ISS/shuttle tracking scope(s)?

[PattiM]

I was looking to buy one of the newer generation of telescopes, but I can't find any references to automated tracking based on the ephem. info. Do any of the telescopes I can afford do that? The Celestrons only appear to track siderial, solar, and lunar rates.
Thank you,
Patti

[AndrewJ]

The Meade ETX/LX90 and LX200s all have provision for satellite tracking built in.
There is also a third party program, Satellite tracker
http://www.heavenscape.com/
that can be used with them to get better results.
I see it works with some Celestrons as well, but dont know which ones

Andrew

[PattiM]

Originally Posted by AndrewJ

The Meade ETX/LX90 and LX200s all have provision for satellite tracking built in.
There is also a third party program, Satellite tracker
http://www.heavenscape.com/
that can be used with them to get better results.
I see it works with some Celestrons as well, but dont know which ones
Andrew

Thank You, Andrew - I'm guessing the ETX/LX series all have mounts with the same hardware/software? I see they even have a ETX-80BB 90mm refractor with the ETX designation plus "Autostar." This would be an inexpensive way to track if it worked, but I didn't see that model number listed on heavenscape. (I'm not very good with model numbers - they keep changing!)
Patti

[AndrewJ]

Gday Patti

The ETX and LX90 use "roughly" the same firmware, but different hardware.
The ETXs (forks) are the smaller sizes ( up to 125mm) and have basic hardware mounts
The LX90s (forks) are 8",10",12" and have better mechanicals.
There are also LX GEMS, but i dont know their sizes.
The LX200GPS's use different firmware/handboxes with much more functionalityand much more robust mounts. Much more expensive tho.

Notwithstanding that, many people track stuff quite happily using ETXs.
If it has an Autostar controller vs just an EC controller, you can add satellite data and it it can track.
If you go to Weasners site
http://www.weasner.com/etx/autostar_info.html
you can get heaps of Autostar specific tips on what each model can and cant do.

Andrew

[PattiM]

Thanks again, Andrew! I noticed some comments about true (continuous) tracking versus "leapfrogging." Trying to get the low-down here :-)

[AndrewJ]

Gday Patti

I'm not exactly sure how the different Meades work, but they only have 8bit CPUs, ie are relatively slow, computation wise
Hence i assume they they use a set time delta, and then estimate where the sat will be, and then figure out how fast to go to get there, ie leapfrogging.
Sattracker utilises inbuilt slewing functions where you can get the Meade scope to slew at user defined speeds on each axis independently.
Hence it does all the calcs and just tells the scope to slew accordingly.
This gives essentially "smooth" slewing, but with an 80mm ETX its all moot as the FOV is so large, it wont be noticable.

Andrew

[iceman (Mike)]

Hi Patti, to IceInSpace!

Did you want it for observing or imaging, or both?