Pulsar Observatories Dome Rotation Solution with TheSky

Here we present a bespoke dome rotation system created for a Pulsar Observatory dome. This was developed to give automatic dome tracking and slewing slaved to the mount when under control of TheSky software. Manual adjustments of the dome aperture is a cumbersome mode of operation but no off-the-shelf solution exists for slaving the dome to the computer.

Main features include:

• Qiuet operation with direct drive stepper motors. No gears.
• No encoders or optical home sensors required
• Independent client application for flexible control
• Can be used as a ASCOM driver
• Fast slews (several degrees per second) follows mount GOTOs
• Slow tracking keeps dome aperture within 5cm of required position.

The solution consists of direct drive stepper motors mounted on the moving part of the dome which connect to a PC via USB.