
DIY Exoplanet Detection with a DSLR - privong
http://spectrum.ieee.org/geek-life/hands-on/diy-exoplanet-detector
======
BrandonMarc
This is promising. Obviously, it's easier to use this method to detect a known
exoplanet (one that is big, with frequent transits, across a bright star)
rather than detect a new exoplanet (even a big one with frequent transits
across a bright star) ... but it's promising all the same.

Especially since it's a proof of concept, and I suspect small hardware
upgrades would make it more effective (thus, more able to detect new
exoplanets, in the right conditions).

------
paulornothing
I found these instructions on how to make a barn-door tracker a little better.
[http://www.garyseronik.com/?q=node/52](http://www.garyseronik.com/?q=node/52)

I suppose the micro-controller is nice, but if you only need one speed why
bother.

Now I just need to get a DSLR instead of my Canon AE-1 Program.

~~~
ngokevin
You can just buy a Pentax DSLR which has a internally-moving sensor, and then
buy the Pentax GPS unit that acts as an astro-tracker. Then the sensor moves
with the stars according to GPS coordinates.

Also, if you're looking just for better image quality, a DSLR isn't anything
special. It's just a camera with a mirror. You can get any APS-C or larger-
frame sensor nowadays that aren't DSLRs.

~~~
paulornothing
You mean something like the mirror less offerings that Samsung and Sony have?

------
wyager
I did the same thing last week. We used a rotating telescope with a dslr on
the end. We also had a little gizmo that tracked arbitrary moving objects in
the night sky and told the telescope which direction to move so as to keep the
moving object in the same place.

Using 5-10 minute exposures, we were able to take the same kind of colorful
astronomical pictures you would expect to see in NatGeo. It was truly amazing.
You really don't pick up on the beautiful colours of the stars with the human
eye.

~~~
peckrob
Any details about the setup? I live in a suburb of a mid-sized city, but I can
be in pretty dark skies in an hour or so. This seems like something that would
be really neat to get into.

------
mmf
Not sure you need tracking for this: if you let the camera still, you should
obtain a stripe that will vary in luminosity as the planet passes, which
basically integrates the sampling point for you. (This of course is limited to
short period planets, and stars with sufficient luminosity to actually produce
a stripe)...

