Reply To: Observing tonight?

[fealeybob14]

I’m working with the Orion StarSeekerIV mount (Randy provided) and it’s built in WiFi and the Windows version of the SynScan Pro app. Using the Stellarium telescope plug in module it is possible to aim (slew) the AT80ED scope by clicking on the interactive sky map. One has to first define the ‘telescope’ configuration. I did this using the ASCOM platform and ASCOM telescope driver (provided by Sky-Watcher) for an alt-azimuth mount. One needs to use SynScan Pro to do a 2 star manual alignment first before using Stellarium’s go to function. Stellarium does not guide the scope per se but if the initial alignment is accurate one can slew to an object that then appears in the finder scope’s field of view. Haven’t done enough deep sky object searches yet to judge the accuracy and utility of this setup but I’ll be testing this on clear sky nights!