Ultrascope: a robotic telescope made of 3D-printed parts with the Nokia Lumia 1020 as the “brain” and camera

Modern gadgets sometimes find completely unexpected use. For example, Nokia Lumia 1020 is used in a new project of a prefabricated robotic telescope as a control element, a mirror and, in fact, a digital camera for taking photos of space objects.

The device was created by the founder of Open Space Agency, James Parr. Now the project team is finalizing the telescope, and after everything is completely ready, the drawings, software sources and everything else will be uploaded to the project website so that anyone can use this data to create their own telescope. The main goal of Open Space Agency- Popularization of astronomy and attracting people's attention to the study of space. It is clear that Microsoft is participating in the project for a reason, but Ultrascope is a really interesting device.



The height of the telescope is about 1 meter, the width of the base is 0.65 m.

The telescope positioning control system is based on Arduino. To get started, the telescope is connected to a Windows-based PC or laptop (respectively, there is also a control application). The telescope is positioned on the ISS, data on the station's position are taken from the network.

After that, the desired object is selected, the phone makes images that are immediately uploaded to the "cloud" for post-processing. As a result, the owner of the telescope receives high-quality images of the necessary space objects.



Unfortunately, the technical characteristics of the telescope have not yet been given, all this information will be available after the project enters the final stage. Telescope layout An application is being developed that will allow the Lumia line of smartphones to work with the device. On the project website, you can register as a beta tester, get the necessary materials and try to create your own telescope. www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4fuABCtMwQ