ginandtonic

On 20/05/2019 at 07:27, noah4x4 said:

CPWI is your best solution, and being realistic, all you need today. Stellarium or Cartes Du Ceil do have more sophisticated databases, but (no disrespect), you are not going to see the vast majority of the extra objects they include through your limited scope.

My advice is don't waste money investing in accessories for it unless they can later be migrated to a higher quality GEM. Astrophotography on an Alt-Az is challenging; and a wedge can be frustrating; and the only other Alt-Az solution is Hyperstar. But I suspect your scope is not Fastar/Hyperstar compatible. It's a good beginners scope and will offer a lot of initial fun. But if smitten by astronomy, you will soon wish to upgrade. 

I have just discovered that you can run/use CPWI simultaneously with CDC or Stellarium or StarryNight, CPWI acts as the equivalent of a software HC.

The telescope position gets updated in both programs in real time, all you need to do ( in CDC for example ) is to choose the CPWI ascom driver in telescope configuration.

So you can align with CPWI/starsense for example, and then use CDC or Stellarium to click (select object) and then slew (or sync)

So we have the best of both worlds...

Image below: Stellarium and CPWI running in tandem on XPS 13 laptop and Samsung tablet as second monitor with twomonUSB Android app. AVX mount connected wirelessly with Skyportal WiFi module: 

On 05/05/2019 at 21:35, Highburymark said:

Congratulations on your new travel package. My Equinox 80 is coming with me to Morocco next month. I've had excellent planetary views at 170x with this scope - so it's a great all rounder. 

Great picture from 2 nights ago on the beach 20 mins north of Essaouira (Moulay Bouzerktoun) - 30 seconds exposure, no processing at all... The dark sky in Morocco is really nice for astronomy.....