Re: [ATM] RE: Tracking Systems for Astrophotography

[Michael Lindner <mikell@optonline.net>]

On Thursday 23 September 2004 02:22 pm, lou krajci wrote:
> From: artbianconi@blast.net
>You can, for a modest amount, equip even the most mundane of
>todays small aircraft, with a  2 or 3 axis autopilot that will
>track the aircraft to a given destination across 3D space, while
>maintaining a preset altitude...We do that sort of thing every day
>and have done so with remarkable precision even before the advent
>of Global Positioning Satellites.

To give some perspective, to have 1/4 arcsecond precision in your flight would 
mean in a coast-coast trip the plane would at no point deviate more than 
about 12 feet in any direction from the "perfect" flight path. In addition, 
the plane (nose-tail) could not flex more than about 0.0005" in any 
direction.  Are you saying a plane can achieve that? And of course, the start 
and destination points are not moving relative to one another, as they are in 
astrophotography.

It's fine to ask questions (please do), but if you want to argue that everyone 
else is misguided (pun intended), you should read something on the subject to 
at least learn what has been done in the field.

-- 
Michael Lindner
http://www.starastronomy.org *** http://home.att.net/~mikel
http://www.atmsite.org *** http://www.atmlist.net

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