![]() ![]() The main functionality in the program is the ability to prepare different sky maps for a specific observation session. The position of planets, asteroids and comets are also shown. It provides the ability to draw sky charts, making use of the data in many catalogs of stars and nebulae. If things aren’t quite centred, we can manually adjust the object into view (using the onscreen controls) and then sync this position with CDC.Cartes du Ciel is a free open source planetarium software to use on Windows, macOS or Linux platform. We can then select any of the objects on screen, get more information about them, and crucially, get our telescope and mount to point to that object in the sky. We make sure the correct profile for our mount is selected and then we basically just connect the mount using CDC – it’s that simple. It allows us to concentrate on the image capture of astrophotography and less about navigating to try and find feint fuzzy objects!īy utilising our ASCOM EQMOD set up that we configured earlier, we tell CDC it is there for use. Using Cartes du Ciel (CDC) to control our mount to position in the sky is a must have addition to our astrophotography toolkit. That’s it – so congratulations! We can now use CDC to navigate the night sky and our telescope and mount will follow! What We Did Select OK and CDC positioning will update. This will ask for confirmation that what you’re seeing is M81. Right click on M81, but this time choose the Telescope > Sync M81 option. When it is centred, we can tell CDC that this is actually where that object is.I find using the default set under (3) gives a good nudge in the right direction). The default setting (1) is for minute adjustments. To correct this, use the EQMOD onscreen controls to move your scope so that the object is centred on screen ( Tip: you can adjust the speed of movement using the drop down found in the slew controls. ![]() It could be that they’re not quite centred in the view. Verify by looking through the eyepiece or through a program like SharpCap if your cameras are connected. If all is well, your telescope will now move around to point to M81.Now, to get the mount and scope to move to that position in the sky, we right click on M81 and choose Telescope > Slew M81 Click on Close to close the dialog box.For example, clicking on M81, then on the M81 label will bring up the following information about that object: At this point, we can click on objects in CDC and get more information on them.So press the Unpark button before we can continue. In this position you won’t be able to move the mount using the controls. ![]() You’ll see that our mount starts off in the “ Parked” position.This then loads up that familiar EQMOD control dialog box and change the status from red to green in the telescope control box in CDC: We simply now press the Connect button.Click OK to confirm that’s the correct profile to return back to the previous window.You will see the profile name that we created when previously setting up ASCOM. ![]() This will load up the following dialog box.
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