ANTIC Interview 390 - David Gedalia, Atari-controlled Telescope

David Gedalia, Atari-controlled Telescope Listener Paul Somerfeldt sent me a blurb he found in a book titled "The Dobsonian Telescope" by David Kriege and Richard Berry. The book reads: "Computer-controlled Dobsonian telescopes entered amateur astronomy in the late 1980s. An outstanding early example was David Gedalia's 10-inch f/4.5 Dobsonian driven by an Atari 800XL computer, shown at the 1987 Riverside Telescope Makers Conference. With the Atari driving altitude and azimuth stepper-motors, the telescope would move automatically to coordinates entered on the computer’s keyboard. David was a third-year engineering student when he built this telescope." I sought out David to find out more about his Atari-controlled telescope. This interview took place on May 29, 2020. Photos of David with his telescope The Dobsonian Telescope by David Kriege and Richard Berry New Horizons in Amateur Astronomy by Grant Fjermedal