SharpCap Forums

I used Copilot under Windows 10 to generate the manuals. A typical starting query was:
Lunar Imaging Celestron C8 Skyris 236M Filters SharpCap

The manuals vary in length & depth depending on the initial criteria of Search, Deep Research, Smart.


In the Copilot window, references were provided some of which were my posts in the SharpCap and Cloudy Nights Forums. I did learn a few things such as "for a Celestron C8, always finish off focus in the anti-clockwise direction to minimise backlash".

By adapting the query at the top of the post to something like Lunar Imaging Your Telescope Your Camera Sharpcap, a custom manual could be produced.

The inbuilt Copilot would not export a PDF but I used copy and paste into Word to generate the output. It appears that Copilot 365 (comes as part of a Microsoft 365 subscription) is required for direct PDF generation.

Summary: the generated manuals are a convenient collection of the knowledge I have acquired performing lunar imaging with a Celestron C8 and Skyris 236M camera.

Dave

Hi Dave,

an interesting project. I think that this sort of thing is going to get easier to do and the output will become more natural over time as the AI models improve. I suppose the test is to find a lunar imaging beginner and see how they do working from the AI generated manuals - does it give them the guidance they need or leave them asking more questions at certain points.

thanks for sharing,

Robin

Robin

I re-ran the query with an Altair 183M instead of the Skyris 236M and analysed the 15 references that were mentioned. There were 15 in total [8 Cloudy Nights posts, 5 SharpCap forum posts, 2 Stargazers Lounge Posts]. The CN and SC posts were all made by me! Most of these were annotated with 'Community Validated/Verified' - indicates I am marking my own homework.

The AI used my posts to collate a manual from information I had provided - a glorified data-mining operation presented in some admittingly 'tight language' which a documentation clerk would have been pleased with.

I need to think of something to query where I haven't already supplied the answers.

Dave