METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MEASURING ANGULAR COORDINATES OF STARS Russian patent published in 2011 - IPC G01C21/24 G01B11/26 

FIELD: physics.

SUBSTANCE: method involves projection of an image of a section of the starry sky and calibration marks through a lens onto the photosensitive area of a photodetector, measurement of linear coordinates of centres of star images and linear coordinates of centres of images of calibration marks on the photosensitive area of the photodetector and converting linear coordinates of centres of star images into angular coordinates of stars in a basic instrument coordinate system taking into account measurement results of linear coordinates of centres of images of calibration marks. When projecting calibration marks and measuring linear coordinates of centres of their images, the signal accumulation time in the photodetector is set K times shorter than working on stars. The factor for shortening the accumulation time K and reducing illumination of images of calibration marks is selected such that, the signal at the output of the photodetector from the brightest working star is less than the signal from the calibration marks. Further, amplitude selection of signals of calibration marks based on the criterion for exceeding a preset threshold level is carried out. The device has a blind, a geometrical reference channel (GRC), a lens, a charge accumulation matrix photodetector whose photosensitive area lies in the focal plane of the lens, a ADC unit, a digital processing and control unit and a control unit for the matrix photodetector. The device also has a unit for generating variable exposure time. The digital processing and control unit has amplitude signal selector, a unit for picking up useful signals from noise, a unit for identifying stars, a synchronisation unit and a computing device for determining angular coordinates of stars taking into account coordinates of calibration marks of the GRC.

EFFECT: simplification of the measurement process by avoiding overlapping of the star channel when projecting calibration marks.

6 cl, 1 dwg