The Sky 6 software

[Louwai]

Hello all,
Cold I have your comments please.
First, Gear I'm using;
C8 SCT & an AT80 Refractor mounted side by side on a CG-5 GT

I'm looking for guiding software. Have been looking for a while & comparing. The Sky 6 seems to be the best value for money when looking at the features availabel.

Can anyone offer any other thoughts.

Cheers, Bryan

[Merlin66]

I have The Sky 6. But if you just want to prepare a list of things to observe then get the scope to GOTO, you may want to look at AstroPlanner. It will control your scope through the standard connections and allow you to maintain a database and records etc etc.
I use it most of the time instead of The Sky 6 ( A great program but sometimes a bit of overkill, and expensive)
Check it out.

[rat156]

Hi Bryan,

I have a copy of the Sky serious astronomer which I may be persuaded to let go. I bought it in error, when I needed the pro version for integration with ccdsoft.

Cheers
Stuart

[Louwai]

Sounds interesting Stuart. Would like to discuss with you.
Have sent a msg.

Bryan

[g__day]

Why not go Cartes Du Ceil + PHD, as its 1) great and 2) free.

That way you have click and point goto and excellent auto-guiding. Works a treat for me with a C9.25 + 80mm Megrez on a CG5 mount.

[Louwai]

Thanks for that. I'll have a search & check it out.....

[g__day]

Cartes Du Ciel

http://www.stargazing.net/astropc/download.html

You may need the ASCOM drivers - easy to install here

http://ascom-standards.org/downloads.html (take the base platform and the Celestron drivers)

PHD

http://www.stark-labs.com/downloads.html

Or grab the beta 1.5.1 http://www.stark-labs.com/depot/beta/Setup_PHDGuiding_151.zip

Hope that helps!

If you want to auto-guide or remote shutter control or remote focus control - highly recommend Shoestring astronomy's products

http://www.store.shoestringastronomy.com/index.htm

[asterisk]

Hello Bryan

I looked at The Sky 6 software with my CG5 - despite setting the program up correctly 3 times (in case I had made a mistake on the previous 2), the goto part of the program kept sending my scope into the tripod legs while trying to point through the ground.

The Sky has its own goto drivers (no ASCOM) and the list of telescopes is not large.

I have found Skytools 2 to be excellent for planning and mount control.

www.skyhound.com/ (http://www.skyhound.com/)

Cheers

[jase]

TheSky6 Pro is very powerful software of which I only use approx 30%-40% of its features. Other than general goto telescope control, I also use the mosaic tool for planning imaging sessions and have begun using the sky database queries (rather complex but very flexible) to determine when objects are best positioned for imaging.

I pipe everything through ASCOM as I use MaxPoint to significantly improve my telescope pointing model. MaxPoint is the ASCOM hub (server). Everything connects to it as an ASCOM client - MaximDL, FocusMax, PEMPro, etc and... TheSky.
To get TheSky to talk to ASCOM you simply use the TelescopeAPI driver in TheSky. There are instructions to install the right driver provided when you install ASCOM. No brainer and works well. I don't understand why the Bisque brothers don't support ASCOM - resistance is futile considering the quantity of advanced software released these days only supporting ASCOM. Each to their own I guess.

[Louwai]

Thanks all for your info & suggestions. I now have a a bit more research to do.

[Louwai]

I downloaded the above.
Updated the ASCOM drivers I already had. Went through all of the setup menus I could find.
Nothing works. The software doesn't "see" my scope.
I have a Feathertouch focuser with Focusmax software. I can drive the focuser from the PC no worries.

1 thing which I think may be an issue is the connecting cable from the mount to the latop. There are 2 Celestron cables, 1 plugs into the expansion socket which is labeled PC & the other plugs into the small socket on the underside of the hand ctrl.
I don't have the cable which attaches to the hand ctrl. I can't find one. Celestron don't advertise or have it anymore. The dealers I've spoken to say they carry the "Programming Cable" which is the one I have that plugs into the mount, not the hand ctrl. From what I've read, the cable for the hand ctrl is the one required to update firmware & so I would assume this is also required to guide the mount.

Any suggestions, comments??????

Cheers, Bryan

[g__day]

Bryan,

Bingo. You need a 4 pin cable that goes into the hand controller via a DB9 socket I believe (like to upgrade the firmware) and the other end of this wire goes into your PC's serial port.

The parts to do this cost under $20, would you like me to make you what you need and you simply cover costs and postage (I have all the expensive crimping tools and know the pin-out layouts for both ends of the connectors. Tell me the lenght cable you need and confirm your PC has a 9 pin serial port and I could make it for you tomorrow - you should have it by Friday.

I have made two and both worked fine - I just read the pin out requirements and made my own gear.

Ping me if this helps!

Matthew

[Louwai]

OK all, time for a few more questions.
I've downloaded Cartes Du Ceil + PHD as suggested by Matthew.
I've also acquired myself a copy of The Sky 6 AS.

CDC seems to work OK, I just need to learn more & understand it better. So far it seems to me that the user requires a reasonably good knowledge of the night sky in general, such as specific stars etc.

The Sky 6 works fine except, when driving the scope from the hand ctrl everything is fine. If I drive the scope from the lappy, it moves to it's correct position but then will not track. It just sits rigid until I tell it to move again. I've set all of the ctrls correctly (or at least I think I have.)

Any ideas?????

[g__day]

Not sure on the Sky 6 - probably the next bit of software I'll play with once I've mastered MaxPoint!

[jase]

In TheSky6, what have you configured as the "Telescope or control system" drop down box?
If you are using the native drivers, then you've probably selected celestron xxx. Note this is not ASCOM. For ASCOM control, you must select Telescope API.

How do I use the ASCOM driver for XXX From TheSky?
In order to use ASCOM drivers for telescope control from within TheSky, you need to install an adapter called TeleAPI.DLL. After installing the ASCOM Platform, look in C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Telescope\Planetarium Plug-Ins\TheSky folder and read 'install.txt'. This gives instructions on how to install the adapter. After you have done this:

1. Start TheSky
2. In the Telescope menu, select Setup... The Telescope Setup window will appear.
3. Set the Telescope or control system Name to Telescope API.
4. Click Settings... to display the ASCOM Telescope Chooser
5. Select your telescope type in the Chooser.
6. Now click Properties... in the Chooser. Verify the settings for your telescope type.
7. Click OK in the Chooser.
8. Click Close in Telescope Setup.
9. Now, in TheSky's Telescope menu, select Link/Establish. You should see the crosshairs indicating your telescope's current position, and you now have telescope control in TheSky.

You need to do steps 2-9 only one time (unless you change your telescope type).

Also make sure you've got the latest ASCOM TheSkyDriver.

http://ascom-standards.org/download/TheSkyDriver-4-1-3.zip

[g__day]

Jase,

Hugely useful tip you gave me there - finally got the Sky 6 Professional Edition, go it to see the ASCOM driver -> Maxpoint.

Now Nudges work - but only jog mode not slew at set speed mode?

Also all goto's warn I'm moving outside allowable slew ranges, doesn't seem to set these via you long/lat coordinates - else its reading limits from MaxPoint maybe?

I've got a learning curve ahead I can see, but at least I am on the path!

[rogerg]

This is exactly the situation I'm in. I'm just doing some testing today with MaxPoint and moving my scope to work out what's going on, as strange stuff seemed to be happening last time I used the setup (first time with MaxPoint).

I now have realised that via TheSky's telescope motion controls through ASCOM: Jog works fine, but Move does nothing.

It'd be nice if someone had a solution to this, but I'm guessing it is a deficiency in TheSky's support of ASCOM.

Anyone got helpful advice?

I'm evaluating MaxPoint at the moment, not wanting to go to TPoint at twice the price and away from ASCOM.

[g__day]

Pulse guides aren't exposed via ASCOM correctly may be fixed soon - until then try this from Chris Rowlands - posted on the Yahoo ASCOM group today

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCOM-Talk/files/Example%20programs/PulseGuideTest.zip