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WebCamScheinern (WCS) software


blinky

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Has anybody used this software? WebCamScheinern It is for polar alinging with a webcam. Somebody sent me the link but I cannot remember who!

Anyway I have downloaded the trial and it looks pretty good but I have a couple of questions, I would just play about with it but with these clouds the observing nights are few and far between!

1.I will be using a webcam connected to my ZS66, as this is a refractor do I need to set anything inverted?

2. It asks you to pick a star and enter the declination, how do I find the declination of a star? Does Starry Night tell me? Also What format do I enter it in i.e. xx.yy.zz. or what?

I have high hopes for this program as if it works like it says it may finally allow me to get a decent polar alignment.

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I bought it (but never used it because the wedge align on my NS8GPS works so well). The declination you can get from Starry Night Pro (not the Altitude, the declination). Thee are "reverse" options in the aplication to allow forpretty much any OTA set up, and even the aility to use a star in the west if you donot have a cleat east view. The trick with it if you have any problems is to read the instructions and follow it EXACTLY... dont skip a step!

Am sure someone will be along soon who does actually useit regularly who will have a more informed opinion

(Moderator action: Modified the subject line to show "WCS" which is how this software is more commonly known)

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Well...I had a play with this software for a while tonight. It looks pretty good, very easy to operate, clearly written instructions in plain english.

Anyway I set up the cam to the ZS and calibrated it, basically you move the star you have chosen (I chose Altair) and move it from one side of the screen to the other, it then works out the angle of your webcam.

Next I centered the star and hit go! Left it for 2 mins and hit check (I think these are the buttons, you get the idea!) and it then shows you the error on screen. Tells you to place the star on the red square then move the RA of your scope to the green square (I dont mean your normal RA I mean the one you adjust for polar alinging). Anyway here is where I ran in to a slight problem. It told me to move my mount this way with the RA then place the star back on the red square with the handset then repeat three times!!! I could not move my RA screws this much so my initial alignment must have been very far off!!!!

I tried to start again, only this time doing a rough polar align with the polar scope, dont know what has gone wrong 'cos I could not find Polaris!!!

So.....Next time.....Rough polar align FIRST!

Overall though I am pretty impressed with this. It looks like it will make polar aligning a skoosh!!! Like all these things it will take a while initially but once you get used to it I am sure it will be very quick.

Need to have another few plays and see if I can actually complete a polar align, but for a tenner this looks like a must have piece of software!

Will post more updates on this as I play about with it more.

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I downloaded and tried WCS way back last winter, and it did do 'what it said on the tin'.

However, I found that it was just as easy to let it collect the data, and then not bother with its calculated adjustments, but to adjust the 'wedge' intuitively.

Having said that, in my case, with a permanent setup, it just a used for a bit of 'fine tuning'.

Dave

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