The Sky Software driving me mad

[ribuck]

Hi all,

I'm a bit confused about an issue i have with "The Sky" software. I use this in conjunction with Eqmod to do my slews.

I had trained Eqmod with a lot of N-point alignment stars, so if i pick any star it's puts it pretty much dead centre of my ccd image view.

I then use maxim's find a DSO setting (10secs @ 2x2 binnning) and slewed to several messier objects (M104, M49, M61) and there was never anything there showing up on my ccd images.

Lastnight the viewing was perfect and the atmosphere was very still, i.e. very little twinkling of stars so i can only assume that there is something not quite right with "The Sky" software on my machine.

Anyone got any idea's as it doesn't make any sense.

Rich.

[Merlin66]

Did you install the Ascom/ the Sky drivers as recommended on the EQMOD site?

I gave up on TheSky V6.... now I use CdC V3.1 - works for me every time.

Ken

[MartinB]

Have you set your location and is The Sky still using your "user defined" location. One irritating feature of The Sky is it's tendancy to default to Golden Springs, Colarado!

Ken may have had a bad experience but I find it very good once you get used to it's ways and it has some very powerful features.

[ribuck]

Hi ken,

yes i install the ascom drivers. I must admit i'm really not that keen on the sky 6 at all. I just wanted to test it as i cannot use Starrynight with pc remote control as it used open GL which windows remote desktop doesn't like.

i'll have a look and see if there are any trails of the cdc software to test it.

Thanks Ken.

[ribuck]

Martin,

I use a gps module through Eqmod and then link my telescope to "The sky" via the ascom driver, but i didn't set anything in the "The Sky" software.

I dont think the location is an issue as I wouldn't get perfect slews to stars otherwise.

Rich.

[dark knight]

I use the Sky 6 and find it great, it gives great info on any target. I don't think the problem is the Sky software, but more likely to be the way your different software interact with each other, out of curiosity why don't you use the eqmod tour function since eqmod and The Sky 6 seem to be working together ok?

I use the sync function in The Sky 6 software to automatically add alignment points to eqmod and find it very successful..

[ribuck]

Ken,

I can't find any references to cdc 3.1, could you give me the full name of the product.

Rich.

[Merlin66]

en:download [skychart]

The nail in the coffin for TheSky V6 to me, was the fact that the Serious Astronomer Edition wouldn't handle the UNSO databases- they go down to 18mag+

CdC handles them very well as well as many, many other catalogues and gives enough data on each object to satisfy me; using AstroPlanner V2 to set up a search list which also interfaces with CdC swayed me.

Ken

[ribuck]

Carl,

Maybe i'm doing something wrong, but when i first setup eqmod i slewed to a whole bunch of stars in every direction n/s/e/w etc and synced them with eqmod which got added into point list fine.

How can i get stars from sky6 perfect in the centre of my ccd chip and yet nothign appear for messier objects, this is the bit that makes no sense at all, i even increased my exposre to 1min at 2x2 to see if i could see anything, but zip, nada, nothing.

Rich.

[arad85]

How can i get stars from sky6 perfect in the centre of my ccd chip and yet nothign appear for messier objects, this is the bit that makes no sense at all, i even increased my exposre to 1min at 2x2 to see if i could see anything, but zip, nada, nothing.

Rich.

Are you sure you're getting the star you request in the centre of your CCD chip? It could be that you're alignment is out. There are lots of stars out there, but few M objects.... I certainly don't have a problem with The Sky 6 and aligning to objects...

[ribuck]

Yeah it's accurate, i polar align with eqmod, then double check everything through the finderscope.

[SteveP]

Rich

I use TheSky6 with Maxim DL occasionally with EQMod. I select TeleAPI as the scope in TheSky and then select EQMod Ascom in Properties. The combination works reliably for me.

I don't understand how you can find named stars and yet have difficulties finding Messier objects. There are two logical possibilities. Firstly, are you sure that you are centring on the correct stars? One way to confirm this is to use TheSky to go to a double, say Mizar/Alcor which can't be confused for anything else ... except another double... and confirm that you have centred the double. Secondly, after you have taken your image of the M61, say, in Maxim, are you doing a screen stretch or defaulting to whatever Maxim selects? Without a stretch it sometimes apears that there is nothing there. Tweaking the screen histogram in Maxim with the black/white points can show otherwise

Also, the M objects you've mentioned are all quite small. Have you tried something a little larger eg M101?

Steve

[ribuck]

Hi Steve,

That's a good idea about using a double star as a test. With regards to the comment about there being nothing there, i mean that i see some stars but no DSO.

I've done a few DSO images in the past using a smaller camera and using starrynight without any issues.

if i get any clear sky tonight i'm going to gve it another bash, but this time with starrynight and if that works i'll just have to live with the fact that i can't do remote desktop to the observatory due to Starrynight's using open GL graphics not compatible with remote desktop.

Rich.

[MartinB]

Steve makes an excellent point about the auto screen stretch in Maxim. Make sure you have it on screen and double check that the image is stretched.

[ribuck]

Hi martin / Steve,

I've used Maxim for a while now, so i'm aware of the screen stretch, that was the first thing i checked.

I'm going to test and compare with Starrynight tonight if it's clear and see what happens.

Rich

[dark knight]

Try in The Sky 6, zoom right in to separate the DSO from the background stars and then sync, this ensures the correct object is synced and not some other nearby object,,,