Celestia Forums

Wow, what a wonderfull program! The graphics are just great.

Chris, have you given any thought to adding the ability to controll /monitor the position of a telescope. I have a Meade LX200 10" telescope and I know that the LX200 protocol is freely available. Imagine, aiming your telescope at an object and having Celestia show me what I'm pointing to! Or pointing to something in Celestia and having the telescope move to the object!

Cheers, and Awesome program!

-John

I agree! This would be a truly wonderful tool for enthusiasts to really get an idea about what they're looking at through the real telescope. Such a feature would make Celestia indispensible tool!

Chris, this is truly a work of art! Thank you.

James

Telescope control is probably a feature that won't make it into Celestia. There are quite a few programs out there that do this already (and are probably better suited for it than Celestia.) Also, I don't own a telescope that connects to my computer, so I'd have a hard time implementing telescope control anyhow :>

--Chris

Maybe, as soon as Celestia will be build as library, someone will create a Celestia based telescope controller.. :-)

Although I don't have a controllable telescope, I think it's a great idea to be able to point the scope, and have Celestia move. Or to select an object in Celestia and have the scope move to it. It's true there is other software for this, but it would still be pretty neato if someone implimented it into Celestia.

To help anyone who might pursue this programming endeavor, I have posted the LX200 command set on my website here. If I can help in any way, let me know.

I must have timed-out. The last post was me

James wrote:I agree! This would be a truly wonderful tool for enthusiasts to really get an idea about what they're looking at through the real telescope. Such a feature would make Celestia indispensible tool!

Chris, this is truly a work of art! Thank you.

James

For telescope control you need a 2d map not 3d! For LX200 control, have a look at XEphem. This is the best (most accurate), available for Linux (free), Windows and OS-X. I know what I am talking about;-).

Bye Fridger

t00fri wrote:
For telescope control you need a 2d map not 3d!

the azimuth and ascension (2d coordinates) could easily be computed from 3d coordinates by plotting the vector from equatorial earth to target, then adjusting for local position. It would only require that the 3d motion mechanics match the real world.

Sorry if I use this topic, but I have a question..
I have a TiBook Powerbook G4.
Is there a way to connect a telescope to such computer?

It looks like you are going to need a RS232 to USB adapter, since the powerbook doesn't include any conventional serial ports. These are sometimes called "serial hubs" and here is an example that may work for you. It supports up to OS 8.6. This is just to get you pointed in the right direction, you may find another kind of device or a better deal somewhere else.

Also I don't know much about Mac OS's, so take what I say with a grain of salt to make sure you don't blow any money. But I would guess that such a hub would come with drivers to make integration with serial-based software seamless.

Good Luck!

Dave007 wrote:

t00fri wrote:
For telescope control you need a 2d map not 3d!

the azimuth and ascension (2d coordinates) could easily be computed from 3d coordinates by plotting the vector from equatorial earth to target, then adjusting for local position. It would only require that the 3d motion mechanics match the real world.

Of course, I know that;-).

Incidentally, I am just now involved coding RA/DEC cursor readout for Celestia...

My remark was meant to express that using Celestia for telescope control is like "shooting on flies with canons" as we say over here...

It's naturally the domain of ephmeris programs sprecializing on 2d star mapping. Just to give you some more concrete arguments: a good telescope control needs a large and notably complete data base (up to some limiting mag) of celestial objects like planetaries, galaxies, globulars etc. Most of the respective professional catalogs are simply lacking the information that Celestia needs for /3d/ display!

The calculation of RA/DEC is really so trivial compared to this that I did not even care to mention it above.

Bye Fridger

That's true, all I'm saying is that it would be cool . If not direct control, then maybe an API that could send object ID info to 2d app, for greater accuracy. Maybe I'm "beating a dead horse." :-/

Dave007 wrote:That's true, all I'm saying is that it would be cool :-) . If not direct control, then maybe an API that could send object ID info to 2d app, for greater accuracy. Maybe I'm "beating a dead horse." :-/

People seriously interested in precision computer control of LX200's with a great programm should contact Elwood Downey of XEphem.
http://www.clearskyinstitute.com/xephem/xephem.html

Its perfect for this task, cooperating with /all/ precision catalogs etc...

Bye Fridger

Hi,
If anyone is working on controlling a telescope, ive posted code in Celestia Development http://ennui.shatters.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3804 to work out the angles of azimuth and altitude and the distance of any celestial body given the observers latitude,longitude and altitude above the earths (or any other body's) surface and the time.
Alex

Try this:
http://www.starrynight.com/pro.html
I'm not sure how good it is, but it claims to do what your looking for.