Go-to facility with GPUSB?
Posted: Tue Dec 12, 2006 10:26 am
Last week I saw a demonstration by David Ratledge at the Bolton Astronomical Society of the GuideDog software operating on an old (DC motor-driven) EQ-5 type mount fitted with your GPUSB interface adaptor.
I was particularly interested in this, since I use an EQ-5 myself, but I've been wondering if the system could be extended to provide a primitive "go-to" capability to help locate faint objects? I currently use the manual "star-hopping" technique, where the the telescope is first pointed at a known nearby star, and then iteratively slewed toward the target, but I wonder if this process could be automated under computer control, where the "deltas" in RA and dec could be calculated, and then the telescope driven straight to the object? It would certainly help on occasions like last night, when my attempts to locate comet Garradd were hampered by intermittent cloud cover (I did find it in the end )
I already use the Cartes du Ciel program, which I believe includes an ASCOM control interface: could this be used in the manner suggested? If not, perhaps the additional capability could be added in a software plug-in? I think that many other EQ-5 owners may be interested in this possibility too.
Ross
Bolton, England
I was particularly interested in this, since I use an EQ-5 myself, but I've been wondering if the system could be extended to provide a primitive "go-to" capability to help locate faint objects? I currently use the manual "star-hopping" technique, where the the telescope is first pointed at a known nearby star, and then iteratively slewed toward the target, but I wonder if this process could be automated under computer control, where the "deltas" in RA and dec could be calculated, and then the telescope driven straight to the object? It would certainly help on occasions like last night, when my attempts to locate comet Garradd were hampered by intermittent cloud cover (I did find it in the end )
I already use the Cartes du Ciel program, which I believe includes an ASCOM control interface: could this be used in the manner suggested? If not, perhaps the additional capability could be added in a software plug-in? I think that many other EQ-5 owners may be interested in this possibility too.
Ross
Bolton, England