Guiding after platesolving

[belaybrook]

Hello

I started plate-solving recently and have an ASCOM mount connected.

My question is: do I need to use a separate guidescope to continue guiding once I am plate-solved and synced with the mount?

The reason I ask, before trying it out, is it seems the guidescope and Sharpcap will be trying to connect to the mount at the same time and I might experience difficulties?

Any thoughts, experiences or suggestions are welcome,
Thanks

[admin]

Hi,

usually there should be no problems with multiple applications connecting to the mount at once - for instance SharpCap to perform plate solving and use the direction keys, a guiding application like PHD2 and also maybe a planetarium application too.

If you do encounter issues (sometimes you find the first program you use can connect and the others fail) then using the ASCOM 'Device Hub' should work around the issue. Basically that lets you set up the device hub to talk to your real mount and then SharpCap and all the other programs talk to the device hub which deals with any issues arising due to sharing the connection.

cheers,

Robin

[belaybrook]

Thanks, that's very helpful. I had a successful time last night trying platesolving/syncing and then some livestacking.
I'll try the devicehub next clear night along with some trial guiding.
Brook