Plate Solving is Terrific - how do I slew to target in SC

[GaryS]

HI

I've been goggling to find out how to slew to a target in SC. The plate solve function is outstanding and I'm assuming there must also be a capability to enter coordinates for the initial slew as well but I've had no luck finding anything on this. Should I assume its not within SC's capability or does someone have a way to do this?

Thank you for any input on this topic!
Gary

[Jodan]

Hi Gary!
It is easy in SarpCap.
1. Use "goto coordinates" (from Tools) -->goto a target from catalog --> more...
2. Enter target name --> select in the list
3. Click Start
SharpCap will slew to the target, set the taget name and the tracking speed for You.

Greetings from Austria,
Josef

[calan]

Honestly, IMO just use Stellarium, assuming you are on a PC. It has native support for ASCOM now, and of course that classic database and all of it's functionality. Not to mention, you can set up your sensors and lenses and see exactly how it's going to be framed before capturing a single image.

I just find a target I want in Stellarium, click goto...and then once it's complete and the little scope icon is on my target, I use plate solve in Sharpcap with ASTAP to perfectly center it (and maybe a manual nudge if needed for framing). Done.

[bluesilver]

+ 1 for Stellarium,
Once the target is centered you can also use the sync command in Stallerium to sync it, I think it is CTRL ALT 1 from memory.

[GaryS]

Thank you all very much for responding.

I’ve been using SC for 3-4 years now and somehow had never come across the Tools menu location for entering coordinates. My reason for asking now is that I have a new mount that will take a while to learn so I was hoping to be able to use SC for the initial ‘goto’ functionality as well as the target plate solving. I’m mainly doing exoplanet transit imaging so staying in SC, where I do the captures, simplifies the process and I only need SC for the entire session. Well, I need MaximDl to do an initial check that the exposure is right and I’m not saturating the target or any key comparison stars.

Thank you all again!
Gary

[admin]

Hi Gary,

the 'Goto co-ordinates' entry in the tools menu is relatively new (last couple of months), so you could have missed out on seeing it if your version of SharpCap is a bit out of date.

cheers,

Robin

[GaryS]

Thanks so much for adding that Robin.

If I could just figure out how to use the focusing capabilities of SC, I’d never need another application. As it is I have to go to NINA for autofocus and that necessitates disconnecting the camera from SC, connecting in NINA, autofocusing then disconnect in NINA and reconnecting in SC.

Cheers
Gary

[admin]

Hi Gary,

not sure if you have already read it or not, but there is a section on focusing in the user manual : https://docs.sharpcap.co.uk/4.0/#Focusing

cheers,

Robin

[GaryS]

Thank you Robin, I had been through the manual and just couldn’t get the multi-star FWHM to work for me. I’ll give that another try.
Gary