Computers for telescopes and astrophotography
Using a normal computer to control the telescope creates many complications: EAGLE is the control unit created by PrimaLuceLab that includes a computer, as advanced power distribution system, with wireless and wired remote control and special sensors that simplifies your telescope! EAGLE is available in different configurations in order to fit your needs and budget, with an extended series of optional adapters in order to connect to any telescope and power any device.
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Software
PLAY
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PLAY is the astrophotography software developed by PrimaLuceLab in order to record beautiful pictures of the night sky in the simpler way and with the telescope you prefer! PLAY includes many features needed for astrophotography like focuser control to perfectly focus you image, mount control for alignment and pointing of many objects, capture of. ..
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EAGLE
EAGLELE
$795.00
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Forget having to connect your telescope to a laptop or desktop computer with lengthy cables, and big batteries. Thanks to the best features astrophotographers love in the EAGLE family, the EAGLE LE now allows you to spend less money to remotely control and power your telescope with less time setting up.
In a single device you have a Windows 10 Enterprise…
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ECCO
ECCO2
$195.
00
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ECCO2 is the Environmental Computerized COntroller for EAGLE that automates the management of dew heaters during long exposure astrophotography. By adding the ECCO module to your EAGLE, it will automatically and continuously monitor the temperature, humidity and pressure around your telescope and the temperature of your lenses by calculating the dew point…
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000042
$39.00
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This Eagle-compatible power cable allows you to power devices that comes with 5.5 (outer diameter) – 2.1 (inner diameter), positive tip polarity.
This cable connects to the 3A port of the EAGLE, with screw connector to avoid unwanted detachment. The cable is 115cm long. By using this cable, you can power devices like SkyWatcher EQ6, HEQ5 and EQ5,…
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000053
$46.00
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1,0m Eagle power cable extension cord is used when you need a longer cable to power devices through the EAGLE.
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EAGLE
EAGLE4
$995.00
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EAGLE4 is the advanced all-in-one computer for telescopes and astrophotography.
Discover the next level of remote control and power, now with GPS, EYE sky quality sensor and DARK mode.
Inside the unique PLUS aluminum housing, the EAGLE4 includes a powerful Windows 10 Enterprise computer with fast SSD storage, eight USB ports, an advanced power…
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000043
$39.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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This Eagle-compatible power cable allows you to power devices that comes with 5.5 (outer diameter) – 2.1 (inner diameter), positive tip polarity. This cable connects to the 8A port of the EAGLE, with screw connector to avoid unwanted detachment. The cable is 115cm long. By using this cable, you can power devices like QHYCCD, ATIK, ZWO, QSI cooled cameras,…
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000054
$45.
00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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0,5m Eagle power cable extension cord is used when you need a longer cable to power devices through the EAGLE.
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ECCO
ECCOSUP
$79.00
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ECCO is completely metal built and, for this reason, it can also be used as a finder support by adding the optional “Finder support for ECCO”. So you can install your finder or guide scope above ECCO instead of using guide rings (this is a perfect solution, for example, for small apochromatic refractors and very portable setups).
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EAGLE
EAGLE5S
$1,695.
00
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EAGLE5 S is the advanced computer for telescopes and astrophotography with its fast i3 processor, Industrial Grade 8 GB fast DDR4 memory, large and quick 250 GB SSD drive Industrial Grade (NVMe), added connectivity – now with 10 USB ports (1 x Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C type connector, 1 x Thunderbolt 4 with USB-C type connector), new Inclinometer and…
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000044
$39.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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This Eagle-compatible power cable allows you to power devices that comes with 5.5 (outer diameter) – 2.5 (inner diameter), positive tip polarity. This cable connects to the 3A port of the EAGLE, with screw connector to avoid unwanted detachment. The cable is 115cm long. By using this cable, you can power devices like the ESATTO focusers and the SESTO.
..
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000036
$15.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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EAGLE type connector for 3A power OUT ports allow you to it allows you to create your own cables to 12V power, through EAGLE, various instruments such as mounts, CCD cameras and other astro photography accessories. Included in the package you find instructions to proper cable heading.
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Optical finders
PLLBACEDX
$29.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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DX finder base can be installed on many telescopes to let you install finder supports from many brands.
The DX base provides 4 slots to allow mounting with 4 screws (not included), up to the M4, either with flat or round head. On the bottom side there is a double curvature to perfectly fit with various sizes focusers.
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000045
$39.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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This Eagle-compatible power cable allows you to power devices that comes with 5.5 (outer diameter) – 2.5 (inner diameter), positive tip polarity. This cable connects to the 8A port of the EAGLE, with screw connector to avoid unwanted detachment. The cable is 115cm long. By using this cable, you can power devices like Moravian cooled cameras.
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000035
$15.
00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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EAGLE type connector for power IN and 5A or 8A power OUT ports allow you to it allows you to create your own cables to 12V power, through EAGLE, various instruments such as mounts, CCD cameras and other astro photography accessories. Included in the package you find instructions to proper cable heading.
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Focusers
SESTOSENSO-TEMP
$25.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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This temperature sensor is compatible both with ECCO, the environmental computerized controller for EAGLE, and with SESTO SENSO and ESATTO, the robotic focusing solutions for telescopes. When used with ECCO, this temperature sensor allow it to record optics temperature for automatic power management of dew heaters connected to the EAGLE.
When used with…
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ECCO
ECCOSUP-PL
$19.00
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The “Guide rings support plate for ECCO” allows you to install the “60mm CompactGuide scope with PLUS 80mm guide rings” (PLLCG60) on the ECCO on a standard Vixen style finder shoe. This way you can use the guide scope with an autoguide camera or also with an eyepiece as an optical finder.
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Spare parts
PL3600087
$25.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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These WiFi antennas can be connected to the EAGLE control units, by using the sma connectors that are present on the EAGLE chassis. These antennas are included in the EAGLE’s box and they provide 2 dBi gain.
Compatible with all the EAGLE models, 2 antennas included in every set.
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000055
$39.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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The Eagle control unit can directly power supply accessories with power cord with cigarette plug. We build appropriate 12V power supply cables with various lengths. The Eagle-compatible power cables have on a side the jack (for 12V power supply, maximum current 8A) of the instrument they are designed for. On the other side they have the plug with…
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EAGLE
EAGLE5PRO
$2,195.00
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EAGLE5 PRO is the computer for telescopes and astrophotography that provides desktop class performance thanks to fast i5 processor, Industrial Grade 16 GB fast DDR4 memory, large and quick 500 GB SSD drive Industrial Grade (NVMe), added connectivity – now with 10 USB ports (1 x Thunderbolt 3 with USB-C type connector, 1 x Thunderbolt 4 with USB-C type.
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Spare parts
PL3600088
$65.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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This GPS antenna is included with every EAGLE4, EAGLE4 S and EAGLE4 PRO. This GPS antenna is not compatible with other and/or previous versions of the EAGLE control units.
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000019
$39.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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The Eagle control unit can directly power supply accessories with power cord with cigarette plug. We build appropriate 12V power supply cables with various lengths. The Eagle-compatible power cables have on a side the jack (for 12V power supply, maximum current 3A) of the instrument they are designed for.
On the other side they have the plug with screw to…
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EAGLE
EAGLE5XTM
$2,995.00
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EAGLE5 XTM is our most powerful computer ever for telescopes and astrophotography with blazing-fast AMD Ryzen 3 5400U processor, Industrial Grade 32 GB fast DDR4 memory, and huge Industrial Grade 2TB SSD drive (NVMe). Thanks to dual LAN port, 10 USB ports (4x high speed USB 3.2 ports plus 6x USB 2.0 ports), new Inclinometer and Motion Detector sensors,…
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EAGLE-type power cables
PL1000018
$39.00
We do not ship PrimaLuceLab products to UK or USA, you can order to one of our UK or USA dealers.
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The Eagle control unit can directly power supply SBIG STT and STF CCD camera.
We build appropriate 12V power supply cables with various lengths. The Eagle-compatible power cables have on a side the jack (for 12V power supply) of the instrument they are designed for. On the other side they have the 8A plug with screw to prevent being disconnected…
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Telescope | History, Types, & Facts
Keck Observatory
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Category:
Science & Tech
- Key People:
-
Lewis Morris Rutherfurd
Giuseppe Campani
- Related Topics:
-
Schmidt telescope
Keplerian telescope
Galilean telescope
Schmidt-Maksutov telescope
photographic zenith tube
See all related content →
telescope, device used to form magnified images of distant objects.
The telescope is undoubtedly the most important investigative tool in astronomy. It provides a means of collecting and analyzing radiation from celestial objects, even those in the far reaches of the universe.
Galileo revolutionized astronomy when he applied the telescope to the study of extraterrestrial bodies in the early 17th century. Until then, magnification instruments had never been used for this purpose. Since Galileo’s pioneering work, increasingly more powerful optical telescopes have been developed, as has a wide array of instruments capable of detecting and measuring radiation in every region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Observational capability has been further enhanced by the invention of various kinds of auxiliary instruments (e.g., the camera, spectrograph, and charge-coupled device) and by the use of electronic computers, rockets, and spacecraft in conjunction with telescope systems. These developments have contributed dramatically to advances in scientific knowledge about the solar system, the Milky Way Galaxy, and the universe as a whole.
This article describes the operating principles and historical development of optical telescopes. For explanation of instruments that operate in other portions of the electromagnetic spectrum, see radio telescope; X-ray telescope; and gamma-ray telescope.
Commonly known as refractors, telescopes of this kind are typically used to examine the Moon, other objects of the solar system such as Jupiter and Mars, and binary stars. The name refractor is derived from the term refraction, which is the bending of light when it passes from one medium to another of different density—e.g., from air to glass. The glass is referred to as a lens and may have one or more components. The physical shape of the components may be convex, concave, or plane-parallel. This diagram illustrates the principle of refraction and the term focal length. The focus is the point, or plane, at which light rays from infinity converge after passing through a lens and traveling a distance of one focal length.
In a refractor the first lens through which light from a celestial object passes is called the objective lens. It should be noted that the light will be inverted at the focal plane. A second lens, referred to as the eyepiece lens, is placed behind the focal plane and enables the observer to view the enlarged, or magnified, image. Thus, the simplest form of refractor consists of an objective and an eyepiece, as illustrated in the diagram.
Britannica Quiz
All About Astronomy
The diameter of the objective is referred to as the aperture; it typically ranges from a few centimetres for small spotting telescopes up to one metre for the largest refractor in existence. The objective, as well as the eyepiece, may have several components. Small spotting telescopes may contain an extra lens behind the eyepiece to erect the image so that it does not appear upside-down. When an object is viewed with a refractor, the image may not appear sharply defined, or it may even have a predominant colour in it.
Such distortions, or aberrations, are sometimes introduced when the lens is polished into its design shape. The major kind of distortion in a refractor is chromatic aberration, which is the failure of the differently coloured light rays to come to a common focus. Chromatic aberration can be minimized by adding components to the objective. In lens-design technology, the coefficients of expansion of different kinds of glass are carefully matched to minimize the aberrations that result from temperature changes of the telescope at night.
Eyepieces, which are used with both refractors and reflectors (see below Reflecting telescopes), have a wide variety of applications and provide observers with the ability to select the magnification of their instruments. The magnification, sometimes referred to as magnifying power, is determined by dividing the focal length of the objective by the focal length of the eyepiece. For example, if the objective has a focal length of 254 cm (100 inches) and the eyepiece has a focal length of 2.
54 cm (1 inch), then the magnification will be 100. Large magnifications are very useful for observing the Moon and the planets. However, since stars appear as point sources owing to their great distances, magnification provides no additional advantage when viewing them. Another important factor that one must take into consideration when attempting to view at high magnification is the stability of the telescope mounting. Any vibration in the mounting will also be magnified and may severely reduce the quality of the observed image. Thus, great care is usually taken to provide a stable platform for the telescope. This problem should not be associated with that of atmospheric seeing, which may introduce a disturbance to the image because of fluctuating air currents in the path of the light from a celestial or terrestrial object. Generally, most of the seeing disturbance arises in the first 30 metres (100 feet) of air above the telescope. Large telescopes are frequently installed on mountain peaks in order to get above the seeing disturbances.
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Did you connect the telescope to the computer? / Habr
Having stumbled upon an old habrapost about connecting a microscope to a computer, I decided to expand the horizons of the public and write that connecting a telescope to a computer can be much more interesting than counting microbes. And if you are a fan of astronomy or Star Wars, then you are either already familiar with this opportunity, or you will be very happy with it. So I decided to try and tell about my experience in this area.
Continuing the topic of “expanding the horizons” of the habrapublic, and I have already done this by writing about electronic transmissions on bicycles and electronic plugs, I will write about the Telescope + Computer connection.
So – after reading articles about astrophotography at the AstroScope Laboratory, I caught fire to connect my Celestron NexStar 5 SE telescope to a computer.
It turned out with the help of an adapter from the COM port to USB.
I also borrowed from a friend for a week a specialized camera for astrophotography of the planets of the solar system Celestron NexImage, which is also connected to a computer via USB.
Even sitting on the balcony (fifth floor of Khrushchev) with a laptop in the conditions of Kharkov with all its dust, opacity of the sky and a lot of light, I managed to take pretty good pictures of the Moon (although of course I’m not Hubble – you need to remember this).
Although I have been observing through my telescope for quite a long time, I am an absolute beginner in astrophotography, but at the same time I managed to quickly figure out the video capture program from the NexImage camera and process the video clip in order to add frames in the Registax program.
In the near future, I’m planning to start dealing with more complex shooting of nebulae and galaxies.
A generally affordable telescope with a computerized mount and a Go-To homing system can be easily connected to any computer using a COM port or USB.
Through the planetarium program, you can make observations by simply selecting the object of interest with the mouse cursor and, thereby, pointing the telescope at it.
By installing a camera on the telescope, you don’t even have to look into the eyepiece, using a fairly simple and affordable software, you can take your own pictures of objects in the starry sky. In addition, the chips of modern CCD cameras have a much higher sensitivity than human vision, thereby revealing details on objects as far away as galaxies and diffuse nebulae that are simply inaccessible to human vision
A quite good Go-To telescope can be purchased at In the price range from $350 to $1000, of course, there are more powerful and expensive models, but for the purposes of astronomical observations with a computer, an instrument that fits into the mentioned budget is enough. If desired, you can even provide remote access to the telescope using Wi-Fi. Thus, when shooting the incredible beauty of the winter sky, you will not have to freeze with a computer on the street, but you will be able to control the telescope installed in the yard from a warm house.
My friends who got me hooked on astronomy are quite experienced lovers of astronomy and astrophotography, even with relatively inexpensive equipment, achieve amazing results, taking incredibly beautiful and very detailed photos of star clusters, distant galaxies and nebulae, as well as the Moon and planets of the solar system .
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3DNews Technologies and IT market. NASA can’t fix Hubble’s third failure… The most interesting in the reviews
06/28/2021 [19:43], Nikolai Khizhnyak NASA engineers were unable to repair the failed main computer of the Hubble Space Telescope. For more than two weeks, experts have been looking for the cause of the problem and even tried to start the telescope’s spare computer, but this did not lead to a solution to the problem.
The Hubble Space Telescope is equipped with two on-board computers. One of them was originally installed on the telescope and has been functioning since the launch of the device into space in 1990. The second computer was installed as part of the last maintenance of the space telescope in 2009. Both systems were built in 1980. However, the second one has not been used since its installation on the telescope and was first launched only during tests conducted on June 23–24, 2021. NASA specialists tried to transfer the load from the telescope’s main computer to a spare one, but failed. The spare computer encountered the same error as the main one, so the cause of the failure of the onboard system is most likely hiding elsewhere, according to NASA. Both computers of the telescope consist of different hardware, which is responsible, for example, for processing and storing operating commands, coordinating and controlling scientific instruments, and also for the interaction of various components of the telescope with each other. NASA engineers are currently checking other equipment that could be the possible cause of the failure. Suspicion falls on the Command Unit / Science Data Formatter (CU / SDF) block – a module responsible for formatting and transmitting data, as well as a power regulator that ensures uninterrupted current supply to the telescope’s computer equipment. NASA notes: if the voltage goes beyond the available limits, then this can cause the problems that are now observed with on-board computers. Whatever the source of the problem turns out to be, the US space agency has the ability to turn off the main power regulator and the CU / SDF module and redistribute the load from them to spare elements.
The Hubble Telescope entered a safe or hibernation mode after its main on-board computer stopped responding on June 13th. This is not the first time Hubble has had problems in orbit. From 1993 to 2009, NASA conducted a total of five manned telescope maintenance missions. The aging space observatory periodically encounters hardware and software bugs. The last time the telescope crashed was in March of this year, following the installation of an updated code that was supposed to fix the problem of a non-working gyroscope. Source:
If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL+ENTER. |
Tests conducted on June 23rd and 24th showed that in various combinations of work, all these elements encounter the same error, in which commands for writing and reading from computer memory are not executed. 
Since then, NASA experts have been looking for the source of the problem and trying to get the telescope back into operation. After several unsuccessful attempts to reboot the computer on June 14, the space agency made several attempts on June 16 and 17 to switch to the telescope’s spare memory modules. However, this did not help. Then, on June 22, NASA tested the vehicle’s Standard Interface (STINT) as well as the Central Processing Module (CPM). 