Hi everyone!
I have implemented an arduino code to control the motorization of a telescope, through the LX200 protocol. Among the specifications of this protocol I read that the transmission of the sidereal time is also provided, in these terms: ": GS # Get the Sidereal Time. Returns: HH: MM: SS #. The Sidereal Time as an ASCII Sexidecimal value in 24 hour format ".
The question: Does Stellarium transmit sidereal time to the telescope with the code :GS#, or does it just send right ascension and declination? If so, does Stellarium transmit all the codes required by the LX200 protocol?
Thanks everyone in advance!
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Abilities and limitations
This plug-in allows Stellarium to send ’slew’ (’go to’) commands to the device and to receive its
current position. There are some scopes which additionally support ’sync’ commands to be received
in order to update the internal pointing model of the mount. Some scopes also have the ability
to abort a previous slew command. However, users should always be aware of the possibility for
mount collisions and similar situations. You should always make sure that a slew does not cause
parts of the telescope to collide with the environment or mount itself.
Currently this plug-in does not allow satellite tracking unless the controlled telescope is an
RTS2 system (see section 15.2.6), and is not very suitable for lunar or planetary observations. Many
mounts can be set to a ’lunar’ tracking speed, you may prefer this.
There is no indication that other parts of the LX200 protocol apart from RA/Dec are available. The developer of the plugin is no longer active, i.e. we must look into the same open source code available to you.
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Yes afaik it's only goto and sync that Stellarium can do.
What primo mosto can do as an alternative is set up an INDI server with a LX200 device driver to talk to the mount. That driver will support the rest of the LX200 protocol.
Stellarium can talk to the INDI server to control the mount (with only slew and sync).
And anything else that a client needs to tell the device driver can be done simultaneously from another client that talks INDI, like setting lunar or solar speed etc.
-- Hans
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@gzotti @Hans
Thanks so much for the quick replies.
In truth, the problem arose due to the limit in calculations with doubles (and floats) of the Mega2560 card. Running the sketch (naturally adapted) on PC with CodeBlocks, the sidereal time is accurate and reliable. But with the same code loaded on the Mega, I have an unacceptable delay of about two minutes. I will certainly study the alternative illustrated by Hans, although I would have preferred to have Arduino manage everything. Alternatively I will opt for an Arduino Due.
Thank you.
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I think I have seen exactly such discussion (Arduino too limited for on-board sidereal time computation) in some other forum (or even here...). There must be tens of Arduino guiding projects discussed online.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
Hi everyone!
I have implemented an arduino code to control the motorization of a telescope, through the LX200 protocol. Among the specifications of this protocol I read that the transmission of the sidereal time is also provided, in these terms: ": GS # Get the Sidereal Time. Returns: HH: MM: SS #. The Sidereal Time as an ASCII Sexidecimal value in 24 hour format ".
The question: Does Stellarium transmit sidereal time to the telescope with the code :GS#, or does it just send right ascension and declination? If so, does Stellarium transmit all the codes required by the LX200 protocol?
Thanks everyone in advance!
The User Guide, section 15.2.1:
There is no indication that other parts of the LX200 protocol apart from RA/Dec are available. The developer of the plugin is no longer active, i.e. we must look into the same open source code available to you.
Yes afaik it's only goto and sync that Stellarium can do.
What primo mosto can do as an alternative is set up an INDI server with a LX200 device driver to talk to the mount. That driver will support the rest of the LX200 protocol.
Stellarium can talk to the INDI server to control the mount (with only slew and sync).
And anything else that a client needs to tell the device driver can be done simultaneously from another client that talks INDI, like setting lunar or solar speed etc.
-- Hans
@gzotti @Hans
Thanks so much for the quick replies.
In truth, the problem arose due to the limit in calculations with doubles (and floats) of the Mega2560 card. Running the sketch (naturally adapted) on PC with CodeBlocks, the sidereal time is accurate and reliable. But with the same code loaded on the Mega, I have an unacceptable delay of about two minutes. I will certainly study the alternative illustrated by Hans, although I would have preferred to have Arduino manage everything. Alternatively I will opt for an Arduino Due.
Thank you.
I think I have seen exactly such discussion (Arduino too limited for on-board sidereal time computation) in some other forum (or even here...). There must be tens of Arduino guiding projects discussed online.