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The Spark
Early Orion Nebula capture
A few years back, I developed an interest in astrophotography thanks to YouTubers like Nebula Photos. Armed with an OM System OM-5 and a 15-140mm Olympus lens, I managed some decent shots of the Orion Nebula from a tripod by taking 300 pictures with a 2-second exposure time and stacking them in Siril.
Knowing I could achieve better results with tracking, I bought a Move Shoot Move tracker for around €200. It delivered longer exposures, but finding targets and achieving proper polar alignment remained challenging. I spent countless hours researching proper telescope mounts with GOTO and tracking capabilities, coming close to pulling the trigger on units ranging from €1,200 to €4,000. For a hobby I was still exploring, that investment always felt like a leap too far.
The PCB Awakening
Late 2024 I randomly came across this YouTube video about custom PCB design in my feed, and I was hooked immediately.
With a decent collection of microcontroller boards, the idea of ditching messy breadboards for clean, custom, affordable PCBs was revelatory. My first project replaced my home thermostat with an ESP32-based design with e-paper display, interlocking finger patterns for the original carbon rubber dome switches and space for a Bosch BME680 sensor breakout.
After completing that project, I revisited the telescope mount idea - this time armed with newfound PCB design skills. The question emerged: "How hard can it be?"
Down the Research Rabbit Hole
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