Stellarium

[CACO]

Hello All,

 

I have been using Stellarium with Windows 10, I have many issues with Stellarium, keeping that topic extremely short! 

I would like to know if there is an alternative program I could use that is similar, which allows me to operate my telescope from my keyboard and slew to selected objects?  

Regards 

Tony 

 

[SimonS]

Shame you are having problems with Stellarium.

I have installed KStars onto my Raspberry Pi (since it doesn't work with Stellarium) and it allows you to control your mount. I haven't got much experience of using it yet, but that is another option.

Simon.

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. Cartes du Ciel gives you computer control of your mount through the Ascom platform and also prints out nice star charts.

[Redscouse]

I use Stellarium. The other option I know of is Cartes du Ciel. (link) This is highly recommended by the big boys and girls however I couldn't get to grips with it. I find Stellarium much easier (and without any issues, also on Windows 10). 

Pete. 

[solwisesteve]

Can you describe the issues? I mean I'm new to this lark but Stellarium seems fine on my home laptop and office desktop.

[Dazzyt66]

1 hour ago, CACO said:

Hello All,

 

I have been using Stellarium with Windows 10, I have many issues with Stellarium, keeping that topic extremely short! 

I would like to know if there is an alternative program I could use that is similar, which allows me to operate my telescope from my keyboard and slew to selected objects?  

Regards 

Tony 

 

Hi Tony. Describe your scope and setup. I usually use SkySafari on iOS but have just loaded Stellarium on my Win10 dell laptop with Stellarium Scope, ASCOM drivers and SynScan WiFi on my heq5 mount. After a little working out it’s all fine so far although I’ve yet to give it a real good field test but initial stuff seems ok as an iOS alternative ?

[CACO]

Hello All,

Thank you  for your responses, very  much appreciated.

Dazzyt,

You asked for more information I set out below what I basically posted on the Stellarium official forums page. 

Thank you for your response, the issue is not with the telescope, that is fine, my problem is with the software of Stellarium, e.g. Looking at the Stellarium Screen with Horizon low at the bottom of the screen, I am able to select an object at +35° and press ‘Ctrl 1’ to slew the telescope to that particular object. However, if I were to try to select an object close to any part of the horizon in any direction below, +35° the Stellarium software allows me to select the object but will not recognise the command ‘Ctrl 1’ to slew the telescope to such a low position.

 

Zooming in or out on an object and selecting the particular object has no effect either.

 If I were not using the Stellarium I can slew manually which indicates the telescope is working fine.

 I am in the UK, my coordinates are 50 59 N, 0 08 E and the connecting cable is via a USB port to the RS232 socket on the telescope. Meade 10" LX200 GPS GOTO. South Facing on an equatorial mount using a plinth and a Meade wedge.

 If any of the above makes sense to you.

 

Many thanks
 

Tony

 

 

[Davey-T]

You say you can slew manually to lower things but it's worth checking the slew limits set in the hand controller these may be overridden if pushing the buttons manually.

Dave

[Hallingskies]

I’ve used SkyMap Pro for years and love it.  Only downside is it’s not for free, but it is far more intuitive than Carte du Ciel and it doesn’t hog your CPU like Stellarium does.  There’s an ASCOM plug-in for it so it will point your EQ6 quite happily.  There’s a trial version package available from the SkyMap Pro web site - you might want to give it a go.

[mikeonnet]

I'd have to agree with Dave as it definitely sounds like you have got slew limits set on your hand controller. I would navigate through the menus on the hand controller to check this first.

[Dazzyt66]

15 hours ago, CACO said:

Hello All,

Thank you  for your responses, very  much appreciated.

Dazzyt,

You asked for more information I set out below what I basically posted on the Stellarium official forums page. 

Thank you for your response, the issue is not with the telescope, that is fine, my problem is with the software of Stellarium, e.g. Looking at the Stellarium Screen with Horizon low at the bottom of the screen, I am able to select an object at +35° and press ‘Ctrl 1’ to slew the telescope to that particular object. However, if I were to try to select an object close to any part of the horizon in any direction below, +35° the Stellarium software allows me to select the object but will not recognise the command ‘Ctrl 1’ to slew the telescope to such a low position.

 

Zooming in or out on an object and selecting the particular object has no effect either.

 If I were not using the Stellarium I can slew manually which indicates the telescope is working fine.

 I am in the UK, my coordinates are 50 59 N, 0 08 E and the connecting cable is via a USB port to the RS232 socket on the telescope. Meade 10" LX200 GPS GOTO. South Facing on an equatorial mount using a plinth and a Meade wedge.

 If any of the above makes sense to you.

 

Many thanks
 

Tony

 

 

As a few others have said, this sounds like slew limits either on the handset or in the software. I’m new to stellarium so can’t say if there are slew limits there (or other interface like ASCOM and Stellarium Scope). Something I’ll look at next time I use it and I’ll let you know if I have same issue.

[CACO]

Hello Fellow Stargazers,

Thank you all for your responses, I will endeavour to try out all your suggestions to get my issue resolved.

Thank you once again

Tony

PS: I have tried to respond to you all individually but couldn't see how to on this site.

Hello All,

Thank you  for your responses, very  much appreciated.

Dazzyt,

You asked for more information I set out below what I basically posted on the Stellarium official forums page. 

Thank you for your response, the issue is not with the telescope, that is fine, my problem is with the software of Stellarium, e.g. Looking at the Stellarium Screen with Horizon low at the bottom of the screen, I am able to select an object at +35° and press ‘Ctrl 1’ to slew the telescope to that particular object. However, if I were to try to select an object close to any part of the horizon in any direction below, +35° the Stellarium software allows me to select the object but will not recognise the command ‘Ctrl 1’ to slew the telescope to such a low position.

 

Zooming in or out on an object and selecting the particular object has no effect either.

If I were not using the Stellarium I can slew manually which indicates the telescope is working fine.

I am in the UK, my coordinates are 50 59 N, 0 08 E and the connecting cable is via a USB port to the RS232 socket on the telescope. Meade 10" LX200 GPS GOTO. South Facing on an equatorial mount using a plinth and a Meade wedge.

If any of the above makes sense to you.

 

Many thanks

Tony

[CACO]

Hello fellow star gazers,

Thank you  for all those that assisted me with my dilemma regarding not being able to slew to low objects using Stellarium.  I decided to to reset the scope and calibrate the location etc... This cleared the problem and I can  now slew to low objects in the horizon.

Thank you 

 

Tony 

[solwisesteve]

Actually I've been investigating using Skycharts by Cartes du Ciel and I think it's probably better than Stellarium. Stellarium certainly looks flashy but CDC has more useful functions. Just my 2d worth as a total, total, beginner.

[Davey-T]

29 minutes ago, solwisesteve said:

Actually I've been investigating using Skycharts by Cartes du Ciel and I think it's probably better than Stellarium. Stellarium certainly looks flashy but CDC has more useful functions. Just my 2d worth as a total, total, beginner.

I find it easier to match images to stars in CDC as Stellarium magnitudes always seem at odds with the actual image.

Dave

[EWHB]

On 20/04/2018 at 14:11, CACO said:

Hello All,

 

I have been using Stellarium with Windows 10, I have many issues with Stellarium, keeping that topic extremely short! 

I would like to know if there is an alternative program I could use that is similar, which allows me to operate my telescope from my keyboard and slew to selected objects?  

Regards 

Tony 

 

What kind of problems are you having?  Is is GPU related?

[cletrac1922]

Caco

What sort of mount you have for your scope?

Few days ago, purchased Wi-Fi adaptor for my EQ5 mount

To your mobile phone upload SynScan App

The Wi-Fi unit takes the place of your SynScan controller, and use the SynScan App to control your mount

The beauty of the Wi-Fi adapter, is that automatically loads GPS location, date and time from your mobile device

Then just do two star alignment as per normal

Point your mobile device where want scope to point Deep Sky Object, and then fine tune using controller buttons included in the APP

 

 

[CACO]

Thank  you  for showing me the device from your mobile, on this occasion I  don't think I am savvy enough to operate  your idea.  Many thanks for responding.

 

Tony