BYEOS @ Astrotortilla

[rugbydoxie]

Stupid question i am going to attempt to use astrotortilla for the first time in conjunction with backyard and my question is this. Do i need to some how attach my scope to my laptop to be able to use it. I am using a 6se on a wedge would i run a cable from the autoguider port to my laptop or do i need not worry.

 

Thanks Mark

[astroman133]

Mark,

 

In order for AT to adjust your mount's pointing position the mount must be connected to the PC. The connection path is from the jack at the bottom of the hand controller to a USB port on the PC. The mount should have come with a white cable that has a Telco plug on one end (for the hand controller) and a 9-pin D-connector on the other. You will then need to purchase a good quality USB-to-RS232 adaptor to go from the D-connector to a USB port on the PC.

 

This requires that you have installed the ASCOM Platform and the Celestron telescope driver.

 

However, before trying to use AT to center your mount's pointing position on a target you should practice with solving some old JPG images, in order to get the solving parameters correct. These parameters are critical to getting AT to work efficiently. With the wrong parameters AT may never solve your image, but with the correct parameters AT may solve am image in as few as 15 seconds.

 

I would use BYE to take some 10-15 second JPG images (AT won't solve RAW images) and ask AT to solve them. This will also help to familiarize yourself with how to use AT and how to set the parameters for optimal solving.

[rugbydoxie]

Rick thanks for the input but it sounds like i am in over my head once again, i really did not want to guide my scope with it all i wanted to do was plate solving to improve my pictures but then maybe i don't grasp what it is for.would not surprise me if i didn't. And i was hoping all i had to do was run a cat5 cable from laptop to port on scope but again guess.

[s3igell]

AstroTortilla (and Plate Solving in general) is used for Accurate Pointing/Slewing of your Scope to your Chosen Target.  It is not used for Guiding, which is using a separate Guide Camera and Scope to "Stare" at a specific Star and to keep it in a single spot - meaning your Imaging Camera is also kept from Star Trailing.

 

Cabling is a bit more complex than you'd thought because the Cables aren't actually Cat5 nor are the signals Ethernet, so your PC doesn't have a Port which can directly generate the right Signals.  The port on the Mount is actually an old-school Serial Port, and it takes the Converter to allow a USB Port to talk to it.