Hello everyone. I'm having a problem when using Sharpcap and Stellarium at the same time. They hang or get stuck and I have to close them. When I use them individually there are no problems. I think there is some incompatibility between the two but I don't know how to fix it. The mount I use is EQ6 Skuwatcher and the ASCOM software I use is "Green Swamp Software". If anyone has experience with this problem and could help me I would appreciate it. I like to use both at the same time because it is more fun and intuitive to select the objects I want to locate in a Stellarium session. But Sharpcap's ability to find the object and center it is superior.
Warm regards to all. Thanks in advance.
JM Espinosa
Seville (Spain).
Problems with Stellarium and Sharpcap usin at the same time
Forum rules
If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
If you have a problem or question, please check the FAQ to see if it already has an answer : https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/sharpcap-faqs
-
Joselito58
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:52 am
-
admin
- Site Admin
- Posts: 17454
- Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
- Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
- Contact:
Re: Problems with Stellarium and Sharpcap usin at the same time
Hi,
that would usually be expected to work - set up both SharpCap and Stellarium to talk to the GS Server ASCOM driver, connect both and the you should be able to command the telescope from either application. I just set up that with GS Server running in simulator mode and it worked fine.
One thing worth considering is if you are using a low power PC, does running both at once put too much of load on the PC resources? Or do both programs run fine together at the same time until you connect both of them to the ASCOM GS Server?
I suppose the first thing to do would be to check that you have the latest versions of
* Stellarium
* ASCOM GS Server driver
* ASCOM Platform
* SharpCap
just in case what you are encountering is a bug in one of the above that has already been fixed in newer updates.
cheers,
Robin
that would usually be expected to work - set up both SharpCap and Stellarium to talk to the GS Server ASCOM driver, connect both and the you should be able to command the telescope from either application. I just set up that with GS Server running in simulator mode and it worked fine.
One thing worth considering is if you are using a low power PC, does running both at once put too much of load on the PC resources? Or do both programs run fine together at the same time until you connect both of them to the ASCOM GS Server?
I suppose the first thing to do would be to check that you have the latest versions of
* Stellarium
* ASCOM GS Server driver
* ASCOM Platform
* SharpCap
just in case what you are encountering is a bug in one of the above that has already been fixed in newer updates.
cheers,
Robin
-
Joselito58
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:52 am
Re: Problems with Stellarium and Sharpcap usin at the same time
Thank you very much for your kind reply. I am doing some tests with a simulated telescope since we have clouds. In principle it is working well. I have updated all the programs. When I have a clear night I will try again.
But what I have seen is that there is a variation in the coordinates that stellarium and sharpcap show when I mark an object. Musytran has a variation of a few arc minutes. I don't know what it could be due to.
Thank you very much Robin. Sincerely. JM Espinosa. From Seville (Spain).
But what I have seen is that there is a variation in the coordinates that stellarium and sharpcap show when I mark an object. Musytran has a variation of a few arc minutes. I don't know what it could be due to.
Thank you very much Robin. Sincerely. JM Espinosa. From Seville (Spain).
-
admin
- Site Admin
- Posts: 17454
- Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
- Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
- Contact:
Re: Problems with Stellarium and Sharpcap usin at the same time
Hi,
there are two types of co-ordinates...
1) J2000 co-ordinates - these are usually found in catalogs and represent the co-ordinates that the object had in the year 2000.
2) JNOW co-ordinates - these are the current co-ordinates of the target and are used by most telescopes, and the displayed co-ordinates in the SharpCap telescope control area are usually JNOW.
The difference between the two is caused by the change in orientation of the Earth's axis between the year 2000 and the present date- which may give a difference of up to 10 minutes of arc or so (depending on where in the sky you are pointing). SharpCap automatically converts between the two types of co-ordinates as required (for instance a target co-ordinate from the catalog which is J2000 will be converted to JNOW before being sent to the mount).
If you look at Stellarium, you will find that it shows both co-ordinates in the detailed information for an object.
cheers,
Robin
there are two types of co-ordinates...
1) J2000 co-ordinates - these are usually found in catalogs and represent the co-ordinates that the object had in the year 2000.
2) JNOW co-ordinates - these are the current co-ordinates of the target and are used by most telescopes, and the displayed co-ordinates in the SharpCap telescope control area are usually JNOW.
The difference between the two is caused by the change in orientation of the Earth's axis between the year 2000 and the present date- which may give a difference of up to 10 minutes of arc or so (depending on where in the sky you are pointing). SharpCap automatically converts between the two types of co-ordinates as required (for instance a target co-ordinate from the catalog which is J2000 will be converted to JNOW before being sent to the mount).
If you look at Stellarium, you will find that it shows both co-ordinates in the detailed information for an object.
cheers,
Robin
-
Joselito58
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Sat Jan 15, 2022 11:52 am
Re: Problems with Stellarium and Sharpcap usin at the same time
Hello again. I've installed a Skywatcher dongle on my Skywatcher EQ6AZ mount. When I want to control it from my PC using Skywatcher Synscan Mobile (to connect via Wi-Fi), I can connect and control it, align it, etc.
But when I also try to run Sharpcap, I have problems. If I've previously aligned the telescope with the Skywatcher Synscan Mobile app and then open Sharpcap (configured to load the Skywatcher Synscan Mobile driver), it does so. But then when I try to give Sharpcap a Goto command from its catalog, it gets an error and disconnects.
Also, when I try to connect Stellarium to an Ascom telescope, I also have connection problems. If I try to connect both (SK and Stellarium), Stellarium even closes.
I really like using the Wi-Fi connection via dongle for its convenience and to avoid additional cables. But I'm stuck with this problem. I think there's probably a configuration issue with the Synscan app and its communication with SK and Stellarium. Any ideas on how to dream this up? Thank you very much.
But when I also try to run Sharpcap, I have problems. If I've previously aligned the telescope with the Skywatcher Synscan Mobile app and then open Sharpcap (configured to load the Skywatcher Synscan Mobile driver), it does so. But then when I try to give Sharpcap a Goto command from its catalog, it gets an error and disconnects.
Also, when I try to connect Stellarium to an Ascom telescope, I also have connection problems. If I try to connect both (SK and Stellarium), Stellarium even closes.
I really like using the Wi-Fi connection via dongle for its convenience and to avoid additional cables. But I'm stuck with this problem. I think there's probably a configuration issue with the Synscan app and its communication with SK and Stellarium. Any ideas on how to dream this up? Thank you very much.
-
admin
- Site Admin
- Posts: 17454
- Joined: Sat Feb 11, 2017 3:52 pm
- Location: Vale of the White Horse, UK
- Contact:
Re: Problems with Stellarium and Sharpcap usin at the same time
Hi,
can you post the full text of any error that you see please? The details are important for this sort of thing so I can try to work out *what* has gone wrong... Even better, after the error has happened, grab the text of the SharpCap log which should include all the error information that you see on screen (and more) and post that here.
One thing that might be worth trying is to use the ASCOM Device Hub as a gateway between SharpCap / Stellarium and the ASCOM driver for the Synscan app. To do that, set up SharpCap and Stellarium to use the ASCOM Device Hub as a telescope mount driver, then configure the ASCOM Device Hub to talk to the Synscan driver.
cheers,
Robin
can you post the full text of any error that you see please? The details are important for this sort of thing so I can try to work out *what* has gone wrong... Even better, after the error has happened, grab the text of the SharpCap log which should include all the error information that you see on screen (and more) and post that here.
One thing that might be worth trying is to use the ASCOM Device Hub as a gateway between SharpCap / Stellarium and the ASCOM driver for the Synscan app. To do that, set up SharpCap and Stellarium to use the ASCOM Device Hub as a telescope mount driver, then configure the ASCOM Device Hub to talk to the Synscan driver.
cheers,
Robin