I love my Mac but I must have Astrotortilla and EQMOD

[David_Pickles]

I am a devoted Apple fanboy - I thought I would declare that from the start. I have a 27" iMac to process all my astroimages and I use a 13" MacBook Pro to control all my astronomy gear. However, I am now in a bit of a dilema. Having insisted on sticking with OSX, I have used Nebulosity 3 and PHD to control my camera and guider for some time and have been really pleased with the result. However, I recently tried EQMOD and Astrotortilla - running them on Windows 7 installed on my MacBook Pro via Parallels. I have to say, that I was really impressed with just how easy Astrotortilla is to use. So much so that I have removed my finderscope and doubt I will be using my eyepieces much in the future as the automated alignment is an absolute doddle and saves me a lot of time when setting up. Rather than setting up the mount and then doing a three star alignment, I now switch on the mount, connect to the laptop via EQMOD, slew to my desired target and centre it using Astrotorilla's plate solving and alignment tool - brilliant! I only wish it were available for OSX so I could run it natively. I know there is EQMAC, but it is the Astrotortilla that I am more interested in. Fortunately, good old Craig Stark provides a universal licence for Nebulosity, which allows me to install it on OSX or Windows without having to buy a new licence - what a gentleman! So, for the medium term at least it looks like I will be using Windows 7 to control my equipment whilst imaging. Obviously I won't be going out and buying a PC (that is just taking it a step too far). Besides, screen sharing on the Mac is so convenient and allows me to control everything on the Macbook Pro (which is outside in a moisture proof box) on the iMac from the comfort of my dining room.

If anyone has yet to try EQMOD and Astrotortilla I would strongly advise you to give them a go - and best of all, they are completely free!

[David_Pickles]

Everything works well with OS X Yosemite, although you need to be running a recent version of Parallels - I'm using Parallels 10, which seems to work okay with Yosemite.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[thanders]

EQmac is EQMOD for Mac. Run well on Mavericks.

http://eqmac.hulse.id.au

Still looking for autofucusing and plate solving native on mac.

/Thomas

[chrisshillito]

EQmac is EQMOD for Mac.

Just to further clarify, EQMAC may have some features in common with EQMOD but it is a separate and independent development, it has nothing to do with EQMOD project whose software is strictly windows only.

Chris.

[David_Pickles]

I have not tried EQMac as it is the ability to link with Astrotortilla that I really need. Should the ability to plate solve become available natively for the Mac I will definitely give it a go.

[rpineau]

TheSkyX Pro can plate solve and put you exactly on the target (it requires the camera add-on and the t-point add-on) using the close loop slew feature. The NEQ6 Pro uses the SynScan protocol with from their telescope support page is supported via the NexStar 5 communications protocol ( http://www.bisque.com/help/theskyx%20pro%20info/Telescope_Control.htm ). This is not a cheap option as you need the Pro license plus the 2 add-on (I use this with an AP900 GTO mount) but it does exist and work.

Rodolphe

[rumbleripper]

TheSkyX Pro can plate solve and put you exactly on the target (it requires the camera add-on and the t-point add-on) using the close loop slew feature. The NEQ6 Pro uses the SynScan protocol with from their telescope support page is supported via the NexStar 5 communications protocol ( http://www.bisque.com/help/theskyx%20pro%20info/Telescope_Control.htm ). This is not a cheap option as you need the Pro license plus the 2 add-on (I use this with an AP900 GTO mount) but it does exist and work.

Rodolphe

Rodolphe:

I have the Skywatcher EQ8 and am wondering if the setup you mentioned above would work with it. It also has the SynScan Hand controller (so I am assuming it uses the SynScan protocol)? That way I can use only native Mac software to point and control my EQ8 mount. Any advice or guidance would be appreciated  before I spend the money for SkyX Pro, the Camera add-on and the T-Point add-on.

Thanks.

Gaetano

[rpineau]

Hi Gaetano.

I don't have access to any EQ mount to test this (my mount is an AP 900 GTO). Hopefully someone can test this and report here.

If someone in the SF bay area has an EQ mount with a SynScan hand controller I'm willing to drive and test this (if they are less than 60 miles / 100Km away).

Regards, Rodolphe

[rumbleripper]

Hey Rodolphe:

Thanks for your prompt reply. Very kind of you to offer to test out the EQ8 in the SF area. I am just finishing renovations to my observatory, and will be ready to start observing in a few weeks. I will probably purchase SkyX Pro along with T-Point and Camera Add-on and test them with my system. Software Bisque has a money back guarantee, so if this does not work with my setup I could just return the software. Hopefully it works and I can stay native with Mac OS X.

I will report back to let others know how this worked out, so that others interested in a Mac based Astro setup can decide if this is what is right for them.

Peace.

Gaetano

[James]

I will be interested in how things go - as a Mac user the only functionality I still need is plate solving  

James

[uhb1966]

Hello James, there is a native free solution for plate solving described in sgl its a local installation of astrometry.net Just search sgl for "plate solving mac"