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Old 19-08-2020, 11:58 AM
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peter_4059 (Peter)
Big Scopes are Cool

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SkyTrack

Anyone out there tried SkyTrack Satellite Tracking Software? I downloaded the trial this morning and it looked pretty good so I've decided to purchase the license (US$9).

It looks like it has quite good pass and ISS transit prediction capabilities so might be useful even if the mount can't slew fast enough and it might add another dimension to imaging if you've already been through the NGC list.

https://www.heavenscape.com/index.html
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Old 19-08-2020, 03:43 PM
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peter_4059 (Peter)
Big Scopes are Cool

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Had this hooked up to the mount this afternoon and had it all tracking a few satellites (not that I could tell if it was actually following them correctly during the day) however it seems to work. I've got the ASI120MM set up and will give it all a try when it gets dark.
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Old 20-08-2020, 08:04 PM
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troypiggo (Troy)
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Pics or it didn’t happen
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Old 21-08-2020, 09:30 AM
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multiweb (Marc)
ze frogginator

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Quote:
Originally Posted by peter_4059 View Post
Had this hooked up to the mount this afternoon and had it all tracking a few satellites (not that I could tell if it was actually following them correctly during the day) however it seems to work. I've got the ASI120MM set up and will give it all a try when it gets dark.
Was the EQ8 slewing or leap frogging?
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Old 21-08-2020, 04:30 PM
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peter_4059 (Peter)
Big Scopes are Cool

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leap frogging. I had it doing a 6 sec jump ahead and then a 3 sec drift. You can reduce both of those to 1 sec if you want to.
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Old 21-08-2020, 05:50 PM
Dennis
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Thanks for the heads up Peter, this looks interesting.

It looks like it is a reincarnation of the old Satellite Tracker, by the same developer, Brent Boshart.

Cheers

Dennis
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Old 31-08-2020, 05:02 AM
appiice (Ed)
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Skytracker

Hello Peter

I have used it a bit for the last 4-5 months, I haven't actually seen a satellite but I think that is because of how I have my mount.

I have a good polar alignment but don't worry to much about aligning the mount to a star with any accuracy, I use NINA and plate solve before and at the start of a session.

I think this maybe stopping any actual satellite " hits "

The software will " leap frog " along the satellite path, I have spoken to Brent, the guy doing the recent work on it and he has said the mount tracking method is because most mounts aren't capable of slewing at the rate the satellite is moving - his words not mine, my Celestron CGX behaves that way.

Another issue I had was my dome software ( home brew Nexdome ) couldn't sync the mount to the shutter orientation and would have been to slow as well, have just gone to LesveDomeNet and it is syncing and the rotation speed has gone from about 120 seconds to do a full rotation to about 40 seconds.

All that to say, you have to have all the hardware working well or it won't - bit like astronomy really!

Ed
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