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Kinda wild you can just order an astronomy laser
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this post was submitted on 29 May 2026
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Chapotraphouse
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but like.. how does that work?
By shooting the frickin' North Star with frickin' lasers
Through geometry, you can make an equatorial mount rotate at the same speed as all stars in the sky, which is the Earth's sidereal rotation rate. If you align the mount to the axis of Earth's rotation, it'll do so in parallel with the stars so any camera mounted will be able to get long exposures without blurring due to relative motion.
You can pin down the axis of rotation with some trigonometry but you can also do it quick and dirty by sticking a laser on the mount's rotational axis and pointing it more or less at Polaris or the Southern Cross if you're on the south side of the equator. If you've got a fancier telescope you'll just type in your coordinates and it'll automatically align.
ok i was thinking like it's relying on the laser reflecting back.. but its just following the path of the laser right? i've got the dumb
Yeah you just point it until it points mostly at Polaris
Lol that was exactly my thought too, and that's why I asked the question.