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Control of Vixen SXW from Sky Safari

Hey everyone wondering if someone can clear up something for me. For a good while now, I have been controlling my SXW from SS. When I started out I set SS to J2000 because that is how the Starbook is configured. I use the Starbook to set the initial Home position for the mount, thereafter, everything from star alignment to Gotos is controlled from SS. Since all that SS is doing is transferring a set of coordinates to the starbook it seems logical to think that I should be able to run everything in JNow. Can you clarify please.

Kind Regards
Paul J.

6 comments

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    Bill Tschumy

    The setting for the epoch (J2000, Now, etc) in SkySafari is for your benefit only.  It has nothing to do with the coordinates we use when talking to the scope.  We know what each mount expects and always convert to that epoch before sending an RA/Dec to the mount.

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    Deepskyman

    Bill

    Thank you for your prompt response.  So I guess then that it doesn't matter what epoch is set in SS, the Starbook always receives a J2000 set of coordinates.  Do you know if Vixen have a firmware update that would take the Starbook to JNow?

    Kind Regards

    Paul J.

     

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    Bill Tschumy

    I have no idea what Vixen's plans are.  I hope they don't change that because it causes all kinds of confusion with software like SkySafari.

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    Deepskyman

    Hmmm.... On reflection, being a software engineer myself, I can appreciate how changes like  that by vendors could be a major headache for you guys.  

    On a side note, just love sky safari, keep up the good work you guys :-)

    Paul.

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    Bill Tschumy

    Paul,

    Thanks.

    Bill

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    Deepskyman

    Bill

    I have been using SS in conjunction with my SXW for a couple of years now and I find the software excellent. However there is one thing that I miss from the Starbook controller, and that is the variable slew speed in relation to the zoom level employed across the full zoom range of the Starbook. In SS you are hooking into this capability, but you restrict this to 4 settings within the zoom range. I was wondering if any thought had been given to providing a full range zoom/slew capability within SS, this would greatly enhance scope control from within SS.

    Kind Regards 
    Paul.

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