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Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

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I feel your pain by the way. The documentation doesn't seem to keep up with all the changes and there are so many possible configurations that all the use cases are hard to anticipate.
1 year 5 months ago #87148

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Replied by Amit on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

I am wondering if it is even necessary to add skysafari as an auxiliary in the device profile.
1 year 5 months ago #87149

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I think that's the question - what is it adding to your workflow that KStars isn't satisfying?
1 year 5 months ago #87150

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Replied by Amit on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

No, I mean whether it is necessary to add skysafari as an auxiliary for it to work with this setup.

The skysafari app has the observation planner that I seek. Kstars's observation planner is a mess, it's never worked correctly for me. I wanted to view interesting objects in an area of sky that I can see. Kstars wants me to enter the region in ra and dec, instead of alt az that is so much more intuitive to specify.
1 year 5 months ago #87176

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Amit,

For more than a year I've been using Starry Night Pro Plus 8 to do a lot of my planning - I found it easier to use than KStars. Starry Night, like SkySafari, is from Simulation Curriculum and I've now found that that SkySafari INDI driver also allows EKOS work with Starry Night. To be honest, I'm not sure what the advantages/differences are between Starry Night and SkySafari for planning and telescope control. There are a few CloudyNight threads and others that discuss differences but they aren't terribly specific. Starry Night apparently has its roots in desktop machines and is quite a bit more expensive while SkySafari seem to have its roots more in mobile device platforms (although it runs on desktop machines as well).

All that said, I've been trying to focus more on using KStars and EKOS together (trying to simplify things). While KStars is taking me some getting used to, it has many tools similar to SkySafari and I've recently started my first mosaic and the mosaic planner in EKOS has worked well in setting up each panel. I get the RA/DEC vs ALT/AZ thing - are you using the Wizard or the What's Up Tonight tool?
1 year 5 months ago #87222

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Replied by Amit on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

Didn't know about starry night.

I was trying to use Kstars observation wizard. Basically I do EAA from my backyard, from where I can see only from Polaris on one side to east-se on the other. I got frustrated trying to see what to o serve by trial and error, manually filtering what I could not see. Kstars offers a way to enter portion of the sky, but in ra and dec. I really don't know who they are targeting with that, because anybody who can converse that easily in ra and dec probably doesn't need observation wizards....
1 year 5 months ago #87223

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Replied by Willi on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

Nice set-up. I like it. I have very similar hardware and I am fully Apple-based as well, except for the RPi of course ;-). I have both the ASIAIR Pro and the StellarMate. So far I use mostly the ASIAIR. The mount is an Avalon M-Uno with the new StarGO2 Pro controller (SG2), which is RPi-based and runs its own INDI server and optionally KStars/EKOS. I use the PAA in EKOS on the Mac for polar alignment.

I also interface with SkySafari 6 or 7 Pro from the iPad (or my M1-MacBook), because I like the SS interface and GUI much better than KStars. Easier to read. Finding things quicker. But SS does not offer any camera interface or plate solving.

This is related, because the Avalon SG2 INDI server is basically taking over the function of the SM INDI server.

There are some issues with the communication between SS6 and the ASIAIR. I can either use SS6 or the ASIAIR. Not both at the same time.

As for SS7, I use the INDI-based client in SS7, which had some issues in the beginning but those problems seemed to be resolved. The main issue was, whenever SS7 slewed to a new target, plate solving did not work because the mount was not switching back to the tracking mode. When looking at how the INDI communication works, in some mount drivers you have to re-start the tracking mode after slewing. It is not always automatic. Lately, I do not have this issue anymore.

Since you are Apple based, did you try INDIGO? I would love to try it out, but the Avalon SG2 interface is not compatible with INDIGO.
Last edit: 1 year 5 months ago by Willi.
1 year 5 months ago #87425

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Replied by Willi on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

Polaris is blocked by my house. I use the PAA (aka PAT) in EKOS for polar alignment. As stated in the previous post, my Avalon mount has its integrated INDI server, which is equivalent to a StellarMate-based INDI-server. I access this INDI-server from KStars/EKOS from my M1-MacBook and run the PAA during the mount set-up. Works perfectly now.

Since the M1-based Macs can run (some) iOS- and iPadOS-based apps, I can run SkySafari 7 Pro, the ASIAIR or the StellarMate apps directly from my Mac. This is so cool.

Effectively, depending on what I need to do, I run KStar/EKOS on the Mac for the PAA first and then, for the EAA, I use PHD2 for guiding, ASIAIR for imaging and either the ASIAIR Atlas or SkySafari 6 or 7 for slewing, i.e. GOTO. The Avalon StarGO2 INDI server is basically the hub for the mount to make this all possible. Depending on the mount, the SG2 could easily be replaced with the StellarMate.
Last edit: 1 year 5 months ago by Willi.
1 year 5 months ago #87426

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That's quite a set up! I'm not very familiar with your mount or the controller but they look very interesting.

I've been involved in Astrophotography for only the last 2.5 years and still learning a lot. I tried INDIGO very early on but struggled a bit with connectivity to my equipment. With the experience I now have I probably could sort this out - I'm sure it was related to some serial/usb drivers.

After my failed INDIGO experience I tried the TheSky, then ASIAIR and have now settled on KStars and have been using it for about a year and a half. I purchased the StellarMate OS and installed it on my own RPi. Initially I used the StellarMate app on my tablet or controlled KStars running on the RPi using a screen share. Now I've settled on running KStars from my M1 desktop Mac and switching the RPi to just being the remote INDI server. After lots of frustration with WiFi, I've also settled on an Ethernet Connection to the RPi. While I've attached a USB SSD to the RPi, I find it easier to just have EKOS write all the data to the Mac and not fiddle with file transfers anymore. Ethernet really enabled that since WiFi was so slow and unreliable. Since the RPi doesn't handle power distribution/dew heaters, I use a PegasusAstro Ultimate PowerBox and some of the iOptron mount power distribution to handle all that.

I used Starry Night for a lot of my planning (SkySafari's sibling) because it was easier for me to use than KStars. Once I had a target in mind, I'd enter it into EKOS manually and let EKOS run everything after that. Lately I've decided to get a bit deeper into KStars to try and reduce the number of software packages I had to deal with. I'm currently shooting my first mosaic which I planned in KStars/EKOS. It's a 4 panel mosaic and the KStars/EKOS scheduler has been working great over a multiple night shoot (there is a bit of a learning curve). The integration of the plan with the mount and camera control has been great - the last two nights it's run for over 8 hours each night, switched panels, meridian flips, hourly focus runs, guiding - it just seems to come together AND I can get some sleep! I won't say every night goes that smoothly but when it works together it's magic! I use the internal EKOS guide module and don't really have experience with PHD2.
1 year 5 months ago #87438

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Replied by Willi on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

Hi Fred,

My mount controller and the ASIAIR are both based on RPi 4B’s. Just as you said, their WiFi connectivity is very unreliable if you are more than 3m/10ft away. My solution was then similar to yours: I have a WiFi-6 mesh at home and put one of the satellites next to the mount and connect both devices with ethernet cables to the mesh satellite. This is a super fast connection anywhere in the house :-)

Thank you for the feedback on INDIGO! Peter is constantly improving it. I tried it for a while and Peter was extremely helpful in figuring out set-up issues. In the end it turned out, that the StarGO2 is not compatible with INDIGO. And it is not an INDIGO problem…

I do not use much of AP planning nor mosaicking just yet. I got into AP during the pandemic because of much less traveling. Never regretted it.

I found the KStars/EKOS planner far from being straight forward, while manageable. So I use the simple planner in the ASIAIR, which is good enough for me for now. I am beta tester for the ASIAIR version 2 app, which runs perfectly well on the M1 Macbook.

TheSky is very expensive… not sure if it is worth it. I haven’t used Starry Night in maybe 15 years, since I am super happy with SkySafari 6 and 7. The planner in SkySafari is not adapted to AP… So for now I am OK with the ASIAIR.

The only problem I have now is the limited compatibility between the ASIAIR and the StarGO2 Pro controller. Guiding is not supported in this interface, while GoTo and plate solving is. So I need to run either the PHD2 or the EKOS guider separately. For now I prefer PHD2… again, i found it more intuitiv than EKOS. Technically, I could do everything with the StarGO2 controller and EKOS on either the RPi or on my Mac… but I do not like the GUI and the ASIAIR is easier to use.

There are so many settings and options in EKOS, that I find it counter productive for just a simple AP session. I find myself trying out all the options and settings forever until it kind of works the way I want to. ASIAIR and PHD2 are much more intuitiv and straight forward. The PAA in EKOS, however, is constantly improving and a great help.

There are also a lot of people who love N.I.N.A., which is also freeware. NINA seems very good, but does not support INDI, as far as I know. ASCOM works, though. Matter of taste.

Yes, all these options and tools keep us busy. It‘s still a lot of fun and the images are great!

Willi
Last edit: 1 year 5 months ago by Willi.
1 year 5 months ago #87452

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Thanks Willi,

One thing your post is encouraging me to do is try PHD2 for guiding from within EKOS. So far I’ve only used the EKOS internal guider and want to compare the results vs PHD2. I have an iOptron CEM120EC2 mount and feel like the settings for guiding are sorcery. I’ve read the forums here, on the iOptron user site, on CloudyNights, and more - the only thing I’m certain of is uncertainty (perhaps a metaphor for random processes like the arrival of photos).

I’ve also tried Wi-Fi satellites, Wi-Fi range extenders, and Wi-Fi antennae for the RPi. After loading drivers, command line instructions and more, I went to the hard wired Ethernet connection. I may try the satellite option again . . . .

TheSky is expensive but when I was first starting out, Richard Wright (no longer full time there I believe) was one of the few who replied to messages regarding connections and set up. For that, I was very grateful.

Best,
Fred
1 year 5 months ago #87482

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Replied by Willi on topic Skysafari 7 with stellarmate

Hi Fred,

Good idea. I am using PHD outside of the EKOS environment or better without the EKOS/PHD2 connection, which is an option.

Because I had problems finding the best settings with the EKOS guider(s), I changed to PHD2 and the recommended settings for PHD2 by the mount manufacturer. Then I still ran the guiding assistant in PHD2, which fine tunes the guiding settings. Now I have very good guiding results:
openphdguiding.org/man-dev/Tools.htm#Guiding_Assistant

In my case, the WiFi satellites are not very far apart and create a perfect WiFi-6 mesh. Each and everyone of the satellites has two ethernet ports, which makes the wired connection very fast from the RPi’s to any other device in the (WiFi) network.

Yes, support is very important. Unfortunately, the support for the software for my mount is very spotty. While mechanically great, the software has some (minor) issues and the support is not very responsive.
1 year 5 months ago #87504

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