Taking it upo to the next level

[Earl]

Currently I use the following software:

EQmod

CdC

PHD

Nebulosity

I would like to be able to do Automated plate solving for alignment and camera rotation.

Is this possible?

[Komet]

CCD Commander is a tool for that but without actually looking into it I would say that software would need modding - along with a camera rotator. It is possible to plate solve an image (with Elbrus which is free) and that will give you your camera angle which you could then put into CdC as a FOV label which would show you what you were looking at. Link Elbrus to a capture program (like SGPro for example) that would do that automatically (although you would still need to change the FoV angle manually) and it starts to get very interesting. Totally automated though? - No - although SGPro could do a completely auto run including focusing, meridian flips, filter changes and multiple target (using plate solving on rerference images for accuracy) if there are enough hours in the night. Rotation would be the hiccup though.