![]() Adding Bluetooth communication to the Windows machine required purchasing a small Bluetooth adapter, or "dongle." Such an adapter plugs into a computer's USB port, acting as a transmitter and receiver. You wouldn't want someone else's laptop suddenly taking control of your telescope at a star party! The pairing process takes place when you first install the BlueStar software and need not be touched after that.įor testing, I used a late-model G4 Mac laptop (not an Intel machine) that had Bluetooth built in, and a three-year-old Sony Windows-based laptop that did not. A quirky name to be sure, but it's catchier than 802.11.Īs with any Bluetooth device, such as a cell phone or wireless headset, the BlueStar must be paired with your specific computer so that only your computer will recognize your BlueStar. It was the code word for the mid-1990s project at the Swedish firm Ericsson to develop a short-range wireless communication system. And in case you're wondering, "Bluetooth" is the nickname of Harald Blatand, a 10th-century Viking king. ![]() Most computers now have WI-F! capability (also known as 802.11 or, on Macs, Airport) built in, but not necessarily Bluetooth. Bluetooth is good for a range of about 30 feet (9 meters), a figure I was able to confirm with the BlueStar.īluetooth is not the same as WI-Fl, the technology behind wireless computer networks. The BlueStar communicates via a low-power, 2.4-gigahertz radio link called Bluetooth, a protocol invented to allow electronic devices to talk to each other over a short distance (see for all the techy details). And now, thanks to the BlueStar, this can happen without any worry of a connecting cable wrapping around the spinning scope. Click on an object anywhere on the star chart, and off the scope goes to find it. You typically see a star chart showing where in the sky your scope is pointed and what other objects of interest might be nearby. Operating a telescope with planetarium software on a computer, rather than the telescope's hand controller, gives you more information. It allows a computer to control a Go To telescope through a wireless connection. And the Starry Night BlueStar Telescope Adapter from Orion Telescopes & Binoculars promises to do just that. I don't know how it happens, but I think it's evidence that string theory must be correct.Īs far as I'm concerned, anything that eliminates wires and cables at the telescope is a technological advance of the highest order. ![]() A corollary is that even one wire will get tangled with itself. The entanglement principle is truer if it is dark. THERE'S A LAW of the universe that says two wires anywhere near each other will get tangled. APA style: The Starry Night BlueStar Telescope Adapter: this nifty device allows you to control a go to telescope with a computer via a wireless connection.No annoying cables to tangle." Retrieved from The Starry Night BlueStar Telescope Adapter: this nifty device allows you to control a go to telescope with a computer via a wireless connection. ![]() No annoying cables to tangle." The Free Library. MLA style: "The Starry Night BlueStar Telescope Adapter: this nifty device allows you to control a go to telescope with a computer via a wireless connection.
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