No physical telescope

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Dylan22b
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Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:25 am

No physical telescope

#1

Post by Dylan22b »

Hello, Ive been looking around for hours searching tutorials, reading documentation and FAQ but i cant find an answer. Do i have to have a real telescope in real life to use Sharpcap, or can i use a built in one of some sort. I cant find any help and this is my last place to seek it. Is it possible to look in the sky with a virtual telescope, if so please help me i cant find anything on how to connect or any of the settings :( thanks
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admin
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Re: No physical telescope

#2

Post by admin »

Hi,

there is a thing called 'Sky Simulator' which makes simulated view of the sky available via an ASCOM compatible camera. The views show the stars as dots, so they are not even close to realistic, but it is good for testing things (note that it is a bit geeky to get it all set up). https://sourceforge.net/projects/sky-simulator/

cheers,

Robin
Dylan22b
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:25 am

Re: No physical telescope

#3

Post by Dylan22b »

Thanks for the reply, but i cant find any tutorials on how to hook this up. When i put it all together and open SharpCap i just get a black screen and get nothing. Sometimes when i click live view il get a random photo but thats it. i dont see anything besides a black screen.


EDIT: now i get a random picture of a couple of stars. From the Image.PNG and nothing is happening other than that. i havent seen any new pictures or anything just that one. and yes i have started the simulation in Sky simulator and nothing still happens other than that one picture
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admin
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Re: No physical telescope

#4

Post by admin »

Hi,

if you connect both SharpCap and Sky Simulator to the ASCOM 'Telescope Simulator for .NET' then you should be able to move the pointing position of the virtual telescope using SharpCap's direction buttons, which should then get noticed by Sky Simulator and after a few seconds the image should update. That's about as exciting as it gets I'm afraid, although you can also hook up the 'ASCOM Simulator Focuser Driver' in both to make focus changes 'work'.

cheers,

Robin
Dylan22b
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 21, 2021 2:25 am

Re: No physical telescope

#5

Post by Dylan22b »

Thats exactly what ive been doing. But its okay ill just find something else, i should have done more research before making a purchase. thanks for you help
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