SharpCap Forums

I have been using Stellarium and StellariumScope to successfully control my Meade ETX-70 for quite some time now. I have been using SC Pro to stack images also without problem. Now I wish to use the Plate Solve function in SC and can't get it to work. More specifically, when StellariumScope is connected to my scope, SC will not connect. Instead, when I select the Meade ASCOM entry in the SC hardware panel and click the Properties button, I get the following error message:
When I click to ignore and then click the OK button, I get the following:
I have attached the log file to this post (hopefully) which I copied immediately after receiving the above error messages.
Next I tried reversing the process and disconnected StellariumScope and then went back into the hardware tab of SC and, lo and behold, no error messages and SC can now control the scope with the mount controls and plate solving works perfectly. Sync and recenter work flawlessly after a plate solve.

OK, so now to connect StellariumScope again so I can send the scope to the next object. No dice. StellariumScope throws this error message:

Well, I can't seem to attach another item so I will try and place it in the next post.

Here is that error message:

Basically, either one works perfectly on it's own, but will not work simultaneously, even though I have read forum posts here and elsewhere indicating that others certainly do use this combination.

I am using SC Pro 3.2.6028 on a Surface Pro 3 running Win8.1 and using a Meade ETX-70 as mount and scope and utilizing a ZWO ASI224MC camera.

Please let me know if you need more info from me.

Thanks in advance!

Mike

Hi,

I think what is happening is that the first piece of software to connect to the mount takes control of the serial port and then when the second piece of software tries to connect it can't get access to the serial port and therefore fails.

Some manufacturers put together mount Ascom drivers that can deal with this situation by basically having a separate component running that does the communication via the serial port and then the Ascom driver inside of applications like SharpCap or Stellarium would talk to that single component. It sounds like the Meade driver doesn't have that capability.

Fortunately, all is not yet lost. Ascom has a built-in thing called a telescope hub which provides this functionality, but you just need to spend some time setting it up. Effectively you would choose the telescope hub as your mount in both SharpCap and Stellarium scope, then you would bring up the telescope hub settings and configure it to talk to your Meade driver. Once you have the settings correct then you should find that both applications can talk to the mount at once. I'm sure you'll find some better documentation out there for the Ascom hub option if you have a quick search for it.

Cheers, Robin

Thanks, Robin. POTH (the name of the ASCOM hub that comes with the ASCOM Platform install) turned out to be real easy. And my daytime testing now has everything working together. Yay!

Hi Mike,

great to hear that it's all working now. This one trips up a lot of people because it's only required for certain mount drivers. For instance EQMod handles this all on its own as to the latest version of the Celestron drivers.

Cheers, Robin

I can believe it. I had read about POTH when I first installed the ASCOM Platform, but it left my memory when I didn't need it. I required your jogging that memory to go back and look for it again. Hopefully I will get out tonight and give it a good run through, but so far it looks good!

I also use POTH with a ALT/AZ Celestron Evolution mount and I can connect different applications at once.

Thanks Roel.

Went out tonight and everything worked perfectly. Thanks again, Robin!

Good Morning,

I just found this post today.

I have a older model Meade LX90 8" scope with the Autostar 497 HC.

I cannot get multiple software programs to connect at once to it.

Could someone post the steps on how to setup the Ascom telescope hub

When in Stellarium and SC, Do I use the Ascom hub as my telescope connection
Where do I setup my telescope drivers in the Ascom hub

Thanks a lot

Curtis

Curtis,

Need a bit more info.

Do you already have Ascom installed?

Are you still using StellariumScope or a newer version of Stellarium which supercedes StellariumScope?

What other software are you trying to connect to the scope/mount (other than SharpCap)?

Mike