Finding Comets using Sharpcap Pro

[sandconp]

I would like to image Comet A3 Atlas and it's been a while since I used Sharpcap to image comets. I normally add the Comet in the Solar System Menu in Stellarium and then Stellarium passes the coordinates to NINA when I am doing deeps sky imaging. Infact when I do decide to use Sharpcap for Live Stacking, I use NINA with CPWI to find my object and I haven't used Sharpcap Pro for years to find my object.

I used to platesolve with Sharpcap all of the time when I first started out doing EAA but I don't recall how I did it using Sharpcap?

1. Do I need to use Stellarium in conjunction with Sharpcap Pro to know where the scope is suppose to slew to find the comet?

2. I noticed that Sharpcap now has built in plate solving into the product so is it possible to use just Sharpcap and can Sharpcap handle the comet coordinates to find the comet?

3. I plan on using an alt/az mount so I assume that I won't be able to live stack? I am using a Hyperstar which puts me at f1.9 (390mm) so I should be able to shoot at least 20 seconds subs with no field rotation.

[carlomuccini]

Hi

1. You must use stellarium to GOTO the current COORDINATES of the comet

2. After the GOTO SharpCap platesolve the COORDINATES, not the comet, the position

3. Livestack in AZ with short focal lenght and short exposition works very well

Carlo

[sandconp]

I am using CPWI to control the telescope. How do I get the telescope to slew to the comet? I could of sworn that I did this years ago just by adding the comet info into Stellarium and then Sharpcap would slew to the comet?

Isn't there some kind of communication between Sharpcap and Stellarium link NINA does with Stellarium?

[Candieman]

You do not need to tell Stellarium the RA and DEC of a comet to go to its location. For specific comets, you can add its information automatically, then you can simply search for it in Stellarium, and it will go to that location. The steps to add a comet are:

- Add the plug-in "Solar System Editor" from the Configuration/Plugins" toolbar so that it loads at start-up, then exit Stellarium.

- Restart Stellarium, go to "Configuration/Plugins", click on "Solar System Editor", then click on "Configure" box.

- Click on the "Solar System" tab at the top of the window, and then click on the line on the bottom "Import orbital elements in MPC format . . . "

- On the window that comes up, click on the left tab that says "Lists", and then click on "Comets". In the section below titled, "Select the source", click on" Download a list of objects from the Internet". Click on the down arrow to bring up a list. Select the one that says: "Gideon van Buitenen" comets", then click on "Get orbital parameters". That should bring up another window, giving you a list of comets that could be added, such as the current one, "C/2023 A3". Select the one(s) you want and save that using the menu, and then you should then be able to search for "C/2023 A3" in Stellarium and it should take you to that comet (you may have to restart Stellarium before doing the search).

This works for me whether I'm using my iOptron CEM40EC mount or my SkyWatcher EQ6-R mount connected with SharpCap. Stellarium takes to me to this comet every time and I'm ready to start imaging the comet, or doing a plate solve first (you'll need SharpCap Pro for this). The only issue I have is with the version of Stellarium I use. I find I have problems going to an object with any Stellarium version above 22.1, so that's the version I'm using of that. I think I found something about that on a forum, but I haven't had time to look into that yet. Stellarium 22.1 works for me, so I'm not anxious to fix something that isn't broken.

Hope this all makes sense.

Rich