditions will not always be favorable for observation, in which case the trip will be in vain.

All these disadvantages have so far limited the activities of amateur astronomers and certainly limited the number of people who might be interested in learning about astronomy.

It should also be noted that virtually anyone referring to astronomical observations is often attracted by the electronic means available to take photographs and/or live images.

This possibility is therefore closely related to the search for the best astronomical conditions for taking said pictures.

The gist of the present invention is to provide a device and a method for remotely controlling an astronomical observation telescope, so that users do not need to buy a personal telescope substantially. Within the scope of the above gist, an object of the present invention is to provide a device and method for remotely controlling an astronomical observation telescope, so that users do not need to carry the telescope to a suitable observation site substantially.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device and method for remotely controlling an astronomical observation telescope, so that users can take astronomical photos and/or images without purchasing expensive equipment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device and method for remotely controlling an astronomical telescope so that a common PC can be used to insert global astronomical observation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a device and method for remotely controlling an astronomical observation telescope, so that the control of the telescope, such as image focusing, accurate tracking and viewing of celestial bodies, can be fully automated from the remote end.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for remotely controlling an astronomical viewing telescope which is highly reliable, relatively readily available and at a competitive cost.

The various items of the above-mentioned gist will be clarified later. These can be realized by remote control of a kind of astronomical observation telescope.

The device is characterized in that the device includes one or more telescopes controlled by respective computers, at least one server connected to the computers by a local area network, and the server is connected to a wide area data network to receive users using the one or more telescopes. or requests from multiple telescopes; the server decodes the requests, and transmits instructions to activate the astronomical mirrors to the control computer according to user requirements.

The above-mentioned purpose and each project etc. that can understand later also can be realized by a kind of astronomical observation telescope remote control method. The method is characterized in that, using the wide area data network, the request for using the remote telescope is sent to the server;

wait for the server to start the telescope;

Wait for a response from the telescope based on images, photos, etc. from the server.

The features and advantages of the present invention will be further understood from the description of a preferred but not exclusive embodiment of the device and method of the present invention, with the aid of the accompanying drawings, which are presented as non-limiting examples only. In the attached picture:

Fig. 1 is the block diagram of control device of the present invention;

Another block diagram of a part of the control device of the present invention in Fig. 2;

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of the control method provided by the present invention;

Fig. 4 is the preferred fine frame diagram of partial figure in Fig. 3;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of a telescope adapted to employ the method of the present invention.

Referring to the above-mentioned drawings, the control device of the present invention includes one or more telescopes 1, and the telescopes are respectively associated with their respective computers (such as PC2). The telescope is located at a site suitable for astronomical observation geographically, such as Alpine, Xiaoli, etc. The PCs 2 are interconnected by means of a local area network (referred to as LAN) 3 and interface with at least one server _S1 ... _Sn . The PC also has a database containing images and information that the user can access.

The servers S _{1 .} . . S _n can further connect to actual observatories 4, so that users can connect not only to different telescopes 1 but also to observatories. In this case, it is not possible to control the telescope directly from the computer 2 , but to receive images and any other data from the observatory 4 .

At this time, a plurality of users U ₁ ... U _n can connect to each server, and thus the telescope 1 can be individually controlled by the control software loaded on the computer 2 .

The system described above is shown more clearly in FIG. 2, in which a server _S1 is connected to a node 5 acting as a hub for a local area network 3 by means of a network 4, eg an Ethernet LAN. The local area network 3 is connected to the control computer 2 of the telescope 1 .

FIG. 2 also shows the connection between the CCD type image capture device 10 associated with the telescope 1 and the respective computers 2 .

The connection between the telescope 1 and the computer 2 is made using an RS232 serial network or similar, while the connection between the CCD image capture devices is of the SCSI type.

Using a global area network 11, the server _S1 is connected to a wide area data network, such as the Internet.

FIG. 3 is a detailed block diagram of the main software program used to manage and control the computers 2 of the telescopes 1 .

A user connected to the global area network 11 by the wide area data network accesses the management system requesting and replies to the management system connected to the main software program 20 . The main software program has a control manager 21 and allows the user to send a request to use a given telescope 1 or image capture device 10 .

The operation of the device of the present invention will now be described with reference to FIG. 4 .

In fact, as shown in the figure, each electronically controlled telescope 1 is connected to a computer 2 controlling it, each said computer 2 being included in the context of a local area network 3 . The server _S1 is a part of the local area network 3, and handles receiving user's request from the global area network 11 (such as the Internet) in real time, and converts the request into an appropriate language that the computer controlling the telescope 1 can understand.

Then, the server S ₁ sends the required instructions to the control computer 2, waits for the result (such as an image from the CCD capture device), transforms the combination into an appropriate form, and sends it to the user using the global area network 11. By.

Therefore, in detail, the main program program provides: step 25, for waiting for the request from the management system (i.e. from the server); step 27, after the user utilizes the global area network 11 to make the request 26, translate the request code; step 28, for managing the control computer 1; step 29, for sending the above-mentioned decoded request to the local area network 3 by means of the local area network 3.

At step 30, each computer reports its status using the local area network 3 . During a step 31 , the answer to the request 26 made by the user is downloaded from the computer 2 .

In step 32, prepare to use the WLAN 11 to send the downloaded response to the user as response 33.

The above prepared responses are also stored in the database for later use.

In fact, each user can use a selected telescope and control it from his own location by inputting an instruction converted into a command for the telescope, using a global area network connected to, for example, the Internet, and also by means of a CCD capture device Capture still images or moving images.

The images captured by the telescope are then displayed in real time on the user's computer.

In this way, the user does not need to purchase a telescope that is expected to perform well and is usually expensive, nor does he need to travel to the appropriate place for astronomical observation.

It should also be noted that the user can also select a favorite telescope in consideration of the weather conditions. If the selected telescope is not able to make observations due to weather (for example overcrowding or other conditions), the user often chooses another one from among those connected to the network available, thereby making optimal use of the available time.

Furthermore, typical telescopes are highly sensitive to temperature changes, which cause volumetric changes in the material from which the telescope is made, depending on the properties of the material from which the telescope is made to absorb and/or dissipate the heat it receives. Metals are materials that are particularly sensitive to this phenomenon and can easily expand and contract even with small temperature changes. The telescope used in the method of the invention adopts optical glass, which is higher than the intrinsic thermal expansion resistance of the materials used in the present telescope.

The optical elements are actually made of glass-ceramic material, which is about 60 times more resistant to temperature changes than the glass used for the mirrors of ordinary telescopes.

Optical element support tubes made of carbon fiber are coupled to this material, which, in addition to providing great advantages such as agility and light weight, has a thermal expansion coefficient very close to that of the glass-ceramic used for the optical element. In this way, the optical support tube and the mirrors housed inside are highly insensitive to changes in ambient temperature, and in any case the glass-ceramic material from which the mirrors are made and the tubes in which they are housed are in unison resistant to this change. The result is a focus that is easy to operate and whose position remains very stable over time, requiring very little adjustment. Usually telescopes are different, and focus can only be maintained for a few hours per night.

The above advantages allow absolute remote control of the telescope used in the apparatus and method of the present invention, with the added benefit of completely eliminating the need for an operator assigned to adjust the constant focus of the telescope.

In addition, as shown in Fig. 5, the telescope used in the device and method of the present invention has a variable focal length system, and the focal length can be changed according to the requirements of the shooting target.

Typical telescopes conventionally have a fixed focal length that must be changed in order to modify the performance of the telescope. The complexity of the operation used is most obviously the need for an operator.

With a variable focal length system to be described later, the focal length can instead be selected according to the requirements of the object to be photographed or recorded.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of the telescope 1 . Wherein, the telescope 1 is composed of a base 50 pivotally supported by a tube 60 on which the optical elements and CCD devices indicated by the reference number 54 are stored inside the tube 60 . In common telescopes, the CCD device is a fixed focus type. In contrast, the telescope of the present invention has a CCD device 65 adapted to move so that the focus of the telescope can be changed. The method of achieving this transformative movement is the use of a tube 70 arranged coaxially with the tube 60 on the outside and movable along guide tracks on the outer surface of the tube 60 so that the CCD device 65 rigidly coupled to the tube 70 can perform Transformative movement to tube 60 . Thus, the switchable movement allows the focus of the telescopes to be modified without requiring each telescope to use one focal length.

Such an elaborate improvement makes the telescope used by the method of the present invention absolutely remote-controlled, even if the telescope is also focusing outside its target.

The control device described above is capable of various modifications and variations within the scope of the concept of the present invention. Thus, for example, the global area network may be a satellite communication network. All details can also be replaced by other technically equivalent elements.

The disclosures in Italian Patent Application No. MI98A002104 from which this application claims priority are hereby incorporated by reference.

Claims (9)

1. a remote control device for astronomical observation telescopes, characterized in that the device comprises one or more telescopes controlled by respective computers, utilizes at least one server of the local area network to connect the computer, and the server is connected to the wide area data network, to receive a user's request to use the one or more telescopes; the server decodes the request, and sends an instruction to activate the astronomical mirror to the control computer according to the user's request. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein each said computer has software for controlling a respective telescope. 3. The apparatus of claim 1 having at least one image capture device associated with each of said telescopes. 4. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein a plurality of servers is provided, at least one telescope being associated with each said server. 5. Apparatus as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the computers are connected to respective astronomical telescopes using serial connections. 6. The device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the telescope comprises a first tube adapted to accommodate a CCD device and rigidly coupled with a second tube, and the second tube is arranged to be connected to the first tube coaxial, and can move along the outer surface of the first tube so as to change the position of the CCD device. 7. A remote control method for an astronomical observation telescope, characterized in that the method comprises the following steps: Use the wide area data network to send the request to use the remote telescope to the server; wait for the server to start the telescope; Wait for a response from the telescope based on images, photos, etc. from the server. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the server includes a database for storing images captured by telescopes associated with the server. 9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the server sends the required information to the user by using the wide area data network.

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