A Brief Overview
Richard P. Hill
Present: Me & Family
11/28/2024 (Thanksgiving)
Happy Thanksgiving! I did some computerized control tests a while ago and still need to finish perfecting them, but I want to give you a quick overview. I'll be going into detail much more down the road. Let's go ahead and get started. The first thing is the goal of computerized control. The goal is to seek and stay on an object to take many long or short exposures. This sounds easy, but trust me, it is not. The first part requires a near-perfect polar alignment. Even though the scope can change its position later to help adjust for drift, it cannot do this during exposures, so the longer exposures you want to do, the better polar alignment you need. Now it's software time. There is a short list of required software, so do not worry. Also, if you have the Celestron CPWI software installed, please uninstall it for now.
Install ASCOM Device Hub from the ASCOM website. This acts as a hub for all other software to work off of. I will not explain the configuration of each piece of software; that will be a later project.
Install Celestron CPWI. This software controls the Celestron Advanced VX Mount. It is also where the go-to alignment and advanced polar alignment will be conducted.
Install ASTAP plate-solving software. This is how the NINA imaging software can tell the orientation of the mount. It simply takes in a picture and then spits back out the celestial coordinates. It's fun to mess around with if you would like. There is a separate installation; you need the files to compare the photos against. I downloaded the largest database as I have a powerful computer and plenty of storage. The general rule of thumb is that the longer the scope's focal length, the more comprehensive the required database. ASTAP provides these.
OPTIONAL: Install SkyTrack. This piece of software costs around $15 and is not required for the regular operation
of the scope. I plan on using it to track satellites. I want a timelapse of the ISS sometime. I will post more information
as soon as I get this working.
Install Stellarium planetarium software. This is also not required for using the scope with deepspace objects, but it is beneficial when seeking other celestial objects. I have yet to get this working with the entire system, but it should be pretty simple! It is also helpful as you can simulate the field of view of different scopes to help plan and frame shots.
Install NINA astrophotography control software. This is the piece of software that ties everything together. It also requires an additional download of an offline sky map, which can be found on the NINA website. This software is the most complicated and complex to set up. The main gist is that you can sequence photos and send all the main controls to the rest of the software. I will make the most documentation on this software, but for now, I will leave it at that.