SharpCap Forums

Hi,

I'm a newcomer to this forum and have been into astronomy for 15 months so I'm learning as I go along.

I have been using Scarpcap 2.9 for a few months but l have only been doing the basic things with it. I have also recently downloaded SC2.10 to give it a go.

I have a few questions which may assist in me understanding SC better.

I have read about people using plate solving in SC to assist them, I cannot find this, do I have to load another program onto my computer for it to work and show up in SC? If I do have to load another program onto my computer which one would you recommend.

I have also read about SC being able to communicate with my mount once I have set it up in Hardware / settings but again I cannot see how to do this.

I have a HEQ5 with a Skywatcher ED80 and 200p and I am using a new computer loaded with Ascom, EQmod and Satellitium. All these programs have been updated and are using the latest drivers etc. I am not very computer savvy but know a little which can be dangerous

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Clear Skies.

Doug

Hi Doug,

in 2.9 or 2.10, to get SharpCap to talk to your mount you need to go to the SharpCap settings in the File menu, go to the Hardware tab and pick your EQASCOM mount from the list of ASCOM mounts.

Once you have done that you will see a new control appear in the right hand panel allowing you to move the mount.

In 2.10, you can additionally use Plate Solving once you have configured an ASCOM mount *and* installed one of AstroTortilla, AllSkyPlateSolver or ANsvr. Once one of these is installed a 'GPS' like button will appear in the mount control (restart SharpCap) and pressing that will plate solve and re-sync the mount. Note that all 3 of these plate solving programs require the program *and* a considerable amount of data to be installed - please read up on them a little bit so that you understand what you are getting into!

cheers,

Robin

Hi Robin,

Thanks for the response, off to do some reading with regards to the plate solving

Doug