Astrotracker for Smartphones with GPS & Wifi & Laser

ASTROTRACKER

[EDIT] PARTS LIST at the BOTTOM [EDIT]

GET BETTER - LOOK FURTHER

Todays Smartphones are getting more powerful than some early DSLRs - and so the time for Smartphone Astrophotography has come. 

I love the night skies, but unfortunately the light polution here in South-Germany, near Stuttgart has become worst than ever.  You can not catch sight of the milkyway or many stars even more. So there are two solutions - change the location (<3 Fuerteventura) or get better in what you´re doing. 
 

Imagine - how excited Galileo Galilei - the inventor of the telescope - was, as he looked the first time through his telescope. He has seen the skies, like no one before. 

I am not Galileo, but I used my brain, tools around me, did a little bit of math and last but not least, some Arduino coding.

MILKYWAY OR STARTRAILS

If you take a long exposure picture with a camera of the night sky, you will get some pretty startrails - fine, if you´re fine with that.

But - what if, you could stop the earth´s rotation? - what if, you could gether all the light from the stars, and cumulate them in that pixels, they are shining at ? 

You will be able to see, what others could not see without this tool. Did you spot the MILKYWAY <3 ? HEY IT´S A SMARTPHONE (iPhone 13 Pro Max) PICTURE!

This is what a startracker / astrotracker does. It rotates against the earth´s rotation, so the stars, stay in the same spot on your camera attached to the astrotracker.

It took some time to engineer the Atrotracker, but it worth every second. 

I´ve implemented GPS - so you can just read your location´s longitude over the smartphone connected to wifi, which is the angle, that you have point the axis up in the air.

Optional, you could install a strong laserpointer, that points at the star polaris (in the northern hemisphere).

The axis is mounted on ball-bearings, so it rotates very easily and the stepper-motor has no problems rotate exactly in the correct time (1057ms per each step, to catch up with the earth)

DO THE MATH RIGHT

You are asking, why not exactly 1000ms or 1s ? Should it not be like an clock, rotating in 24h one round? No - the earth is rotating not in 24h around it self. It rotates faster. The earth is also traveling around the sun, which has to be added to get the whole 24 hours! 

Webinterface of the ASTROTRACKER

PARTS LIST 

  - [[ https://amzn.to/3J1Uhon |Adafriut Huzzah Feather ESP32]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3v6YTny |GPS Module]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3Otuqag |Stepper Motor with Driver 5V 28BYJ-48]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3OvysP6 |Flange 5mm]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3ovsJ1a |5mm Ball-Bearing]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3PvAHDH |Screw Set for all your 3D-Prints]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3PRaPlc |1/4" Screw for the Smartphone holder]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3v8dsra |Good Smartphone Holder]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3BlkegO |5mm Rods in 100mm length]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3BduTuf |40T worm wheel 5mm, 40:1]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3PxzFHg |Ball Head Mount 1/4"]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3PKTaf0 |Cullman Nanomax 260 Tripod - or any other sould work]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3BduTuf |40T worm wheel 5mm, 40:1]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3cCEEb2 |Good Power Supply]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3BdG7Ph |Nylo Lock nylock 4mm and 3mm Nuts]]
 - [[ https://www.moveshootmove.com/collections/move-shoot-move-rotator/products/polar-alignment-for-astro-photography?variant=39417462653106 | optional but very convinient to use Laserpoint with Hotshoe Bracket]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3z0tFQk |This Jumper wires for all your Arduino Projects]]
 - [[ https://amzn.to/3OrwsHL |USB-Micro 2m Cable]]