Motorising my mount and Mac newb questions

[andrewfkay]

Hi,

Couple of newbie questions...

I've got a SW 200p with EQ5. I'm want to take the plunge into astrophotography and have been reliably advised by others on here to get a webcam, motorise my mount and begin by taking pictures of the moon and planets.

Is the best way to do this with the Synscan Goto upgrade? I have approx £300 budget so with webcam it's about enough.

Also, I have a mac book pro. Am I going to have problems with software (Registax being windows only) or are there plenty of equally capable alternatives?

Thanks a plenty

Andrew K

[steelfixer]

Hi there

I did the upgrade on my EQ5.

The best money I have ever spent.

The other thing you want to look into is EQMOD.

You can get a box of tricks that will replace the hand controller so you can run the scope direct from your computer

In my humble opinion EQASCOM is as the saying goes 'the best thing since sliced bread'.

Personally I hate sliced bread but you know what I mean.

The other benifit from going down this road is 'chrishillto' I think I have his name right is an SGL member and he wrote EQASCOM.

He is a rearly good bloke and has patiently solved every problem I have ever had with setting it up.

As for the Mac sorry I cannot help on that one.

Graham

[andrewfkay]

Thanks Graham. Just the sort of reassurance I was looking for.

As for the EQMOD and EQASCOM, what are the benefits of using your computer instead of the hand controller or is it just a preference thing?

[steelfixer]

The advantage for me is my scope is an obs setup.

Using the EQASCOM I can sit indoors and control everthing the scope does from the comfort of a warm cosy enviroment.

The other advantage is you can control the scope using software like Stellerium or CDC.

You just click on the object you wish to look at on the computer screen and the scope goes there. ( in theory - lol )

[Merlin66]

Does EQMOD run on a Mac??

Chris gave a very good summary on the EQMOD group....

If all you want to do is control your mount from a laptop you don't have to use EQMOD. You can connect your laptop to the mount via the handcontroller and have your planetarium use its integrated celestron/nexstar driver (if it has one) or use the ASCOM celestron drivers. See http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/docs/PC_Control_Options.pdf

The advantages of using EQMOD are in the extra features its provides over the handset. see http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/faqs/whyeqmod.html

If you decide to go the EQMOD route you don't have to buy a shoestring cable - there are other vendors available or you could make your own. However, if you have a V3 synscan handcontroller you can try out EQMOD simply by placing it in PC Direct mode and connecting the PC to handcontroller (using a USB-232 cable which you may already have).

A gamepad is generally considered the most user friendly interface for remote control whilst at the mount but you can use a mouse or keyboard/numpad (albeit with less functionality than a gamepad). Wireless devices naturally make things easier or you could just have USB hub at the mount and plug the mouse/keyboard/gamepad in there)

Using EQMOD does require the installation/interaction of several pieces of software and hardware. At times getting things working together under a Windows Environment can require some technical insight. That said this group is very good at supporting folks.

Chris.

[James]

EQMod doesn't run on a Mac (unless you're using Boot Camp or Parallels/some kind of emulator).

EQMac however does just fine...

James

[chrisshillito]

Hi Andrew,

If your current goals are to take pictures of the Moon and Planets I'm not sure you really need to fit the synscan upgrade yet. Do you feel the need for automated goto for these targets?

If you do then fitting the synscan upgrade will certainly open up all sorts of future possibilities, all with associated pros and cons .

If you do go this route then I wouldn't worry about EQMOD or EQMAC to start with. The sysncan handcontroller provides a nexstar protocol interface to the mount and so if you use planetarium software that supports a nexstar interface you can get basic mount control from your MAC without needing to install an extra software or hardware. This may well be all you need and is the best/simplest way to start.

In time you may want to investigate EQMOD and/or EQMAC. EQMOD is provides a set of functionality that not only replaces the handset but provides additional functions such a limit protection etc. EQMOD is windows only and works in combination with ASCOM which is a well established "standard" method for connecting astronomy applications to the mount. ASCOM has widespread support amongst windows based astronomy programs. To run EQMOD/ASCOM on a MAC you would have to run an emulator but I'm told this works fine and may be something you want to consider anyway given the amount of windows based astronomy software around.

EQMAC is a relatively new initiative that intends to provide EQMOD type functionality for MAC users. Unfortunately as things currently stand the MAC lacks an established astronomy interface standard (such as ASCOM under windows) and so MAC drivers (such as EQMAC) may be rather restricted in the range of applications to which they can be interfaced.

Chris.

[andrewfkay]

Thanks for the great info Chris.

I may not need the synscan goto just yet but I'm keen to photograph DSO but will start with the moon and planets as advised to begin with.

I'm still a novice at this and don't want to bite off more than I can chew then lose interest due to frustration.

Cheers

Andrew