The Sky X (professional)

[Mckechg]

Evening All,

any users of The Sky X software in the realms?

I have just purchased it for the OS X platform, and am after and starting tips and tricks.

Thanks
G./

[Scheimfluge]

Hello Grant

I think you should read the help manual that comes with the Sky X Pro Great software.

[Logieberra]

Also, join the SB support forum. The questions you have will have been asked before. It's quite a learning curve, but we've all been there. Also, spend some time just navigating the various tabs, buttons and options on screen. Have a play.

[Physopto]

Nothing beats hooking it up to the scope and just play around with it. Slewing it around and syncing on different targets you will learn a lot.

[PeterM]

Make and keep a monthly backup of SkyX on a separate usb drive. You can use this if pc/lappy crashes to restore all settings or duplicate on 2nd machine. Play with on screen icons you can have what you want where you want. Get a big monitor and enjoy.

[SimmoW]

Good info guys. I too prefer to learn by loading software and playing with all the functions.

I'll be flying to a friends house soon to setup their system from scratch. Roughly how long would it take me to get 'basically' proficient with TsX? A couple of sessions I'd guess? I'm reading the manual but can't access his software until I'm there in June. Frustrating!

[Mckechg]

Hi - all - first light last night and the learning curve was steep. I found the basics but I have to admit it's going to take a while. I have read the entire manual forward to back and also many pages re-read.

I have a question though - I have a synscan controled AZ-EQ6 GT mount. What mount type should I use. I have had some success with nextar 5 and. Next star 5I - suggestions on the actual mount to use please!

Thanks
Grant

[White Rabbit]

If you have a syn scan use the Ascom driver to control your mount. You'll need to download EQ mod and select that from within the Ascom driver in TSX PRO telescope chooser.

Sandy

[Mckechg]

I am OSX - I need to find the right one for the OS X platform.

Thank you for the quick reply

G/.

[Mckechg]

Thanks Peter, Excellent advice. I made sure I fiddled with all the buttons and screens and it actually helped in those "where is that" moments

[frolinmod]

If you haven't already done so, download the UCAC4 stellar catalog and the all-sky image link database. The former can be downloaded from me. The latter can be downloaded from bisque.com in their downloads area.

UCAC4 stellar catalog can be downloaded here: http://1drv.ms/1rQBJdq

Then go into TheSkyX->Input->Database Manager->Stellar Databases.

Unzip the ZIP archive file linked to above into a folder and check to see if it contains the two ucac4.plot and ucac4.subset.plot files.

If the plot files are missing from the folder, then you'll need to create them from the data files. You do this by highlighting UCAC4, then clicking on Advanced over on the right, Choose to select the folder, then click on Create. Wait awhile while it builds the plot files.

If the plot files are already there or if you have just created them, then you need to tell TheSkyX where that folder is and it'll find the plot files and all the data files. You do that by highlighting UCAC4 then clicking on "Choose Folder" at the bottom.

Then clear the checkmarks for UCAC2 and UCAC3 and check the one for UCAC4.

Note that you need to keep the data files. The plot files give you the stars, but the data files are needed for object information.