The first thing you want to set up is the Ocular plugin. For what I do, these plugins are: Oculars, Remote Control and Telescope Control. Stellarium uses a set of plugins in order to control the mount correctly. Actually my language had some more colourful metaphors if I’m brutally honest…But over time I’ve managed to integrate it more and more into my astro work until I’m now at the point where I’m ready to use it to control what the mount does and where she points. I’ll admit that when I first installed it I had a quick look and said “OMG, that’s way too complicated” and left it for some time. Stellarium is a great piece of software that you can use for various aspects of astronomy and astrophotography. Software: ASCOM platform, SynScan, PHD2, Stellarium, APT The current version (as of this update) is 0.20. The walkthrough has been updated to reflect these changes which came into effect from version 0.19. Since the recent update though, Stellarium no longer needs that and can operate telescopes from within itself. Since originally writing this walkthrough Stellarium has been updated and I referenced the StellariumScope standalone program for telescope control within there. It’s simply what I use and I wish to share how I go about my imaging with you. I need to also say that I’m in no way affiliated with any of this software or hardware and nor am I receiving any form of payment for endorsing it here. To that end, if you've not done so already I would set your scope up in daylight and test out that you can connect the camera to the scope, achieve focus on something a long way away (distant telegraph poles or electricity towers are favourites) and make sure that your method for taking photos works (whether that's by software or a remote shutter controller etc).I need to stress that I can only say that this works with my own set up, so there may be differences between mine and what you use. There really is nothing worse, in my opinion, than finally getting a rare clear night and spending it sorting out a glitch with your set-up that could have been resolved earlier. and you are doing exactly the right thing it setting up indoors and making sure everything is working. I feel your pain with respect to the weather Peter! Thank's to all of you for taking the time to solve my problem. So here's for clear sky's when I can fit my Nikon D90 with it's computer controll to the telescope and, perhaps, get some decent photograph. I bought everything in March and have only had three clear night when I've been able to set it up outside. Twice I tried contacting Stellarium without any reply. All I had to do was leave the hand controller without setting it to PC Mode. I have just set up the tripod and EQ5 in my bedroom with the laptop to try out your suggestions. Let us know how you get on as I'm sure we can sort this out. You may find that the COM port number is specific to the USB port that you are using on the computer and / or that you need to install the USB-to-Serial interface driver for each USB hub. It should be under Ports (COM & LPT) - click on the arrow to the left to expand and you should see something like "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM4)".ģ) The COM4 bit tells you what to put into Stellarium The one complaint I would have is that sometimes Stellarium will allow you connect and stop mount control from the configuration dialogue box when in reality the Serial to USB and / or COM port configuration is not correct (and therefore scope control won't actually work).ġ) Are you sure your serial to USB interface is compatible with Windows 7?Ģ) Are you able to see the serial to USB interface in Device Manager? (in Win 7 go to Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound -> Device Manager). but so long as the Serial to USB interface is working correctly and the right COM port has been identified there is no reason why Stellarium can't be used to control the mount. Much more functional for scope control although it does require ASCOM drivers. At the risk of completely derailing your thread, I would forget stellarium for scope control.
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