Homemade GOTO

[kevy02]

Greetings, I am getting back into astronomy after a break of many many years.Have a 150mm refractor on EQ5 mount.Just wondering if there is a cheap way of computerising the drives rather than purchasing a GOTO mount setup, ie is there a software program I can run from my laptop that can drives the RA and Dec drives? Many thanks.:thumbsup:

[Harb]

Check this thread out.........not really goto, but lots of people have used these and have great success.

http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=15789

The link to the unit itself

http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au (http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/)

cheers
John

[gary]

Hi and welcome back to the world of amateur astronomy.

One question is, do you require the ability to GOTO (i.e. motorized slewing)
or is manual 'PUSHTO' (i.e. a computer assists you in locating an
object, but you provide the muscle power) combined with motorized tracking
(to keep the object within the FOV) sufficient?

Many amateurs prefer PUSHTO because of its fast, quiet and reliable operation.

Since you are at Ettalong, you might like to consider coming along to one
of the IceInSpace nights at Kulnura.
http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=14925


Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au

[bojan]

Both Push-to and Go-to are supported by Mel Bartels software...
have a look at it here:
http://www.bbastrodesigns.com/BBAstroDesigns.html#Computer_Operat ed_Telescopes
Sometimes I am using Go-to, but Push-to is faster...
Mels's software is using mouse driver as interface with encoders (made of old mouse).
Bojan

[kevy02]

Thanks for the input guys,I will have a good think about the suggestions.

[iceman]

Hi there! Another from the central coast!

:welcome: to the forum.

Can you make it to IISAC2007 (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/iisac)in a couple of weeks?