Built with LEGO parts
Barn Door Tracker
A star tracker follows the apparent motion of stars during long exposures and enables cameras to capture more light per pixel. Paired with exposure scripting for small cameras, and processing techniques like stacking, the cost and weight for learning astrophotography could be reduced. This was my hypothesis. Can a lightweight tracker be built with LEGO parts?
Connecting non-LEGO parts
How to attach non-LEGO parts? The selected aluminum tubing is visually appealing, easy to cut, available in a variety of nestable diameters, and most importantly fits inside LEGO part holes and around LEGO axles. I have not done destructive load testing aside from regular use without issue. Your experience may vary.
Motorized crank
The motorized crank is optional and attaches to the bottom of the barn door tracker. The design may also retrofit a variety of existing barn doors. The combination of the isosceles geometry and my goal to not modify any LEGO part pushed me to a unique design solution. The LEGO turntable fits around the hand crank, allowing the barn door crank to travel through the middle of the turntable, while an arm on the outside of the turntable turns the hand crank. In addition, the motorized-crank assembly can disengage for an easy reset of the barn door tracker, and a small offset in the design allows for tension adjustment between the gears.
Link: Video 01: Tracker with motorized crank
Link: Video 02: The motorized crank only
Link: EV3 program
360 degree panoramas
The camera mount from the barn door tracker can be placed on the motorized crank for 360 degree panoramas. The gears have a 1:1 ratio. One full turn of the motor moves the turntable by exactly one tooth, so the motor does 56 full revolutions to move the turntable 360 degrees. I built three EV3 programs that move the turntable for various rotation times, all with a 10 second delay to match my camera. In the above photo you can see me simultaneously pressing both buttons.
Link: Video 03: 360 degree panoramas
Link: 360 panorama sample
Link: EV3 program
Bluetooth
Using an API available on CodePlex, I’ve previously authored an app to control an EV3 TRACK3R via Bluetooth smartphone. I plan to build a similar app to control the motorized crank. I’ve posted details in the links below. In the meanwhile, I use a rubber band to secure the EV3 Intelligent Brick to the tripod. Pressing the shutter and EV3 buttons simultaneously is easy to do with this configuration.
Link: StartProgram byte code on GitHub
Link: Related XAML and CS WPF files
Capture and process images
The above image of the Milky Way was captured using this barn door tracker and a low-cost camera hacked with CHDK. The camera’s built-in delay was used to take several two-minute exposures at 400 ISO. Using the side of my finger, I moved the barn door handle to match the hand of a clock. On the last exposure, my hand covered the lens to take a dark frame.
Notes
Using the tripod pan head to align the barn door tracker with Polaris while looking through the two sights is manually easy, but it requires visual patience. The sight beam automatically aligns with the hinge as designed. Tracking seems accurate enough for multiple wide field images taken over a period of several hours. Hand crank operation requires watching a timer. The motorized crank gives more time to look at the night sky, but with the addition of cost, motor noise, and batteries. I highly recommend taking dark frames at regular intervals, writing notes on exposure settings and durations, and occasionally checking Polaris alignment through the sights.
Building instructions. Materials. Software.
All LEGO parts I’ve used are available in the MINDSTORMS EV3 Home Edition kit, with the exception of the "4624645 Turntable 4.85" available on BrickLink for $1.25. If you just want to build the hand-crank barn door, you don’t need the entire EV3 kit. Try ordering individual pieces from LEGO Bricks & Pieces or BrickLink instead.
Link: Hand-crank instructions w/ parts list
Link: Motorized instructions w/ parts list
Link: Tracker Materials and Software
Link: Step-by-step Flickr photos
References
The center of the 10-32 stainless steel straight rod is located 7.14 inches from the center of the hinge. Reference: A Tracking Platform for Astrophotography, Gary Seronik, http://www.garyseronik.com/?q=node/52 (last visited Aug. 24, 2014).
While building, I realized an isosceles mount would be easy to do and nearly as accurate given the materials and process used here. Reference: Barn door tracker, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Barn_door_tracker (last visited Aug. 24, 2014).
The hand crank moves the 10-32 rod one revolution per minute. Multiple references suggest thinking of the handle like the second hand on a clock. The handle position should reflect how many seconds have passed during each minute of exposure.