Stellarium - 10 Micron compatible?

[Big Bang!]

New kid on the block - some help please.  Apologies in advance if I ought to know where to find this out - I have been working on it all morning and have got nowhere. 

I am confused by the device "compatibility" in Stellarium: Does anybody know if Stellarium is compatible with a 10 Micron 1000 HPS?  I have been able to get Cartes du Ciel to control the mount well but not Stellarium.  I have configured it so that it says "connected" but it won't actually move the mount.

Thank you in advance.

Gus

[Tinker1947]

You may need "Stellarium Scope"  but i can't say if this will cure the problem,,,,,,

[perfrej]

You can set Stellarium to LX200 and it will work with your 10Micron mount, or you can use StellariumScope which encapsulates the ASCOM driver, then connect to mine or 10Micron's ASCOM driver.

/per

[damnut]

As above enable stellarium scope, make sure the com ports are assigned correctly. If you are using a usb to serial lead you need to make sure it is certified for use with the version of windows (assumption, hate assumptions) you are using as w7 can be very choosy about relevant Prolific chipsets and drivers.

[Big Bang!]

Thanks  guys.  I'll look at that tomorrow and get back to you.  I did have Stellarium set to the LX200 - it said "Connected" but would not slew.  CDC had no bother. I'll download "Scope" and see what happens.

Gus

[perfrej]

You are connected via Ethernet or serial?

/per

[Big Bang!]

Hi Per

I can do either or Wireless. Would that make a difference. I am really at the very beginning of my journey into AP and it is entirely possible I am not understanding something critical.

Thanks for your help.

Gus

[perfrej]

Gus,

Ethernet is the preferred way to connect a 10Micron mount. If you want to do model making with Model Maker, then the only driver that works is mine, which requires a nework connection (not serial). WiFi or Ethernet is the same, only I wouldn't trust WiFi for remote setups.

Stellarium can connect to the 10Micron mounts only through the serial port as it doesn't support TCP connections to a virtual LX200. In your case, with a network connection, you have to go through StellariumScope and an ASCOM driver. The latter can be 10Micron's or mine, both work fine. StellariumScope has been a bit fidgety at times but I have not tried the latest version.

The use of a planetarium application with the mount you have can almost be seen as an excess. If you know which DSO, planet, comet or satellite you want to go to you can do it via the hand controller and the target will be within a single digit number of pixels from the center of the fov every time.

/per

[Big Bang!]

Good morning gents,

Thus is demonstrated the benefit of SGL to those of us who don't yet know what we are doing.  I have downloaded Per's Driver and Stellarium Scope and it all works fine.  I've given it a couple of hours testing this morning; opening up/ closing down/ slewing around etc...  One unfortunate characteristic - I found that each time I start Stellarium Scope I have to re-select Per's driver in the Select Mount window - even if is already showing in there from my last use. If you don't do that then it gives you a "Detected a problem/shutting down" window but as long as you re-select it each time you open up St. Scope it connects without trouble.

The use of a planetarium application with the mount you have can almost be seen as an excess. If you know which DSO, planet, comet or satellite you want to go to you can do it via the hand controller and the target will be within a single digit number of pixels from the center of the fov every time.

That is an astonishingly high degree of pointing accuracy and was the main reason for my upgrading to this mount. I guess you have achieved that through good modelling with a high star count? I am probably going to be coming back to you on modelling shortly.

Yes, I have been very impressed with the hand controller and it is certainly very easy to get around with just that. However, as I am so new to DSO and don't know the sky to that level of detail I think using a planetarium application will help my spacial awareness. My dome is not software controlled, so when the scope is going the long way around I will need to be aware of where it is going to finish so that I don't keep chasing it. Perhaps as I get better at this I will have less need.  Thus far it has all been bench testing. My pier will arrive shortly and I am hoping for first light by next week.

Very grateful for the benefit of your experience/ knowledge.

Gus