On a bright note here , the S C GOTO's plate solving has been flawless so far with my new mount. Just bought the HAE69B iOptron mount.
It hits the target dead on center each time. Thanks for building the plate solve system in. Makes life so much easier. Very happy with it and hope you make no real drastic changes to it in the future. LOL.
The GOTO catalog is nice but will there ever be some sort of Sky Atlas built in to S C?
This may have been asked before ,but just in case it wasn't.
GOTO working flawlessly
Forum rules
'+1' posts are welcome in this area of the forums to indicate your support for a particular feature suggestion. Suggestions that get the most +1's will be seriously considered for inclusion in future versions of SharpCap.
'+1' posts are welcome in this area of the forums to indicate your support for a particular feature suggestion. Suggestions that get the most +1's will be seriously considered for inclusion in future versions of SharpCap.
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admin
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Re: GOTO working flawlessly
Hi,
glad that the GOTO and plate solving is working well!
I am reluctant to add a sky map function - there are so many really good sky map programs (Cartes du Ciel, Stellarium, SkytechX, lots more) that there is plenty of choice, and even to implement something basica and not as good as those other programs would be a lot of work. I might consider something basic for a deep sky mosaic feature so you can see the area you would be capturing though.
cheers,
Robin
glad that the GOTO and plate solving is working well!
I am reluctant to add a sky map function - there are so many really good sky map programs (Cartes du Ciel, Stellarium, SkytechX, lots more) that there is plenty of choice, and even to implement something basica and not as good as those other programs would be a lot of work. I might consider something basic for a deep sky mosaic feature so you can see the area you would be capturing though.
cheers,
Robin
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Jean-Francois
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Re: GOTO working flawlessly
Hello,
.. or to do the 2 or 3 stars alignment. At least some help for the 2 or 3 star alignment of the SkyWatcher SynScan software.
It is sometimes a pain to have 2 or 3 stars visible from my observation place ... and really who knows the name/position of all the stars ?
For the help ... what possible is some simple catalogue view and very, very (and very) important the local horizon file.
So that the observer can generate the local visible sky portion (with a horizon file).
The tool can show both at the same time ... horizon + user stars catalogue.
The stars catalogue can be the SkyWatcher SynScan (or other brand) list of stars for the 2/3 stars alignment.
I have 2 setups on my terrace. One EQ8 is "fixed" and I perform a simple 1 star alignment with a Plat Solve.
The second setup is my second EQ8 on a wood tripod. It can stay outside only during dry period.
And I used 2 different corners for the observation ... some time in east or west side for sun observation in the morning or in the afternoon.
For night observation, it is necessary to repeat the telescope alignment. Note: I can not used the SharpCap polar alignment while I can not see the polar star from my terrace.
I will try to ask (propose to) SkyWatcher to add this visual help for the selection of the alignment stars.
I know it is possible to stop the alignment and restart with a different star. If the second star is not visible, SynScan begin the alignment with the first star again. At the end, you can repeat the 2 stars alignment 3 or 4 times until you have both stars visible.
The view could be static ... no zoom or rotation. Ideally the horizon should be fixed. The stars position are calculated for the time/location.
A short pop-up text can appear when the mouse moves on the star .
Here an example of my horizon:
It could be possible to have a cartesian (local Alt-Az) or polar (centred on the zenith) cartography.
For the detail the delta elevation could be "projected" or equidistant.
Regards,
Jean-Francois
.. or to do the 2 or 3 stars alignment. At least some help for the 2 or 3 star alignment of the SkyWatcher SynScan software.
It is sometimes a pain to have 2 or 3 stars visible from my observation place ... and really who knows the name/position of all the stars ?
For the help ... what possible is some simple catalogue view and very, very (and very) important the local horizon file.
So that the observer can generate the local visible sky portion (with a horizon file).
The tool can show both at the same time ... horizon + user stars catalogue.
The stars catalogue can be the SkyWatcher SynScan (or other brand) list of stars for the 2/3 stars alignment.
I have 2 setups on my terrace. One EQ8 is "fixed" and I perform a simple 1 star alignment with a Plat Solve.
The second setup is my second EQ8 on a wood tripod. It can stay outside only during dry period.
And I used 2 different corners for the observation ... some time in east or west side for sun observation in the morning or in the afternoon.
For night observation, it is necessary to repeat the telescope alignment. Note: I can not used the SharpCap polar alignment while I can not see the polar star from my terrace.
I will try to ask (propose to) SkyWatcher to add this visual help for the selection of the alignment stars.
I know it is possible to stop the alignment and restart with a different star. If the second star is not visible, SynScan begin the alignment with the first star again. At the end, you can repeat the 2 stars alignment 3 or 4 times until you have both stars visible.
The view could be static ... no zoom or rotation. Ideally the horizon should be fixed. The stars position are calculated for the time/location.
A short pop-up text can appear when the mouse moves on the star .
Here an example of my horizon:
- SharpCap_SimplePlanetarium.jpg (48.52 KiB) Viewed 2310 times
For the detail the delta elevation could be "projected" or equidistant.
Regards,
Jean-Francois
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admin
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Re: GOTO working flawlessly
Hi Jean-Francois,
it sounds like it would be very useful, but to me it seems that it would be best as a stand-alone tool, or a plug in to something like Stellarium or another application that already has a sky map and the option to have a custom horizon.
One of the things I do want to do in future is have the catalog list also show how long until a target sets or rises (either to horizon or to a selectable altitude). When I do that, a custom horizon to work with that function might be a possibility.
cheers,
Robin
it sounds like it would be very useful, but to me it seems that it would be best as a stand-alone tool, or a plug in to something like Stellarium or another application that already has a sky map and the option to have a custom horizon.
One of the things I do want to do in future is have the catalog list also show how long until a target sets or rises (either to horizon or to a selectable altitude). When I do that, a custom horizon to work with that function might be a possibility.
cheers,
Robin