This maybe old news to some (or most) but here is a tutorial of how to control an Orion Sirius EQ-G (Skywatcher HEQ5) telescope mount using Stellarium. It should work for most other mounts as well. I pretty much followed the directions form a video by Slymin on youtube which posted below.
Necessary Equipment:
Hand Controller
USB-to-Serial adapter
RS-232 Connector Cable (comes with mount)
Additional Equipment:
USB 3.0 Hub (with at least 5V/2.5A)
Hardware:
First Connect the hand controller to the mount as you normally would and then connect the RS-232 Connector Cable to the open jack on the back of the hand controller. Next connect the other end of the RS-232 cable to the USB-to-Serial adapter. You can then connect the USB to the computer, however, I purchased a powered USB 3.0 Hub as I ran out of open ports on my laptop. The hardware portion is done.
Connecting Software:
To get the system to work you must first setup and align your mount as you normally would. Open Stellarium and have it the view towards the north since that is where your telescope is presumably pointing. 1) Open the Configuration window on the left side of the screen, 2) then select Plugins, 3) scroll down to Telescope Control, 4) check the Load at Startup box and configure box. 5) Add telescope 6) check Stellarium, directly though serial port and then name the telescope, 7) make sure your com port is correct and select your device (hand controller) for your mount (SkyView for the Sirius mount), 8) Lastly, select start and a circle with cross hairs appears on Stellarium where the telescope is pointing.
In order to move to a new object, simply select it like you normally would using Stellarium and then press the Control and number 1 key at the same time.
In order to move to a new object, simply select it like you normally would using Stellarium and then press the Control and number 1 key at the same time.
Start Stellariumscope
Connect
Open Stellarium in Stellariumscope
Hey Kurt. Which telescope-mount option are you using in Stellarium? I don't see "SkyView for the Sirius mount" in my Stellarium. Do you use the SynScan (ver 3 or higher)?
ReplyDeleteYes, I use the SynScan I believe v. 4.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update. Any chance you could take a snapshot of your Stellarium configuration settings? Cheers!
ReplyDeleteHey bla,
ReplyDeleteSo I posted 3 additional pics of what I do and I attached a video link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjOB7_bIodo&t=381s
There is a free program called Stellariumscope that runs the mount for stellarium so it works. The newer version of Stellarium does not require Stellariumscope, just start up starium and it should control the mount. I tried this over the summer and it did work then I updated to a newer version of Stellarium and naturally it does not work. So I went back to using Stellariumscope and it works perfectly. It is probably some setting somewhere but I really use it that much as I control the mount using APT or NINA to slew to objects. - Cheers
Thanks for trying. There are still pieces to the puzzle that are missing.
ReplyDelete