Software
The software I use to control the telescopes. s
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- SkyMap Pro 6
- Earth Centered Universe (ECU)
- DeepSky99
- Bob Denny's Astronomers control panel.
- MaxIm DL CCD
- QuickMiPS 32Bit
Computer Room
I have tried to make the whole set up a remote operated
affair. The LX-200 and CCD cameras can all be operated from a room in my house
via these two computers. I use a EXT as a guiding scope and this is mounted on
the LX-200 so does not need controlling. On one computer I run the CCD software
and the other the LX-200 soft wear. Windows 98 also supports 2 monitors so I
can have my log and planetarium all running at the same time and all visible. I
originally ran it all from one computer with lots of extra serial and parallel
ports but this got confusing with so many screens to look at. I find running
two computers much easier and convenient to use. I can also use a flip mirror
with a small electric motor on to open and close it when I feel lazy. This is
so I don't have to go outside when taking a dark frame but I found that
sometimes it moved a little bit and spoilt the dark frame. I don't use it that
often now because of this. I can also turn the lights on remotely for flat
fielding from this room as well. SkyMap Pro 6
I used to use SkyMap 5 and found this great for what it did. I used Deepsky99 with it for it's planning and logging capability as well as Earth Centered Universe (ECU) simply for it's ease of use. Now I only use SkyMap Pro 6 for planning, log and as a planetarium program. It's excellent planetarium program. Easy to use and quite fast. It manages all deep sky, comets, asteroids, solar system, satellites and artificial satellites with ease. The display is fully adjustable as well as just about any thing else you can think of. One new feature is the ability to show artificial horizons so I can map out and see what is visible at the scope from my computer room. It has quire a good telescope interface but I prefer to use Bob Denny's Astronomers control panel. The session planner and astronomy log facility is good as well. Before I got SkyMap Pro6 I used Deepsky 99 and although this is a very good program it can be overly complicated. SkyMap Pro 6 on the other hand is relatively simple if you do not want to make extensive logs it's ideal.
Earth Centered Universe (ECU)
This as quite an old program. I think it goes back to windows 3.1. Because of this it works very fast indeed. The actual program manipulation is a bit quirky but you soon get used to it and realize it has many advantages. It has a primitive telescope interface dealing with movement and focusing, but it's bullet proof. It never crashes and it tells you in English when its lost connection. It's quite cheap as well with lots of extensive data bases. As a matter of fact it's worth buying just to get a cheep Hubble GSC catalog.
DeepSky99
This is a heavy weight program for database literate people. Although it has a fairly easy user interface, to get the most out of it some knowledge of database is essential. It's used for planning observing sessions and logging observing sessions. It has many large and extensive database although sometimes the names it uses can be a bit obscure making it difficult to cross reference with other data. It also tends to show the same object many times with different names so care must be taken not to duplicate any objects. I also found that I kept looking at objects I'd already observed on previous occasions, but just called something different. The logging facility is very comprehensive allowing for individual objects as well as session notes. A very useful feature for me is the separate section for CCD work which also allows me to attach pictures to it. I don't use it very match now as I find SkyMap Pro 6 less complicated to use. It also has the advantage of being on program so everything is linked together.
Bob Denny's Astronomers control panel.
It is basically a remote control for the LX-200 scope. An excellent program although it's quite pricey. If it was half the price everyone would be using it, although I think they do a cut down version that is usable but many of the more useful features are unavailable. I think the down load size is huge so only the fastest connection speeds bring it down to a day or so!!! It does everything the LX-200 can do and much more, all from my computer room. When at the scope it will even operate with voice commands although to get this working involved another huge download. It also supports scripting. This automates many things including slewing to object you set up to view, even by voice command.
MaxIm DL CCD
This program operates the CCD cameras, and does a better job than both the supplied programs for the ST7 and Meade 216XT when I brought them. (These may be better now as I've never kept up with all the patches and version updates as MaxIm DL CCD does everything I need.) It has never crashed and connected up straight out of the box. It's very easy to use and operates many cameras. Getting the guider to work on the ST7 is a snip as well. When the images are downloaded it does a pretty good job of image processing although some other programs I have try are a little more flexible. With most images I take I only do the bear minimal of processing so this for me is not to bad. Again it is quite pricey but the product you get for your money is well worth it.
MaxIm DL CCD main features
| Maximum Entrophy, |
| Deconvolution resolution enhancement |
| Automatic MaxEnt setup tools |
| Kernel filters with 12 user defined filters |
| Low pass and hight pass FFT filters |
| Unsharp mask with FFT, |
| Kernel and geometric masks |
| Image co-add with shift and rotation, sum and median modes |
| Tricolour image combination, colour balance,alignment |
| Linear, log and gamma stretch |
| Histogram specification with user specified or predefined curves |
| CCD camera calibration including dark frame auto-scaling |
| Pixel math with add, subtract, multiply and devide |
| No built in limit on image size |
| Supports FITS, SBIG, PC-lynxx, TIFF, BMP, PNG, JPEG and raw formats |
| The CCD vertion supports full CCD camera and guide camera control as well as Filter weels and AO-7 |
QuickMiPS 32Bit
This was one of the first image processing software I got to processing CCD images. It is DOS based but can be run in a window so other window operations can be run at the same time. It is very fast with processing but I find that this barely makes up for the time taken with programming it with all the correct information. There are very few quick buttons so almost everything needs to be typed in with code and commands so don't loose the manual. Despite this I find that it is very flexible and much more can be done with it than with most windows based software. It uses PIC and FITS Formats some some people may need some sort of conversion software.
It's main features include.
| Automatic pre-prossing operations |
| Photometric analysis. (aperture photometry and surface photometry) |
| Reads GSC caterlog |
| Astrometry of wide star fields with automatic matching with GSC |
| Planetary Cartography |
| Blink mode for detecting supernovea, asteroids etc. |
| Animation of sequences of images |
| Polarimetric analysis |
| Wavelet analysis Deconvolution (eg. Lucy algorithum, Maximum Entropy algorithm) |
My favourite feature that I use often is a facility for correcting Background uniformality. This creates a synthetic background image that averages out the background so there are no hot spots caused by stray light. I would not get this as my one and only image processing sofware, but it is a very good add on. That is to say, I dont' use it often but when I do I use it because no other program can do as much as it can. I dont think it is avaliable now as a serch on true technoligy's web site did not find it.
This document maintained by
pete.cox@zetnet.co.uk.
Material
Copyright © 2000 Pete