Summary: In this project, we will combine an ultrasonic distance sensor with a servo with a little processing code to make a small, desktop sonar sensor to map objects around us. There are a number of similar projects like this posted online, but most of the ones I have tried do not work out of the box. This one will. Overview There are five parts to this project: Evaluating the sonar sensor Evaluating the servo…
Category: Saturday Afternoon Projects
Observing Log, UCAO Friday Aug 30, 2019
I spent a few hours at the UCAO with Aiden and George Allman. Skies cleared around 9 pm and we got 2 hours of good viewing before we called it quits. Sky viewing quality was not great. After the storms passed, there was still a lot of turbulence in the atmosphere and some haze. We could see the lightning flashes from the storm to the west echoing across the whole sky from the residual…
A spectacular double rainbow
I first learned about the physics of rainbows in 8.03, sophomore physics, which I took from Walter Lewin. I have never looked at rainbows the same way since. You can watch Prof Lewin’s complete 8.03 lectures on YouTube here. Rainbows are based on dispersion, that the speed of light in water depends on its frequency or wavelength. Dispersion and internal reflection contribute to the very specific set of conditions to see a rainbow. The ray…
A simple “no-wiring required” temperature measurement, posted Aug 15, 2019
Read my complete blog post on the SparkFun site here, published on Aug 15, 2019. I teach Arduino workshops at Tinkermill, our local maker space, to members from 8 years old to 80 years old. Some in my workshop are retired electrical engineers with 50 years of experience and some aren’t sure which end of a soldering iron to use. I find one of the most confusing activities for my students new to Arduinos, electronics…
First light at UCAO for 2019
I first began observing at the University of Colorado Alpine Observatory (UCAO) in 2013. It is an observatory, located at the Mountain Research Station about 7 miles north of Nederland, CO. Prof Alan Kiplinger is the founder and observatory director, shown here next to the Meade LX200 12-inch telescope. During 2017-2018, I was too busy to do any observing. I just started visiting the observatory again on Aug 2, 2019. By attaching my Canon D60a…
Attaching a DSLR camera to a telescope
The first step in taking astrophotographs is connecting your camera to the telescope. I have a Celestron Nexstar Evolution C6 and a Canon D60a. The telescope has a 2-inch connection at the bottom of the optical tube at prime focus. The connections between this aperture and camera is with two pieces, both available on Amazon. The first piece is what connects to the base of the telescope. This is the one I use for my…
Jango is my favorite free internet radio station
My favorite internet radio station is Jango. In addition to being able to select specific styles, and it finds selections and plays them, there are no commercials and its completely free. What is a radio station doing in my astronomy column? And why did I even list it as one of my favorite free software tools? When I am outside at night observing, with just me, my telescope and the clear night sky, what could…
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Windows 10 app: Astronomy Picture of the Day (APOD) With APOD, I get a new astronomy picture set as the background to my desktop, updated every day. And it’s all automatic. Download the windows app from here. I love astronomy and love looking at pictures of galaxies, nebula and even planets. With this app that works in the background, my desktop background is updated to the latest picture in NASA’s Astronomy picture of the day.…