Drift alignment

[Vega]

Oooh looks groovy, I like the idea of it indicating how far to move the star when making adjustments. Does it show a graph like K3CCD Tools ?

Did I just say 'how far to move the star' ? :shock:

Vega

[jcm]

There is a 30 day full function trial.

Just download it and have a play. Needs a web cam like the ToUcam.

John

[Andrew*]

There is a 30 day full function trial.

Just download it and have a play. Needs a web cam like the ToUcam.

John

I was wondering about this. Does "a webcam like the toucam" include an Atik 1-HS, which registers on the PC as a "phillips toucam"?

cheers

Andrew

[jcm]

There is a 30 day full function trial.

Just download it and have a play. Needs a web cam like the ToUcam.

John

I was wondering about this. Does "a webcam like the toucam" include an Atik 1-HS, which registers on the PC as a "phillips toucam"?

cheers

Andrew

Not sure , this is what it says in the manual:-

2. System requirements

WCS requires installation of the Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 1.1 or higher. If this is not

already installed on the computer, it may be downloaded free of charge from Microsoft®. In

addition, it requires a sensitive webcam with a video resolution of 640 x 480 pixels (e.g. Philips

ToUcam Pro or Meade LPI).

John

[michaelmorris]

The most annoying thing is my laptop does not like that piece of software and just crashes - doh.

It used to crash on my computer as well. Are you using the latest version, because this is much more stable.

[MikeP]

I tried using WCS with an SP900NC - the camera was not sensitive enough to register any but the brightest stars.

I sent it off to Astronomiser for the SC1 mod. On its return, I had two further failed attempts to use it - the first failed because I had misunderstood the way in which it was to be connected to the laptop (real stupidity on my part) and the second because of a (less stupid) misunderstanding of the virtual port allocated by the operating system.

Since I had a cross hair eyepiece, I started using that and even though I now know what was wrong with the web cam, I have abandoned WCS and drift align with the reticule. It really isn't that hard to do.

Mike

[centroid]

Since I had a cross hair eyepiece, I started using that and even though I now know what was wrong with the web cam, I have abandoned WCS and drift align with the reticule. It really isn't that hard to do.

Absolutely true Mike. Even better if you 'up' the mag as far as is practical, say with a Barlow in series. You'll then see any small amount of drift, quite easily and quickly.

Dav

[MikeP]

Funny you should say that Dave, I just bought a 3x barlow from FLO for just that purpose. Haven't had chance to try it properly yet though. Off to US tomorrow - will see how much quicker it is when I get back, if we have got rid of the clouds by then.

Perhaps we could have "Strictly Drift Aligning" at the next star party.

Mike

[Andrew*]

Funny you should say that Dave, I just bought a 3x barlow from FLO

Tal?

[MikeP]

Yup - a Tal. I doubted that I'd use it for anything else, so I didn't want to spend too much. However, Steve assured me that it is better than I might expect for the money - good Russian optics I believe. Just for fun, I'll probably give it a whirl on the planets with the C11 if we ever get a night clear enough.

Mike

[centroid]

Have good trip Mike.

Dave