Planetarium Software

[hornedreaper33]

Good morning all,

I have been slowly adding to my set up over the last couple of weeks and during a "practice" session I realised hey, I have BYEOS driving a camera, I have a laptop, I have the cable that came with the telescope, why not try plate solving. The next day I dug out the RJ to Serial cable and ordered the serial to USB adapter (yeah, thanks Celestron). I have installed and set up Astrotortilla but when it comes to controlling the mount I am a little unsure as to the finer points. 

My questions are:

1), Do I need planetarium software? I am not sure if I need this or I just need to download the ASCOM drivers. If the planetarium software is bundled with the drivers then I guess that is probably easier.

2) If so which one is best to use? My AVX mount shipped with a dated version of The Sky X First Light Edition. For some reason it doesn't want to find my location or check for updates. I looked at how much the software is to buy and yeah... I'd rather spend that money on a new finder.

 

As always, any help is greatly appreciated. Clear skies.

[don4l]

If you are using Windows, then you should start by installing the Ascom platform and a driver for your mount.

For planetarium software, I would recommend Cartes du Ciel https://www.ap-i.net/skychart/en/start

Cartes du Ciel will talk to the Ascom driver as it is.

Spend loads of time playing with Cartes du Ciel.  It will grow with you.

[DaveS]

+1 for C du C

[DKNicholson]

I use Sequence Generator Pro for image capture, guiding, platesolving etc, etc. With Platesolve 2 (free) installed for SGPro the telescope is accurately pointed at the DSO you're after and it does automatic meridian flips if necessary. The co-ordinates for the DSO I get from Stellarium (free) which is worth downloading in any event. SGPro does take a little setting up but it is worth it. Obviously accurate polar alignment is necessary as is a fairly consistent home position.

[wuthton]

3 hours ago, DKNicholson said:

 The co-ordinates for the DSO I get from Stellarium (free) which is worth downloading in any event. 

Are you manually imputing coordinates? If so, have a look at SGP's framing and mosaic wizard, it will blow your mind. 

[DKNicholson]

35 minutes ago, wuthton said:

Are you manually imputing coordinates?

I always manually input the coordinates from Stellarium so that I can position the DSO in the frame just where I want it. In Stellarium I have set-up the various hardware options I might use when imaging and that gives the appropriate image size and frame for me to select the relevant hardware configuration to use for any particular DSO. Then I usually select a star in the centre of the frame so the position of the DSO is accurate and Stellarium provides the precise coordinates of that star. I have now created a list of objects to image and it takes just moments to enter their coordinates. Having said that, I recently imaged the Cave Nebula and put the coordinates in very slightly incorrectly so it was a bit out!

[hornedreaper33]

Amazing image @DKNicholson.

Thanks for the info all. I did a little more reading and decided to go with CDC due to the fact that it is a little easier on the laptop (graphically). .Net 3.5 installed, ASCOM drivers installed, Celestron drivers installed. Now all I need is for that Serial to USB adapter!

Edited November 3, 2019 by hornedreaper33