Editor’s note: Links to a video and high-resolution images for download appear at the end of this release. 

David Ruth
713-348-6327
david@rice.edu

Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.edu

Astral tracker puts us in our place

Retro project by Rice University engineering students incorporates art and science 

HOUSTON – (May 5, 2017) – Call it retro-innovation. The astral tracker designed by Rice University’s Team Solar Lunar 2.0 suggests not cutting-edge breakthroughs but archaic technologies: the astrolabe, the orrery, even the sundial.

“We had a majestic object in mind,” said Team Solar Lunar 2.0 member Caz Smith. “We wanted to create an artistic exhibit that shows the real-time position of the sun and moon, connecting their locations to the location of the user. We wanted to bring people closer to the sun and moon.”

With fellow students Logan Baldridge, Liz Kacpura and Noah Kenner, Smith has designed and constructed a device as sculptural as it is astronomical. The idea came from John Mulligan, a lecturer in public humanities at Rice.

“The goal is to give you a sense of the way you relate to the celestial bodies,” Mulligan said. “You should feel yourself as a point hurtling through space. It’s an aesthetic effect I want to achieve.”

The visible portion of the astral tracker consists of two arcs attached to a vertical shaft that serves as an axis. The larger arc, painted gold, tracks the position of the sun. The smaller arc within the larger arc is painted silver and tracks the moon. An arrow on the outer rim of each arc points to the appropriate heavenly body.

Two motors are concealed in the base and two in the arcs. Using a Raspberry Pi minicomputer and the PyEphem Python Library, the tracker calculates the altitude and azimuth of the sun and moon for a given longitude, latitude and time. The calculations drive the motorized arcs to follow the azimuth of both bodies.

“We had some trouble with the electronics,” Smith said. “We’ve melted several wires, and the power supply has failed sometimes. We’re not electronics experts.” Baldridge is a sophomore and the others are freshmen. All are mechanical engineering majors. Each team member devoted roughly 10 hours a week to working on the project.

“It became an exercise in breaking down a project into its discrete parts,” Smith said. “One person did most of the wiring, one did the code and one handled the aesthetics.”

The device remains a work in progress. Electrical tinkering remains to be done. The team has prepared a 12-page instruction manual if a future team, this summer or next fall, chooses to continue the project. In the introduction to their manual the team members write:

“At the end of the semester, the device will be installed in Dr. Mulligan’s research laboratory. From there, it will ideally find a permanent home as part of a museum exhibition.”

-30-

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews

Video:

https://youtu.be/egxTsN4QWQk 

Video produced by Brandon Martin/Rice University

Related materials:

Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen: http://oedk.rice.edu

George R. Brown School of Engineering: https://engineering.rice.edu

Images for download:

http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/05/0508_SOLAR-1-web-2brndjj.jpg

Combining their artistic impulses with mechanical and electrical engineering and computer science, Rice University students created the retro-style Solar Lunar tracker as part of their studies this year. From left, Logan Baldridge, Caz Smith, Noah Kenner and Liz Kacpura. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/05/0508_SOLAR-2-web-2ijy68m.jpg

Liz Kacpura makes an adjustment to the Solar Lunar tracker, a fanciful celestial astral tracker that combined the artistic and engineering talents of Rice University students. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/05/0508_SOLAR-3-web-2m4a1nj.jpg

Caz Smith makes a fine adjustment to the Solar Lunar tracker, which follows the celestial bodies’ motions in real time and relative to the tracker’s position on Earth. Rice University students created the retro device as part of a Rice University engineering design course. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

http://news.rice.edu/files/2017/05/0508_SOLAR-4-web-1wmly8w.jpg

Tiny figures stare out at the cosmos from the platform representing Earth in the Solar Lunar tracker, an art and engineering project by Rice University students. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,879 undergraduates and 2,861 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for happiest students and for lots of race/class interaction by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance. To read “What they’re saying about Rice,” go to http://tinyurl.com/RiceUniversityoverview.