TheSkySearchers

hello folks! I was going to get an exos2 GT but after a LOT of reading I went with a skyview pro goto. my question is can this be run from stellarium on my laptop?

thanks.

Rick.

The answer is yes! Not only Stellarium but Cartes du Ciel and SkyTech X (STX) AFTER you have downloaded and installed the ASCOM drivers for your Orion mount and attached a new cable.

Just google Celestron ASCOM drivers (that's what the manual says) and it will take you right where you need to go. Plus you'll need one additional piece of hardware that consists of two cables. The first is an RJ11 to a serial plug, second, you'll need to plug that into a serial to USB plug to make one long cable. You plug the RJ11 end into the base of the hand controller (HC) and the other end into a USB slot in your laptop. Lastly, after you've plugged in the new cable, go to your device manager open the Com Port and see which Com Port was assigned to your serial to USB cable. ASCOM needs this information.

That should do it,
JT

awesome! thanks so much jeytee! the mount should be here tomorrow. (thur. June 17th) and i'm excited. the clock drives went out on the old original fork mount.
so it's going to be a real upgrade/learning experience! looking forward to it!

rick

Good luck, enjoy the new mount.

thanks lady! i'm sipping coffee tapping my foot already lol.

well the SVP mount came in! yayyy! the dovetail plate for the C8 is on back order "of course" but I set my celestron astromaster70 on it and I have to say I love this mount!!
it's so much better than the fork mount from 1979 "duh!" and really very solid! more testing when I mount the C8 but so far this looks to be a real game changer for me!

Rick

ok so got the mount. got the dovetail plate in just to find out it won't fit! grrrrr…… i'm going to make an adpt for it. but man what a let down! but here's my babby.

Is the stock Celestron dovetail to wide for the SVP?

The SVP has a Vixen-style saddle, right? Sounds like the dovetail bar is non-Vixen maybe?

no. it's the right size for the SVP. the bolt pattern is wrong for the older (1979) model C8. have to have a adaptor or radius blocks. is all. I just wish they would tell you this in the description when you order a dovetail plate.

Is it possible to post an image of the issue, I am a bit confused on this.

the mount holes are not wide enough on the dovetail plate.

I googled .. Deforking C8 adding vixen dovetail

Got some links like
https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/3230 ... xen-plate/

Dont have a C8 so can't be sure how good the suggestions are, there is talk of a dovetail kit from scopestuff.

thank you everyone for all the input, it means a lot! I got tired of fooling with it so I drilled and tapped it to fit. lol. which I think i like better than radius blocks. keeps the scope closer to the central axis and so a little more stable. working great! now, about those clouds!...…...