DIY Electronic Eyepiece for CDK20 Telescope at Robert-Mayer-Sternwarte

This is my third creation of electronic eyepiece system for observing deep-sky objects. The device was custom-developed and built for the Robert-Mayer-Sternwarte astronomy club in Heilbronn, Germany, with the main goal: to preserve the feeling of looking through a real telescope while making faint deep-sky objects such as galaxies and nebulae visible in color — even from the middle of the city. The system combines the enormous light-gathering power of a 50 cm CDK20 telescope, a modern full-frame astronomy camera with an optical reducer, and electronic eyepiece display. Image processing is performed on an external PC using own custom-written, highly optimized, ultra-fast EAA (Electronically Assisted Astronomy) software. Thanks to this combination, most objects begin to appear in the eyepiece almost immediately and develop into a detailed color image within well under a minute of live stacking. The electronic eyepiece creates a very different observing experience compared with looking at a normal computer screen. The image is presented optically at infinity, similar to a conventional telescope eyepiece, so the object appears large, distant, and suspended in space. It gives the impression of actually looking into the telescope rather than watching an image on a monitor. One of the most rewarding parts of this project is seeing the reactions of astronomy club members and visitors during public observing events. Many deep-sky objects that are extremely faint or practically invisible through a traditional eyepiece under city skies suddenly become clearly visible in color. Although this version was designed specifically for our CDK20, the electronic eyepiece itself should work with many telescopes equipped with a 2-inch focuser and sufficient image-circle coverage for a full-frame sensor. The entire project is open source and free for anyone who would like to build their own electronic eyepiece. GitHub project: https://github.com/andriymelnykov/Ele... Discussion: https://www.cloudynights.com/forums/t...