Clever 3D Print Turns Analog Clock Into A Star Tracker

You never know where a cool design is going to come from. In this case, a very elegant take on star tracking came from, of all places, a man who enjoys wandering with his goats.

Basically, this is just a gopro mount for a 24 hour clock. Since a 24 hour day is one rotation of the earth (close enough), then a 24 hour clock provides a rotating platform that matches pace with the earth’s rotation. This allows for you to aim your gopro at the sky and have it appear to be stationary as the world rotates.

It isn’t perfect. You have to get the alignment of your gopro just right, and the earth’s rotation isn’t perfectly lined up to the speed of the clock, but as you can see in the example, it is surely good enough. You can download the files to 3d print them yourself from Thingiverse.