TheSkyX Professional Edition

[Octane (Humayun)]

Hi all,

I have been a huge proponent of Starry Night Pro Plus 6, for a long, long time. Its realistic sky was a huge boon when it came to finding objects and the framing of images.

However, having gone down the automation route (CCD Commander until I pony up the cash for ACP and Scheduler), the software of choice is typically TheSky.

I had TheSky6 and it did everything I needed it, too, but, on a whim, I decided to purchase and download (which took an eon; Software Bisque's site is abysmally slow) TheSkyX Professional Edition.

Anyone care to outline the major benefits of TheSkyX over TheSky6?

While I was on the site, I had to struggle to keep my finger off the order button on a Paramount MX+.

Cheers!

H

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by Octane

...

Anyone care to outline the major benefits of TheSkyX over TheSky6?

While I was on the site, I had to struggle to keep my finger off the order button on a Paramount MX+.

TheSkyX is a one stop shop. Mount, camera, focuser, rotator and dome control plus TPoint modelling and accurate plate solving. Essentially it does it all (if you buy the add-ons). Maybe you should have bought the MX - it would have included TSX plus the TPoint and camera add-ons

Cheers, Marcus

[Octane (Humayun)]

lol, Marcus! I thought about that.

Is TPoint usable with my humble G-11?

H

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Originally Posted by Octane

Is TPoint usable with my humble G-11?

Yep!

[Octane (Humayun)]

Fantastic.

I look forward to playing with TheSkyX this weekend as it's nothing but cloud and rain.

H

[rogerg (Roger)]

Many people find TheSkyX frustrating for various resaons, so it's a good idea to have reasons you want it, to outweigh the frustrations Many people choose to continue using TheSky6 because as a driver for the Paramounts it works perfectly well with TPoint and all the rest, and arguably has less bugs than TheSkyX.

That being said, I use TheSkyX and it works well for me, although occasionally being frustrated by it's usability. Things which I like about it over TheSky6 are quite small things really:
- realistic/accurate photo overlay of my local horizon
- improved image link/plate solving
- more usable copy/paste of object details and display of them
- improved virtual sky which looks more "realistic" etc.
- more convenient time skipping

People who have problems with TheSkyX are often those who are using more ASCOM devices. My mount and camera all run using no ASCOM so I don't have such problems. TheSkyX is a significantly more resource heavy program than TheSky6.

TheSkyX needs a lot of screen realestate. I run 2 x 22" screens and it consumes one of them without thinking about it. I'd prefer to have more screen realestate to not have to flick between tabs so often but am saved somewhat from this by my camera control still running through CCDSoft so not needing to access all that functionality in TheSkyX.

Regards,
Roger.

[Octane (Humayun)]

The screen real estate is an issue for me.

My observatory computer is a tiny little Acer Aspire One notebook which is mounted on the pier and I remote into it via TeamViewer.

It happily runs everything at the moment, but, the screen real estate issue is going to be problematic. I might need to think about another way of getting higher resolution...

In the meantime, TheSky6 continues to work on it.

H

[frolinmod]

Many people choose to continue using TheSky6 because as a driver for the Paramounts it works perfectly well

Note that TheSky6 does not support the Paramount MX, MX+ or ME2. It also doesn't support MEs that have been upgraded to MKS-5000 electronics. On the other hand, TheSky6 was the end of the road for the original Paramount GT-1100. TheSkyX definitely does not support that original first (stepper motors and SBIG electronics board) Paramount GT-1100.

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by frolinmod

Note that TheSky6 does not support the Paramount MX, MX+ or ME2. It also doesn't support MEs that have been upgraded to MKS-5000 electronics. On the other hand, TheSky6 was the end of the road for the original Paramount GT-1100. TheSkyX definitely does not support that original first (stepper motors and SBIG electronics board) Paramount GT-1100.

Fair enough, the people I know are using the Paramount ME. The most common scenario seems to be TheSky6 + MaxIM DL.

[Logieberra (Logan)]

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

TheSkyX is a one stop shop. Mount, camera, focuser, rotator and dome control plus TPoint modelling and accurate plate solving. Essentially it does it all (if you buy the add-ons). Maybe you should have bought the MX - it would have included TSX plus the TPoint and camera add-ons

Cheers, Marcus

+1. Do it! SB. Lovely people. Top equipment.

[Octane (Humayun)]

Not just yet, I'll be divorced if I do, lol.

H

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by Octane

Hi all,

I have been a huge proponent of Starry Night Pro Plus 6, for a long, long time. Its realistic sky was a huge boon when it came to finding objects and the framing of images.

However, having gone down the automation route (CCD Commander until I pony up the cash for ACP and Scheduler), the software of choice is typically TheSky.

I had TheSky6 and it did everything I needed it, too, but, on a whim, I decided to purchase and download (which took an eon; Software Bisque's site is abysmally slow) TheSkyX Professional Edition.

Anyone care to outline the major benefits of TheSkyX over TheSky6?

While I was on the site, I had to struggle to keep my finger off the order button on a Paramount MX+.

Cheers!

H

Well, in my experience Sky 6 just works, X "might", for mount control anyway.....

I too like Starry night pro 6 for planning, and Sky X even more lately for that, its great, although Sky X doesnt have a large number of common objects for imaging in its database which is really frustrating, despite its huge database generally.

I wouldnt touch Sky X with a barge poll just for mount control (if your mount is compatible with Sky 6). I still see endless drama with it on the net. Sky 6 on an OBS PC is rock stable and all it does for me is point to an object and track with a model, thats all I want it do, and it does that all the time without fail (with my PME), all else is fluff.

I think Sky X is great, but it goes no where near my mount.

[Bassnut (Fred)]

Originally Posted by rogerg

Fair enough, the people I know are using the Paramount ME. The most common scenario seems to be TheSky6 + MaxIM DL.

Absolutely

[Octane (Humayun)]

Cheers for your thoughts, Fred.

H

[rally]

Originally Posted by bassnut

absolutely

+1

[White Rabbit]

I use to use SN and whole lot of other software but haven't looked back since moving to TSX pro with the camera add on. I haven bothered with the t-point add on because precision slew works so well there really is no point in paying $250 when waiting 60 seconds longer achieves the same result.

There use to be a lot of bugs but it's pretty solid now. When I first bought it, there would be an update every week to fix this or that bug. Now there is a release every 6 to 8 weeks. My subscription ended months ago but I haven't renewed it because there really is no need.

The whole plate solving thing in TSX was a total game changer for me. I don't even bother creating a model anymore. I just use all sky image link and the target is centered perfectly every time, session after session. If your framing is slightly off Center, you just need to image link from an image from the last session and do a closed loop slew and it will frame your next session to the last.

The planetarium doesn't look as good as SN but my set up is automated now so I don't even look at the planetarium software unless I need to edit how the image is framed. I use sky safari pro on my ipad (better than SN IMO) to select targets then enter them into auto pilot, press run and go to bed lol.

Auto guiding in TSX takes a bit of getting use to, but that's primarily an aesthetics thing rather that a ease of use thing. I came from phd and liked the squiggly line graph rather than towers/bars the TSX uses.

All in all the fact that everything is in one package focuser/filter wheel/guider/imager makes it a no brainier for me. It's by far the easiest software package I've used.

Now, quit screwing around with the other stuff and bite the bullet .

Sandy

[DannyV (Danny)]

I really like The Sky X, it's the only thing with my setup that IS working properly to control my mount. My EOS 60Da is not behaving too well in remote view, but that happens with all my programs so it's not the Sky X's fault.

The question I have, if I may without taking over the thread, is does anyone control a Moonlite Focuser in TSX (without going though a TSX -> Maxim_DL link, which I Know can be done)?


I find TSX has a much easier user interface than most other galaxy programs (without trying Maxim_DL), but it takes a bit of getting used to their button mentality.

The bit I like best (other than it runs on a Mac ) - is because of my crook eyes, I have the ability to set the size and colour of every label, not just some of them.

[RickS (Rick)]

I must have received a copy of the Unprofessional Edition. It displays incorrect Greek letters in some, but not all, Bayer designations. In particular, it gets Sigma Octantis wrong. After an original promise to fix this several years ago bug reports have been ignored and it is still broken. Don't meant to hijack your thread, H, but I figure if nobody complains about this miserable service it won't get better for others. I figure I've wasted enough money on SkyX subscriptions. They probably spent it on PMX mount development (or wild parties?) instead of their buggy software.

Cheers,
Rick.

[Octane (Humayun)]

lol, Rick! No need to apologise at all. I am having the exact same problem, even when I have Bayer/Flamsteed designations disabled. There is some upside down alien text in red next to all objects. I thought perhaps it was my video card playing up; it still happened after updating the drivers.

Is there any point filing a bug report if the issue has been around for a couple of years?

H

[RickS (Rick)]

Give it a go, H! They are ignoring me but perhaps a new complaint will get attention?