Abstract: Method and apparatus are provided for a hand-held planetarium which displays a sky pattern comprising graphical representations of celestial objects. A sensing system comprising sensors provides information about an orientation of the device. A controller receives such information and determines an altitude angle of a pointing axis and an azimuthal angle of the pointing axis. The controller accesses a database of celestial objects and determines celestial objects for display based at least in part on a measure of proximity of the celestial objects to the pointing axis. Graphical representations of the celestial objects are displayed on a screen. Additional information for the celestial objects is displayed on the screen over a plurality of display slices. Based at least in part on sensed orientation information, the orientation of a motorized telescope is controlled so that the celestial objects displayed on the screen come within the telescope's field of view.

Abstract: Method and apparatus are provided for a hand-held planetarium which displays a sky pattern comprising graphical representations of one or more celestial objects. A sensing system comprising one or more sensors provides information about an orientation of the device. A controller receives the information about the orientation of the device from the sensing system and determines therefrom an altitude angle of a pointing axis and an azimuthal angle of the pointing axis. The controller accesses a database of celestial objects and determines, from within the database, one or more selected celestial objects for display based at least in part on a measure of proximity of the celestial objects to the pointing axis. Graphical representations of the one or more selected celestial objects are displayed on a display screen. The planetarium may switch between a normal orientation mode and a downward facing orientation mode.

Abstract: An optical imaging system incorporates a beam splitter, which is moveable to a beam-splitting position where the beam splitter intercepts the light on an input optical path and a non-beam-splitting position where the beam splitter is located outside of the input optical path. The beam splitter includes a body penetrated by an aperture and a reflective surface surrounding the aperture. When the beam splitter is located in the beam-splitting position, a portion of the light in the optical path is transmitted through the aperture and a portion of the light in the optical path is reflected from the reflective surface.

Abstract: A manual controller commands a telescope mount to automatically track a specific bright star after the image of the star is located to center of an electronic eyepiece and a timer is started. The average moving speed of the bright star is calculated after a predetermined elapsed time to acquire the right ascension (RA) and the declination (DEC) coordinates of this bright star. Subsequently, the RA and DEC coordinates are compared with pre-stored data contained within a database used to identify the bright star. The celestial sphere coordinates of the telescope can be determined after a minimum of one bright star is identified. In the auto-tracking procedure, the manual controller controls movement of telescope by feedbacks of the drifting speed and direction of the specific bright star in an electronic eyepiece for the purpose of keeping the specific bright star in the center of the electronic eyepiece.

Abstract: The present invention provides a way to measure the position of an instrument that is mounted on an instrument shaft within a clutched mounting system, the instrument shaft being driven through a reduction gearbox by a motor shaft. The position of the instrument is measured as a function of the position of the motor shaft and the position of the instrument shaft, the measurement of the position of the motor shaft providing greater precision than the position of the instrument shaft. Because the mounting system is clutched, it is necessary to check at intervals whether the measurement of the motor shaft position no longer accurately represents the position of the instrument, in which case the measurement of the motor shaft position is resynchronized to the measurement of the instrument shaft.

Abstract: The present invention relates to optical components for reversing and inverting images, and to methods of manufacturing them accurately, robustly and cost-effectively. The method includes optical contact bonding a first optical element and a second optical element and adhesively bonding the first optical element and the second optical element. Adhesively bonding might include forming a notch into the second optical element and depositing a bead of adhesive into the notch, such that the adhesive adheres to both the notch and the first optical element.

Abstract: An optical imaging system comprises an input optical system, which collects light from a scene and directs the light onto an input optical path. The optical imaging system also comprises a beam splitter, which is moveable to a beam-splitting position where the beam splitter intercepts the light on the input optical path and a non-beam-splitting position where the beam splitter is located outside of the input optical path. The beam splitter comprises a body penetrated by an aperture and a reflective surface surrounding the aperture. When the beam splitter is located in the beam-splitting position, a portion of the light in the optical path is transmitted through the aperture and a portion of the light in the optical path is reflected from the reflective surface. Both the reflected portion of the light and the transmitted portion of the light are capable of reproducing images of the scene at their respective focal points.

Abstract: One aspect of the invention provides a method for calibrating an alt-az telescope system with a latitude of an observer location. The telescope system comprises a telescope tube mounted for pivotal motion about altitude and azimuthal axes and a latitude indicator coupled to a corresponding one of the altitude and azimuthal axes. The latitude indicator indicates a latitude value which varies with movement of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis. The method involves obtaining encoder information indicative of a first angular position of the telescope tube about the corresponding axis, wherein at the first angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a first latitude value. The orientation of the telescope tube is then adjusted to a second angular position, wherein at the second angular position, the latitude indicator indicates a second latitude value that differs from the first latitude value by an amount corresponding to the observer latitude.