{"id":1943,"date":"2016-08-08T15:04:49","date_gmt":"2016-08-08T12:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/?p=1943"},"modified":"2016-08-08T15:09:30","modified_gmt":"2016-08-08T12:09:30","slug":"challenge-how-to-estimate-angles-for-objects-in-the-sky","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/?p=1943","title":{"rendered":"Challenge: How to estimate angles for objects in the sky"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m novice when it comes to looking planets via telescope. Well, I actually would like to take decent photos but have realised that it is not as easy as it sounds&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>One of the basic skills when searching planets, or other objects in the sky, is to estimate the angles. There are several tips for estimating small angles<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/lcogt.net\/spacebook\/using-angles-describe-positions-and-apparent-sizes-objects\/\">Positions and Sizes of Cosmic Objects<\/a> in space book<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/oneminuteastronomer.com\/860\/measuring-sky\/\">Measuring The Sky in One-Minute Astronomer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeanddate.com\/astronomy\/measuring-the-sky-by-hand.html\">A Handy Guide to Measuring the Sky<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But how about if you are a beginner, and want to compare what-is-what, and would like to compare what you found with the <a href=\"http:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/?p=933\">Stellarium<\/a>, then how would you estimate the current location of the object?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Challenge:<\/strong> How would you estimate the current location of the object (ie. angles)?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Solution:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Make a device that measures <u>horizontal<\/u> angle deviation from South (or West, North, East), and <u>vertical<\/u> angle deviation from horizon.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>To find South, one can use the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.compassdude.com\/no-compass.php\">shadow method<\/a>, or maps. (ie. not counting on compass).<\/li>\n<li>To find horizon, when you cannot see it, one can use <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Spirit_level\">spirit level<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The idea of the solution is shown below.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Angle-device\" src=\"http:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/angle-device.png\" width=\"456\" height=\"295\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The implementation of the solution is made by using <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Truss_connector_plate\">nailing plates<\/a> (metal angle brackets) for the frame. Solution is shown in the photo below. <u>No tools<\/u> were used when constructing this device. The angle scale reading plate is taken from <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Protractor\">protractor<\/a>. All the material was found in a local hardware store.<\/p>\n<p>Photo on left. Getting protractor readings 0-position:pointing to south, and using spirit level.<br \/>\nPhoto on right. The target is found via the top-left holes in the angle bracket.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Angle-device-implementation1\" src=\"http:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/angle-device-implementation1.png\" width=\"275\" height=\"463\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Angle-device-implementation2\" src=\"http:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/angle-device-implementation2.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"469\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Improvements are needed<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There are several improvements ideas for this. For example, I was not able to fix the reading &#8220;0&#8221; of protractors, so one need to substract the angles in order to get reading. And that is a little complicated, see photo below. Well, you can make your version a better one. Another improvement is needed in the target viewing, but this works for now&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Angle-device-implementation4\" src=\"http:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/angle-device-implementation4.png\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" \/><\/p>\n<p>See also<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Inclinometer\">Inclinometer<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Tiltmeter\">Tiltmeter<\/a><\/li>\n<li>android applications for something similar<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m novice when it comes to looking planets via telescope. Well, I actually would like to take decent photos but have realised that it is not as easy as it sounds&#8230; One of the basic skills when searching planets, or &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/?p=1943\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[68,74,67,34,51,10,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1943"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1944,"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1943\/revisions\/1944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saisa.eu\/blogs\/Guidance\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}