Stellarium control or ASCOM, EQMOD?

[Steve C]

Having recently bought a skyscan upgrade for my EQ5 I'm considering controlling it using Stellarium.

However on discovering the ASCOM site with EQMOD & the like I'm now torn between running my scope directly through Stellarium or going through the potential minefield of setting up & using ASCOM drivers with Stellarium?

Whilst I understand ASCOM provides the driver whats the point of using that if I can simply plug & play through Stellarium?

Or am I missing something obvious?

Any preferences or thoughts would be most welcome.

[Mike_F]

Having recently bought a skyscan upgrade for my EQ5 I'm considering controlling it using Stellarium.

However on discovering the ASCOM site with EQMOD & the like I'm now torn between running my scope directly through Stellarium or going through the potential minefield of setting up & using ASCOM drivers with Stellarium?

Whilst I understand ASCOM provides the driver whats the point of using that if I can simply plug & play through Stellarium?

Wotcha SteveC! Nice to see/hear you're getting on OK with that mount / SynScan setup.

Or am I missing something obvious?

Not at all. I did experiment with EQMOD and the Synscan/EQ5 combo to see what all the fuss was about. As far as I can tell, the benefits you get with EQMOD are:

• A pointing model that grows over time. Instead of the 1/2/3 star alignment - it's more of an "All Star" alignment thing - where each star aligned adds to the overall pointing accuracy. Very useful if the scope/mount is on a permanent pier. Not so useful if you're setting it all up from scratch for every session.
  
• You also get the benefit of mount slew limit control - to help avoid collisions.
  
• You also get ASCOM pulseguiding - which many prefer over ST4 autoguiding - because of it's integration with the ASCOM PEC model. If you're not imaging however - who cares?
  
• You can also abort slews initiated through the ASCOM driver & EQMOD - something that can't be done if just Stellarium is in control. Be wary of mount/OTA collisions..
  
• EQMOD also has a nice tool to help you setup the polar alignment via the polar-scope.
  
• EQMOD allows you to control the scope via a remote gamepad. For me, it worked but it was a total "meh" experience. (Sits back and waits for the flames..)
  

Any preferences or thoughts would be most welcome.

If you just want to range around the sky with planetarium software, the straight Stellarium/Direct EQ5 connection is fine.

If you want a more permanent setup, with more accurate pointing that SynScan alone can provide - and all the other benefits that EQMOD brings - you pays no money, you takes yer choice.

That's my 2p anyway..

[rll1288]

As Above....

I use the combination of the two..............

The Ascom/eqmod allows me to have an Xbox (wirless) controller which if you game a lote means that you can add functions to the buttons and configure it to different slew rates..etc etc....

With Stellarium I use it to "GoTo" using Ctrl + 1 then fine tune with the controller....The star and polar alignment with eqmod great and saves me stressing.....they also have loads of videos to go through the functions.,.......

[Beyond_Vision]

The remote control from a wireless gamepad is reason enough as it is a real boon when doing the alignment. No more tangled wires wrapping around the mount and you can comfortably look through the view finder whilst moving the scope. It can also come in handy if you need to abort a slew in an emergency.

Regards

Kevin

[jgs001]

Apart from the guiding, game pad control, emergency abort (programmed onto the gamepad for me), slew and tracking limits (with meridian flip), goto, n star align (although that works better with a permanent setup). Mosaicing, satellite tracking (although I've not managed to make that work yet)... I use Carte Du Ciel to drive it all, not as pretty as Stellarium, but works very well.

setup was an absolute doddle... I had some squeamishness about the cable I made, but the rest just... worked.

The guide camera installation was a mare, but that's something else entirely, and not to do with EQMOD.