1. PURPOSE AND OPPORTUNITIES
EQStar control system, further CS, designed to automate the control of the equatorial
mount, and can be used in stand-alone mode and in a control mode using a computer or
mobile device (phone, tablet, etc.).
On a PC, then the CS works with any astronomical programs that support the ASCOM
platform (
http://www.ascom-standards.org/
). For example, with planetarium Stellarium,
Cartes de Ciel, StarCalc and others. Among the programs for astrophotography and guiding,
CS supports MaximDL, Guidemaster, PHDGuiding and others. When you work with a PC,
the CS can automatically find sky objects, and track them automatically ( guiding ) during
the astro photography with long exposure. Also, when working with a PC, you must install
EQMOD ASCOM-application (
http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/
telescope control with mobile devices, further MD, can automatically find sky objects. In
the program the planetarium at MD as a control of the telescope should be chosen or
Celestron or SynScan, as well as a mount - German equatorial mount. The following
programs for MD works with CS include SkySafary, Orion StarSeek, DSOPlaner and others.
CS communication with the PC is via a cable from the standard kit and with the MD over
WiFi.
A variety of platforms, drivers, and applications that can work CS, gives the opportunity
to create a particularly comfortable for the user mount the control conditions, depending on
the tasks.
For example, an astro photographer generally uses a laptop or PC to search, targeting and
guiding the object during a long exposure. Such opportunities are mostly programs running
under Windows. But for an amateur visual astronomy much more convenient to control the
mount with a compact MD, smartphone or tablet, rather than using a PC or laptop.
The CS is supplied with a universal joystick for manual control. It allows you to manage
mount autonomously without a computer, smartphone or tablet.
The following schematically shows the basic configuration when working with CS.
