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Post by Ronny on Jun 11, 2012 12:36:39 GMT
The Orion Intelliscope. I've found a few things about this piece of kit on the net and indeed a great video on YouTube as to how it actually works and without actually going down the road of a goto telescope I think this would be a great help in "putting me in the ball park" of many of the things I want to see. Has anyone used this or a similar piece of kit? Can this be used on any Dob, specifically mine?
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Post by bigeye155 on Jun 12, 2012 16:01:08 GMT
Hi Ronny, Push to computers more commonly refered to as digital setting circles were more popular several years ago, before mass produced go-to scopes became commonly available. JMI (Jims Mobile) www.jimsmobile.com/buy_ngc.htm were the first to make digital setting circles followed by Sky Commander and Argo Navis (plus others) they all need encoders which attach to each axis on your dob base, or any mount for that matter. What make is your scope? If its an Orion (USA) then the intelliscope sould bolt straight on. As long as your scope is a popular model, an encoder kit should be available for it. I had an NGC Max for several years before I got a goto system. They are still very popular with dob owners and they don't require motors or big batteries to work. As long as your initial alignment is good, then finding anything in the database will be easy and very accurate, much better than ball park! I'm sure you could link it to your smartphone or pc and download a list of targets! PM or call me for more info David.
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Post by brianb on Jun 12, 2012 22:43:36 GMT
The sane alternative is a Wixey angle gauge attached to the altitude axis only. You use a PC running planetarium software (Stellarium or similar) to get the altitude of the object & set that on the gauge. Then roughly rotate in azimuth & sweep in azimuth only until the object appears.
The downside of all computerized systems is that you need intelligence to use them - they do miss for various reasons & if you don't realise that it's possible you can get very frustrated. Star hopping using charts & finder simply works & you get satisfaction from doing the finding yourself. Plus the electronic stuff requires batteries which usually fail or freeze at critical times, cables which pull out, ... If you like observing the visual route is best. If you like fiddling with hardware the computerised stuff can be fun. But IMHO computerised mounts / DSCs are for advanced amateurs rather than beginners.
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Post by Ronny on Jun 13, 2012 7:48:19 GMT
Cheers bigeye. My scope is a Revelation 12". I'm experimenting with my iPad so I'll post how I get on and if it's unsuccessful I'll be in touch.
Brian, I totally agree with you but the main problem is time and weather. I just don't have the time to spend hours scanning the skies and star hopping. I have found that even with a clear night I can only find 2 or 3 deep sky objects. I just need something to put me in the ball park and then I can spend the time enjoying the object rather than spending the time trying to find it in the first place.
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