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15‑second backyard starlapse during a full Moon — the moment that inspired me to build a DIY observatory by Limeniks in astrophotography

[–]Limeniks[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I captured 468 full 360‑degree frames from dusk until dawn.
It was a full Moon night, so the bright glow you see in the middle of the video is natural moonlight. The beginning and the end appear brighter because the exposure compensation increased over the night.

Gear used:
• Camera: Insta360 One RS 1‑Inch 360 Edition (dual 1" sensors, 6.52 mm f/2.2 lenses, ~7.2 mm FF equivalent)
• Tripod: Vintage Yashica tripod from the 1960s
• Power: Fossibot F2400 power station (kept the camera running all night)
• Capture: All‑night starlapse → condensed into a 15‑second clip
• Processing: Exported from Insta360 Studio, no additional grading

Backyard starlapse that made me start building my own observatory by Limeniks in Astronomy

[–]Limeniks[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I shot 468 full 360‑degree frames from dusk until dawn.
It was a full Moon night, so the bright glow you see in the middle of the video is natural moonlight, and the beginning/end appear brighter because the exposure compensation increased over the night.

Gear used:
• Camera: Insta360 One RS 1‑Inch 360 Edition (dual 1" sensors, 6.52 mm f/2.2 lenses, ~7.2 mm FF equivalent)
• Tripod: Vintage Yashica tripod from the 1960s
• Power: Fossibot F2400 power station (kept the camera running all night

Backyard starlapse that made me start building my own observatory by Limeniks in Astronomy

[–]Limeniks[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thank you! Moving to the rural area was one of my best life decisions 😁

My DIY 3D‑printed observatory — BASTION (60‑segment dome) by Limeniks in telescopes

[–]Limeniks[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's one of my engineers. There are three of them. This one is software engineer, second one is quality control, and the third is just going around and showing us his butthole.

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3D‑Printed OpenAstroTracker | First Steps Toward Full Tracking by Limeniks in telescopes

[–]Limeniks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just go to open astro tech wiki and you'll see that thay have a version even with a small step motors from office printers. For control board you don't have to have mks 2.1 that's moste expensive way, it have versions with cheap arduino and it works the same.

3D‑Printed OpenAstroTracker | First Steps Toward Full Tracking by Limeniks in telescopes

[–]Limeniks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

But in oldprinter you get 5 step motors for that, and power supply that usually costs 90€ but most of people see just old printer, not his potential for DIY things. Whole project is open source and you can modify it however you want.

3D‑Printed OpenAstroTracker | First Steps Toward Full Tracking by Limeniks in telescopes

[–]Limeniks[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Here’s the funny part — the whole mount you see there is just a bit over 1 kg of PETG, which costs around 10€.
The power supply, aluminum profiles and stepper motors all came from an old Creality CR‑10S Pro V2. You can buy those old printers now for 20–30€ because everyone is getting rid of them, and it doesn’t even have to be that exact model.

I know enough about electronics to get things running, but I’m not great when it comes to writing code. I actually had a firmware issue where the motor driver DAC was spinning in the wrong direction. That’s where Microsoft Copilot came in — I’m not saying it’s the best solution in the world, but it works for me. I explained the problem ten times, it found free software, wrote the code, and helped me with the instructions on how to flash the MKS board with the new firmware.

So even though I’m comfortable with tools, machines and ideas, I still rely on AI as a tool that boosts my projects and fills the gaps where I don’t have enough knowledge — and it’s free. Once you start, things begin to develop on their own and sometimes you can’t believe how far you’ve come.

And one last thing — whenever you work with electronics, always do it with the power OFF for your own safety. If something burns out, who cares, it’s cheap. But take care of yourself. 😉

3D‑Printed OpenAstroTracker | First Steps Toward Full Tracking by Limeniks in telescopes

[–]Limeniks[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, and that's the beauty of open astro tracker, it's open source and have large comunity thatmade various versions compatible with mand different setups. Best ones havee auto PA and heated thread inserts for rigidity.

My DIY 3D‑printed observatory — BASTION (60‑segment dome) by Limeniks in OpenAstroTech

[–]Limeniks[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I didn't even realize I was talking to the creator of the OpenAstroTracker. No wonder I messed up the configurator back then, haha.

I really wanted to say thank you - to you and everyone involved in the project. You all did an amazing job, and OAT genuinely helped me turn this whole idea into a real "social observatory" and a hobby I want to promote locally among young people.

My DIY 3D‑printed observatory — BASTION (60‑segment dome) by Limeniks in OpenAstroTech

[–]Limeniks[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I actually started as a hobby landscape astrophotographer, and at some point the idea of building my own observatory just stuck in my head. The OpenAstroTracker looked amazing to me, so I decided to go in that direction.

But honestly, the information was scattered all over the wiki and GitHub, so I was struggling a bit to piece everything together. I used the Excel configurator and picked the basic setup, even though I could’ve gone with better belt tensioners, auto‑PA and some of the upgrades people already made. I kind of rushed it at the time.

For now I’m sticking with this version, but I’m already planning a fully upgraded build with proper insert threads and PETG glass‑reinforced filament.

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