THE BEEHIVE OBSERVATORY

IN-HOUSE SOFTWARE



Android Lunar Phase    A really crude phone app to show when the moon will be full over the coming year.
        Also available as a PC program.

Date of Easter         Minimal it is! Perhaps I'll just show the code under Formulae.

Observatory Calc       (RA,Dec) to (Alt,Az) converter. Sidereal clock. Telescope limits.

Equatorial       Still in development but manages lists of objects and allows an Ascom telescope
     to go to and take photos. Next goal is session scheduling. The calculations and device control is
     in place and partially tested. Session scheduling is in its infancy. Focussing and dome control are
     not even begun.


THIRD PARTY SOFTWARE



Gimp    A general purpose photograph tuning application that is free to use. It has a lot of functionality but is
     especially good at the simple things. There are many plugins out there but they are not guaranteed
     to work on your version of Gimp - a kind of version hell.

RawTherapee    A general purpose photograph tuning application that is free to use. This is
     better at some things than basic Gimp. I like it for the way it helps reduce the coloured fringes
     of differential refraction. I read that there is a Gimp plugin for that, but I didn't find a match
     for my version.

Ascom   A standard, commonly supported set of drivers and tools for amateur equipment. My Skywatcher
     mount and Altair camera have drivers for it. Skywatcher's 'Synscan' can connect your mount and your
     Android or your PC so that you have a virtual hand controller. Some planetarium S/W can be set up as
     an additional controller allowing you to use the mouse to point and go. Those features can also be
     built into your own programs, oh happy day.

Cartes du Ciel   A fine example of a planetarium program that interfaces with Ascom and shows you what's where.
     You can select different catalogues of objects and tailor it to show more or less according to taste.
     I am in the process of comparing its calcultions against SynScan Pro and against in-house Equatorial.
     So far the latter two agree closely.

Stellarium   A good looking example of a planetarium program.
     Under evaluation.

SynScan Pro   A software version of hand controller for the SkyWatcher mounts. Reportedly works across all their
     mounts, which is reassuring. It is rather nice to be able to use your phone or PC as a controller. In
     an observatory you can use a USB cable (special wiring or plug needed at mount side - I do have it
     working but have I written it down anywhere?) or to eliminate the need for a computer you can connect
     your smartphone to the mount's wifi.


WRITING ASCOM APPLICATION SOFTWARE

I'll just show a couple of code snippets as a starter. This is from a C# solution with references to ASCOM.Exceptions.dll and ASCOM.Interface.dll.
     // EQUATORIAL CALCULATOR PROGRAM
     // This is a simple Windows program to make typical astronomical calculations available to the home observer.
     // The calculations are mainly derived from Peter Duffett-Smith's excellent books:-
     // Practical Astronomy With Your Calculator, 2nd Edition, 1981
     // Astronomy With Your Personal Computer, 2nd Edition, 1990
     // Practical Astronomy with your Calculator or Spreadsheet, 4th edition, 2011.
     using System;
     using System.Data.SQLite;
     using System.Configuration;
     using System.Diagnostics;
     using System.Drawing;
     using System.Drawing.Imaging;
     using ASCOM.DeviceInterface;
     using ASCOM.Utilities;
     using ASCOM.DriverAccess;
     namespace Equatorial
     .....
     private void btnASCOMConnect_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
     {
     if (TelescopeDriver != null && TelescopeDriver != "")
     {
      T = new Telescope(TelescopeDriver);
     try
     {
     T.Connected = true;
     Thread.Sleep(1000);
     .....
     }