On Saturday nights, if the sky is clear, there is always a star party going on at Starizona. Their store is located near a shopping mall on one of the busiest streets in town, so the skies are certainly not ideal for observing, but there are usually many scopes and a lot of interested amateurs.
Last night they had a special visitor from California. The picture above shows a GMC Envoy that has been set up with a robotic Celestron 11" SCT in the back end. It only takes a few minutes to raise it on a lift, and a CCD camera outputs to a huge LCD screen that is hung on the side of the vehicle. They also have a wireless computer system and plenty of battery power. The vehicle is stablized with jacks underneath. A wireless X-Box controller is used to point the telescope!
What an innovative solution to the lengthy, back-breaking process that is usually involved with getting everything packed up and then unpacked and set up at a star party! It's also an excellent way to show off those deep space objects to a group of guests at a public showing.
It's obvious that I was impressed, this is a fine example of amateur ingenuity. I suspect we will be seeing this type of "portable observatory" more often at star parties in the future!
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