×

INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

QtSettingCircles

  • Posts: 81
  • Thank you received: 3
Hi Jasem, I have not lost interest in KStars development, or any other type of development for that matter. However I have taken this time to learn Qt. For my first project I wanted to develop an application to help with my old school telescope's setting circles. I've attached a screenshot of my desktop that shows my QtSettingCircles app plus an AngularJS app that I completed several months ago. At the moment. QtSettingCircles is a private GitHub repo but over the next couple of days I will make it public. I have tested it on Ubuntu 16.04 and Windows 7. Works great!

What the attached image isn't showing is that the Hour Angle is updating in real time. And the reason why I show it in a large point size is that my laptop will be a good 2 meters away from me when I adjust the setting circles. I need that magnification.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq
6 years 10 months ago #17009
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Replied by Jasem Mutlaq on topic QtSettingCircles

That does look great! Thanks for working on it. A few folks here asked about Settings Circles support so I'm sure they will appreciate this app.
6 years 10 months ago #17010

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 81
  • Thank you received: 3

Replied by Brian Morgan on topic QtSettingCircles

We have had weeks of crummy weather in the Northeast US. Finally, yesterday we got a break, although the night sky was highly variable: one minute it was clear, and the next minute thin, obstructing clouds.

I got a chance to test out my software. It is effective but its accuracy depends on the resolution of your setting circles. I decided to provide two methods of operation: the first is the traditional approach of using the setting circles on your polar axis to dial in the right ascension of a calibration star, and then slewing to the desired object by matching the readout to the object's right ascension; the only problem with that method is that you need to re-calibrate for each new target. The second method uses the setting circles on the polar axis to dial in the hour angle of the calibration star which needs to be performed just once for the entire night.

I learned a few important lessons along the way. I plan on making the repo public after I author an informative markdown file. I am attaching photos of M57 and M27 that I took last night with my ASI120MC through an $80 70mm Celestron achromat at f/5.7 pick-backed on my Unitron Model 142. These are 30-second exposures, stacked with Registax 6; I had to throw out a lot of images due to corruption by clouds passing by. M27 has a lot of noise because there were so few good images.
6 years 9 months ago #17109
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.265 seconds