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  #201  
Old 02-10-2009, 07:23 PM
gary
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Argo Navis on Sky-Watcher Dobsonian

Quote:
Originally Posted by seanliddelow View Post
How much would an argo navis cost if it is used with a Skywatcher 305mm Dobsonian?
Hi Sean,

Thanks for the post.

You can find online pricing at our web site at -
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au/purchase.html

There you will find a Java pricing and ordering form.
Select the Region pulldown and select Australia or Sydney as appropriate
to compute shipping and add GST.
Place a 1 in the Qty box next to Argo Navis Digital Telescope Computer.
Use the Special: Encoders & Cable, Hardware pulldown and select
Synta Sky-Watcher Dobsonian and enter a 1 in its corresponding Qty box.
You can see the individual prices for products and the total price.

You can find some more information on the Sky-Watcher installation kit here -
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com...._describe.html
including links to the installation instructions.

Please don't hesitate to drop me an email at sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
or telephone us at 02 9457 9049 if you should have any questions and we would
only be too happy to help.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Phone +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au
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  #202  
Old 02-10-2009, 10:40 PM
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JethroB76 (Jeff)
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Mr Postman delivered a nice package for me today, just in time for the birthday next week!
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  #203  
Old 05-10-2009, 11:03 PM
gary
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Argo Navis on a Meade LightBridge

Quote:
Originally Posted by JethroB76 View Post
Mr Postman delivered a nice package for me today, just in time for the birthday next week!
Hi Jeff,

Great to hear it has arrived and welcome to the extended family of Argo Navis owners.

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
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  #204  
Old 06-10-2009, 10:42 AM
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seanliddelow (Sean)
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I have an Idea. I might use a wireless webcam to put on each eyepiece and use the argo navis to control the telescope (That is outside) when I am in side. What is the range of the remote? I will then get the wireless webcam to send video feed to a laptop in doors. That laptop will be connected to a projector or tv so I can view the telescope in a home theatre room with popcorn. I will have this project up and running by at least this time next year. Can you set the argo navis to go to a series of objects?

Sean
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  #205  
Old 18-10-2009, 04:27 PM
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JethroB76 (Jeff)
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Would someone like to run through the procedure required to load a comet orbital element into the AN - particularly the format of the data required - is there a source of this info that doesn't require manipulation prior to loading?
I assume somewhere on this website is the info...
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/
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  #206  
Old 20-10-2009, 12:39 PM
gary
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Arrow Loading Comets into an Argo Navis Digital Telescope Computer

Quote:
Originally Posted by JethroB76 View Post
Would someone like to run through the procedure required to load a comet orbital element into the AN - particularly the format of the data required - is there a source of this info that doesn't require manipulation prior to loading?
I assume somewhere on this website is the info...
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Comets/
Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the post.

The IAU Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the definitive organization for defining
and publishing comet orbital elements. They publish the orbital elements in formats
for a variety of third party planetarium programs and Argo Navis uses the same
format as the program TheSky by Software Bisque.

You can download comet and asteroid orbital elements from here -
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Soft06.html

Argo Navis can accommodate up to fifty asteroid orbital elements
and up to 10 comet orbital elements at a time.

Most of the downloadable lists from the MPC contain dozens of objects.
You should download the lists to an appropriate place on your PC, such
as the Downloads folder if you have one or the Desktop and then use
a plain text editor such as Notepad to edit them down to only the entries
you are after. Each comet takes one line in the file, so editing them
by either copying and pasting the appropriate lines to a new file or
by deleting lines from the original file you should find pretty straight forward.

Then pp 152-165 of the Argo Navis User's Manual shows you how to install
the Argonaut utility on your PC and how to download the files to your Argo Navis.
Argonaut comes on your Argo Navis CDROM or you can download it from the
the Wildcard Innovations web site.

The Manual pages also include screen shots so you should be able to
follow step by step. If you need assistance, please don't hesitate to email us
at sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au or give us a phone call.

Enjoy and good hunting!

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
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  #207  
Old 20-10-2009, 12:50 PM
gary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by seanliddelow View Post
I have an Idea. I might use a wireless webcam to put on each eyepiece and use the argo navis to control the telescope (That is outside) when I am in side. What is the range of the remote? I will then get the wireless webcam to send video feed to a laptop in doors. That laptop will be connected to a projector or tv so I can view the telescope in a home theatre room with popcorn. I will have this project up and running by at least this time next year. Can you set the argo navis to go to a series of objects?

Sean
Hi Sean,

Thanks for the post.

Keep in mind that on its own, Argo Navis does not directly drive stepper or servo
motors. Instead, you fit a pair of optical encoders on each axis and manually
push the scope. Some people refer to this as PUSHTO.

Having said that, Argo Navis can interface to a couple of third party servo
motor controllers including the ServoCAT and Sitech controllers. Argo Navis
then performs all the object offset and tracking rate calculations on behalf
of the servo motor controllers and then provides for full slew (GOTO) and track.

Some customers then use wireless interfaces to the servo controllers and
many of the planetarium programs (e.g. TheSky and ASCOM compliant
packages) support the ability to perform a remote slew and track by clicking
on an object on the PC screen in exactly the way you describe.

Some customers use wireless solutions such as the WirelessRS232 unit that
StellarCAT, who manufacture the ServoCAT, sell. This enables them to control
the scope up to hundreds of feet away.

Argo Navis is popular on just about all types of scopes from the smallest
(even a pair of bincoulars on a binocular mount) to some of the largest
(e.g. 48" 'monster' Dobs). However, the servo motor controllers solutions have
price points that tend to be optimized for scopes in the 14" to 48"+ class.

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
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  #208  
Old 20-10-2009, 02:10 PM
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JethroB76 (Jeff)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gary View Post
Hi Jeff,

Thanks for the post.

The IAU Minor Planet Center (MPC) is the definitive organization for defining
and publishing comet orbital elements. They publish the orbital elements in formats
for a variety of third party planetarium programs and Argo Navis uses the same
format as the program TheSky by Software Bisque.

You can download comet and asteroid orbital elements from here -
http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/iau/Ephemerides/Soft06.html
Thanks Gary.
So data in the format provided at that address requires no changes? Great
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  #209  
Old 20-10-2009, 04:16 PM
gary
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Argo Navis DTC and comet orbital elements

Quote:
Originally Posted by JethroB76 View Post
Thanks Gary.
So data in the format provided at that address requires no changes? Great
Hi Jeff,

That is correct. Rather than decide to introduce "yet another format" we made
the decision some time back to use an existing format. The format used by
TheSky is as good as any and a popular choice, so hence the decision.

As you can appreciate the nice thing about loading the actual orbital elements
is that Argo Navis can compute the position of the object from moment to
moment. It has a multi-tasking OS and there is a background task just
devoted to updating the positions of comets and asteroids. That means whenever
you observe, the positions are always accurate.

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
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  #210  
Old 26-10-2009, 10:38 PM
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seanliddelow (Sean)
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With the pricing form, do I need the communications cable and the USB serial adapter? I know I need the computer unit and the Synta Skywatcher and I am getting the external DC power cable. All this would cost me $915. Am I filling out the pricing form right?
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  #211  
Old 27-10-2009, 11:03 AM
gary
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Argo Navis on a SkyWatcher Dob

Quote:
Originally Posted by seanliddelow View Post
With the pricing form, do I need the communications cable and the USB serial adapter? I know I need the computer unit and the Synta Skywatcher and I am getting the external DC power cable. All this would cost me $915. Am I filling out the pricing form right?
Hi Sean,

Thanks for the post. You might like to email me at sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au

The price you indicated will provide you with an Argo Navis with mounting cradle,
a pair of 10,000 step encoders all the encoder mounting hardware specific to
mounting the encoders on your Sky-Watcher, an encoder cable, the optional
external DC power cable for connection to a sealed -lead acid battery or car battery
and secure delivery to anywhere in Australia. In other words, a complete solution
that will enable you to locate and identify objects.

Argo Navis is completely standalone and does not need a PC or laptop to operate.

The serial communications cable and the USB Serial Adapter are options.
Argo Navis comes with a CDROM which includes a software utility we call
Argonaut. It allows you to upgrade your firmware and to download the
orbital elements of asteroids, comets and satellites. It also gives you
the ability to load into FLASH about 1100 of your own user defined objects at
any one time. That's on top of the in-built approx 30,000 objects already in there.
The serial cable will also allow you to connect with your favourite
planetarium program to get a tracking cursor display. If your PC only
has a USB connector, the USB Serial Adapter works in conjunction with
the serial cable.

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
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  #212  
Old 27-10-2009, 07:54 PM
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seanliddelow (Sean)
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Thanks Im really looking forward to getting the next Argo Navis by the end of this year. It doesnt track but it sure beats finding objects manually. Are there star catalouges on the Argo Navis? Like the Bayer and Flamsteed numbers? Does it have all the NGC, IC and Abell catalouge numbers?

Thanks, Sean
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  #213  
Old 27-10-2009, 09:53 PM
gary
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Argo Navis catalogues

Quote:
Originally Posted by seanliddelow View Post
Thanks Im really looking forward to getting the next Argo Navis by the end of this year. It doesnt track but it sure beats finding objects manually. Are there star catalouges on the Argo Navis? Like the Bayer and Flamsteed numbers? Does it have all the NGC, IC and Abell catalouge numbers?

Thanks, Sean
Hi Sean,

Thanks for wishing to get an Argo Navis by year's end!

Indeed, there is a BRIGHT STAR catalog that includes all the bright stars with
common names (e.g. BETELGEUSE, ACRUX, etc) and those with
Bayer and Flamsteed designations (e.g. ZETA GRUS, DELTA1, GRUS, LEO 10,
etc, etc.) The detailed description of the stars will provide a magnitude and
even tell you the spectral classification. There is also in-built catalogs of double
(e.g. DUNLOP 55) and variable stars (e.g. FZ VIRGO). For the doubles
you will typically find the magnitude of both components along with their
separation and position angles and again luminosity classes.

All the visible NGC and IC objects are there along with descriptions including
object types, magnitudes, surface brightnesses, major and minor dimensions and even
Hubble Morphologies. There are numerous other catalogs including those containing
Galaxy Clusters (e.g. ABELL 1016, HICKSON 52, SHAKHBAZIAN 3),
planetary nebulae, open clusters, globular clusters, bright nebulae and
even dark nebulae (e.g. BARNARD 62). By way of example, the galaxy
clusters catalog will tell you the number of members and the red shift.

There are enough objects to spend several lifetimes of observing.

At the recent IceInSpace AstroCamp I assisted in operating the sky tours
and Argo Navis units helped deliver a large number of objects on demand
to constant queues of people. We looked at everything from the sublime to
the challenging, from Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus to Messier, NGC and IC objects,
to obscure but beautiful Hickson galaxy clusters.

Thanks again and we look forward to welcoming you to the extended family of
Argo Navis owners.

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
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  #214  
Old 03-11-2009, 07:14 PM
qld
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Location: sydney australia
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Argo navis

Quote:
Originally Posted by gary View Post
Hi Sean,

Thanks for wishing to get an Argo Navis by year's end!

Indeed, there is a BRIGHT STAR catalog that includes all the bright stars with
common names (e.g. BETELGEUSE, ACRUX, etc) and those with
Bayer and Flamsteed designations (e.g. ZETA GRUS, DELTA1, GRUS, LEO 10,
etc, etc.) The detailed description of the stars will provide a magnitude and
even tell you the spectral classification. There is also in-built catalogs of double
(e.g. DUNLOP 55) and variable stars (e.g. FZ VIRGO). For the doubles
you will typically find the magnitude of both components along with their
separation and position angles and again luminosity classes.

All the visible NGC and IC objects are there along with descriptions including
object types, magnitudes, surface brightnesses, major and minor dimensions and even
Hubble Morphologies. There are numerous other catalogs including those containing
Galaxy Clusters (e.g. ABELL 1016, HICKSON 52, SHAKHBAZIAN 3),
planetary nebulae, open clusters, globular clusters, bright nebulae and
even dark nebulae (e.g. BARNARD 62). By way of example, the galaxy
clusters catalog will tell you the number of members and the red shift.

There are enough objects to spend several lifetimes of observing.

At the recent IceInSpace AstroCamp I assisted in operating the sky tours
and Argo Navis units helped deliver a large number of objects on demand
to constant queues of people. We looked at everything from the sublime to
the challenging, from Neptune, Jupiter and Uranus to Messier, NGC and IC objects,
to obscure but beautiful Hickson galaxy clusters.

Thanks again and we look forward to welcoming you to the extended family of
Argo Navis owners.

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
hello gary, is your site down?
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  #215  
Old 04-11-2009, 09:42 AM
gary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by qld View Post
hello gary, is your site down?
Hi Sean,

It had been inaccessible due to an issue related to a Telstra broadband outage that occurred yesterday.

As at 4-Nov-2009 at 12:15 AEDT, the issue has been resolved and the web site is accessible again.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

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

Last edited by gary; 04-11-2009 at 11:21 AM.
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  #216  
Old 17-12-2009, 07:12 PM
icytailmark (Mark)
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Location: sydney australia
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hi im having trouble with my argo navis alt encoder. I do my 2 star alignment and then i move my telescope according to the arrows and the first lot of figures are moving but the 2nd lot of figures dont change. ive tried adjusting the tightness of the ALT screw in the side of the rocker box.



i have a 12" Skywatcher DOB.

cheers Mark.
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  #217  
Old 17-12-2009, 07:22 PM
gary
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Quote:
Originally Posted by icytailmark View Post
hi im having trouble with my argo navis alt encoder. I do my 2 star alignment and then i move my telescope according to the arrows and the first lot of figures are moving but the 2nd lot of figures dont change. ive tried adjusting the tightness of the ALT screw in the side of the rocker box.
i have a 12" Skywatcher DOB.

cheers Mark.
Email us at sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au and we can run you through
some procedures using the MODE ENCODER diagnostic display along with
swapping cables to try and narrow down the issue for you.

Best Regards

Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Phone +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au
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  #218  
Old 17-12-2009, 10:30 PM
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norm
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Location: Ashfield NSW
Posts: 777
Hi Mark,

As per PM, check out this pic. it may help with your encoder issue.
I've got the ALT screw tight, but not excessively.

Cheers, Norm
Attached Thumbnails
Click for full-size image (encoder.JPG)
54.5 KB70 views
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  #219  
Old 18-12-2009, 07:09 PM
icytailmark (Mark)
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Location: sydney australia
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thanks for that norm. I been trying to adjusting the tightness for about half an hour and nothing happened. I have a feeling its either the cable or the encoder itself thats broken. Ive had trouble with it since the day i bought it.

Last edited by icytailmark; 18-12-2009 at 07:19 PM.
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  #220  
Old 18-12-2009, 07:48 PM
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GrahamL
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Hi gary

Is there any reason M1 dosn't seem to pop up on that messier tour function ?.. I suspect its me somehow.
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