Using Stellarium to Control your Mount with a Mac - SOLUTION

[obs30]

Forgive me for asking if this has already been covered (checked this thread but didn't see a solution). Can you use stellarium to control an Heq5 Syntrek mount on a mac?

Apparently (and supposedly), the SynScan is compatible to the Celestron NexStar (not only by the looks ;-)). I am not sure about the SynTrek, though. After looking at this info from Skywatcher, you probably need to upgrade to the SynScan. The SynTrek merely treks...

You might find more info on the Wiki for the telescope control. Since I got my NexStar working flawlessly with the Mac, I suppose the SynScan should work as well.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The only one tricky thing I found was, that the USB-Serial adapter address can change from one session to another. So you need to check with the terminal window the new device ("dev") address/link of your USB adapter and type ─ or copy&paste ─ that into the Stellarium telescope-control interface as explained earlier in this thread and on the plugin-wiki under "serial port". This is a matter of seconds, no need to be scared of(f).

Check these two wikis on the telescope plug-in:

1) General info and ...

2) Compatible mounts.

Good luck and clear skies.

[egjaylink]

I have installed the LS2303 on to my Macbook Pro, but when I go to terminal, I cannot find anything like the cu.usbserial name. I have installed the software twice , but still cannot find it there.

Pleas advise.

Jay Link

[munozandre]

Hi

First of all thank you for such good information.

I would like to know the following based upon using stellarium on a mac to control a celestron C8-SGT telescope:

- Am I right that stellarium has the necessary drivers for the telescope, and I don't have to install Nexremote (as this is only for windows)?

- I have searched Maplins for the adapter you stated above and there is only one on their website, that only supports windows. Is this your one and will it work on mac?

http://www.maplin.co.uk/usb-to-serial-9-pin-male-adaptor-29968

Thanks

[hobbes_in_space]

I've read a few of SGL's posts in the past, but your post made me create an account just so I can reply and say thanks. Your article was very helpful, the whole time I was trying to use tty.serialusb, when it was cu.serialusb all along. Many thanks, and clear skies.

[robban]

Thanks very much for this thread - it helped a lot and I was able to 'start' my Nexstar 127SLT on Stellarium. I was still unable to get the scope to slew or for Stellarium to show where the scope was pointing. A couple of hours later... and I found that I had more than one PL2303 driver installed on my Mac. I deleted all of the others and just used the (newly downloaded) one from the manufacturer's website. Hey presto; I got movement and a little circle telling me where my scope was on the Stellarium sky.

Moral: only one USB-Serial driver installed.

[Bert de Wavre]

Good morning :

I did start stellarium in order to do step 1 which is Cmd + 0 : result : nothing .

Plse confirm the way to select a new telescope with stellarium ? Is it cmd 0 ( number) is it cmd + O (oscar) do I have to depress all the keys together ?

Does the telescope need to be connected and powered for that ?

Thanks for answer as I am stuck at the very beginning of your tutorial .

Regards

[Cornelius Varley]

2 hours ago, Bert de Wavre said:

Good morning :

I did start stellarium in order to do step 1 which is Cmd + 0 : result : nothing .

Plse confirm the way to select a new telescope with stellarium ? Is it cmd 0 ( number) is it cmd + O (oscar) do I have to depress all the keys together ?

Does the telescope need to be connected and powered for that ?

Thanks for answer as I am stuck at the very beginning of your tutorial .

Regards

The two keys to press (together) are cmd (ctrl in windows)+ 1 to slew the mount. The full range of key commands can be found by pressing F1 in Stellarium. The mount does naturally need to be powered up and connected to the laptop and Stellarium running. The mount connection also needs to be configured in Stellarium before the connection can be made.