Star Simulator

[Jeffkop]

This may be a very stupid question .. If so, I didnt ask it.

Is there anything out there that you can place in front of your scope and it simulates stars and the rotation of the earth ... Yes a star simulator for want of a more correct term ... Orthoganolize it to simulate correct polar alignment and use it to check tracking .. Just wondering.

[whzzz28]

Star generators are around, but I've never heard of anything that will rotate to match the earths rotation.
I'm not sure on the practicality of one either. There will be some degree of error in the rotation due to variances in the motor and small voltage changes due to components. Not to mention the design of a disc to rotate that is big enough to cover the FOV of your scope at the required distance your stars need to be from the scope to allow focus...

Will be interesting if anyone does have something though.

[Merlin66]

Jeff,
Yes, there's SGE .....
http://sweiller.free.fr/SGE/SGE-star-guiding-emulator.htm
This needs a laptop screen but easy to use and can allow you to check and verify your guider set-up.

[Jeffkop]

Wow .. looks interesting .. I want to use something like this to try and isolate a guiding problem Im having .. with time constraints and of course this weather I have only been able to get to the observatory in spasms so I wondered if something like this was around .. I dont understand the laser bit of the SGE thing but will persist .. heck its free and it might just be helpful .. thanks for your input.