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Stellarium Scope control?


swlloyd3

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Does anybody have a good tutorial for how to conduct alignment through stellariumScope and Eqmod?

I have the mount set up and connected and can go into stellarium via stellariumScope and [ctrl] click for slewing to a star....

So I assumed in EqMOD interface you would just set your coordinates and then have the scope polar aligned... Then click dialog based alignment and click that little notepad with a green + icon to bring up the N<E<S<W controls. From here I assumed I would go into stellarium [ctrl] click the star I want wait for the scope to go there and then center using the EQMOD interface.

BUT.... the accept button in the middle of these arrows is greyed out (un-selectable) so I cant accept coordinates!

Also when using the N,E,S,W arrows the scope goes at a the slew speed!

Anybody know what to do with this? Probably something really simple but im rubbish at software!

Ste.

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You get a pretty good tutorial installed with EQASCOM - the manual!. Alternatively watch my EQMOD youtube videos - there's quite a few on the ins and outs of alignment. The videos use CDC rather than stellarium but its the same priniple - go to a star, centre it in the eyepiece, then issue as sync from the planetarium (I think that's ctrl3 if using stellarium scope defaults)

Chris.

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Aha the sync! ctrl + 3! wondered what that was for! Thank you so much it seems to have worked fine! I am assuming once I am aligned to 3 or more points I can load up PHD guiding and use this to lock onto a guide star via a webcam and track through PHD???

Ste.

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Using stellearium scope and eqmod Ctrl+1 goto. Ctrl+3 sync. Ctrl+5 stop/cancel.

" I am assuming once I am aligned to 3 or more points I can load up PHD guiding and use this to lock onto a guide star via a webcam and track through PHD???"

Yep.

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I am assuming once I am aligned to 3 or more points I can load up PHD guiding and use this to lock onto a guide star via a webcam and track through PHD???

Ste.

Really depends on how you prefer to work. Some folks don't bother aligning all over the sky but rather just add a single sync point local to each target they visit - with EQMOD alignment you can add to the alignment model anytime, it doesn't have to be all done upfront. If your intention is to tour around the sky then you want at least a three point model - many opt for six with 3 points covering each side of the meridian. If you have a permanent setup you may want to go further and record and save a 12 point (3 points covering each quadrant) which is then re-loaded each night.

Chris.

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ahh that all makes sense now... I was thinking of loading PHD at the same time but thought there might be issues with two programs trying to control/track at the same time!

So use EQMOD+Stellarium to set a simple sync point on or near the target to image... then close the program and EQMOD... load PHD.... Connect camera+Mount through EQMOD and your sync point will be there! simple :)

Thanks to all!

Oh and I did think of cartes du ciel due to there being a youtube video about syncing on it but in the end of thought I must be close to getting it working in stellarium and so I didnt want to give up but thanks Revs!

Ste

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I was thinking of loading PHD at the same time but thought there might be issues with two programs trying to control/track at the same time!

So use EQMOD+Stellarium to set a simple sync point on or near the target to image... then close the program and EQMOD... load PHD.... Connect camera+Mount through EQMOD and your sync point will be there! simple :)

You can have PHD and stellarium both connected to the mount simultaneously - EQMOD acts as an ASCOM HUB. You don't really want to close EQMOD once you've gone to the hassle of doing alignment. The problem with ASCOM servers such as EQMOD is that when the last attached client application closes the server itself is forced to shutdown. So it is best to connect PHD before the mount before closing Stellarium (if you really feel the need to close it) and that way EQMOD will stay up an running. Alternatively there is a client application called EQASCOM_RUN which ships with EQMOD - use this to kick of EQMOD and leave it running permanently (windows will close it on shutdown) and that way it if you accidentally close the planetarium and PHD EQMOD will still keep running.

Chris.

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Oh right that's ok then, Might need to upgrade my RAM from 256MB tho to keep it all running :)

So I'm assuming once you have done alignment and leave the mount tracking that star through stellarium you can just open up the PHD window and hit guide on your target star and it should calibrate and send the mount the commands to track that star you want to image?

Ste.

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You can have PHD and stellarium both connected to the mount simultaneously - EQMOD acts as an ASCOM HUB.

What's the advantage in getting multiple programs to connect to a mount via the hub (POTH or otherwise) rather than connecting directly to the mount? Am I wasting my time doing that these days if it acts as a hub anyway?

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There's no advantage at all in using POTH as a means for multiple client applications to access EQASCOM. Doing so only introduces unnecessary process lags into the overall control system. EQASCOM's ability to support multiple clients, starting when the first connects and closing when the last disconnects, is not new, it has been like that for years.

Chris.

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The vast majority of ASCOM telescope drivers do not provide an inbuilt hub capability so Maxim's instructions do represent sound "general advice". With EQASCOM though we chose to ignore the traditional ASCOM driver recommendations and manage multiple client connections within the driver itself. No doubt the ASCOM purist's out there will strongly disagree with this approach but it makes things simpler for our users and ultimately that's all we care about :-)

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