Testing the Nexus DSC Pro on the Obsession

By -

After I ordered the Nexus DSC Pro, the weather was of course too bad to do some real observing.  Luckily, it is perfectly possible to do some daylight testing of the combination Nexus DSC Pro / Obsession.  The Nexus DSC Pro has a standard configuration to communicate with the ServoCAT and uses 10000 steps encoders as a standard, so for my configuration, I did not need to change anything.  I did some tests from inside the garage and everything seemed to work perfectly.  The only problem I had was that the GoTo commands are not automatically executed, so I still need to push the 'Goto' button on the ServoCAT handpad.  Apparently, there is a small bug in the firmware, but Serge from Astro Devices promised me to send a corrected version of the firmware as soon as possible.  

After setting up the Wifi, I could also connect without problems from SkySafari to the Nexus DSC and SkySafari to see where the telescope is pointed at and to goto other objects.  

Luckily, during the family weekend in Devantave, I could use the Nexus DSC Pro for the first time.  I started up the Nexus DSC Pro while the telescope was pointing to the Zenith.  After confirming the Altitude Reference, I just used the two stars proposed by the Nexus to align the telescope.  After that, I could start using the digital setting circles and everything seemed to work without any problem.  All objects I asked for were perfectly in the field of view of my 31mm Nagler eyepiece.  Also the communication with the ServoCAT worked without problems.  I did not use the Wifi connection yet to connect to SkySafari, that will be for the next time. 

Almost ready for some family observing!
Location: Rue Saint-Donat 20, 6987 Rendeux, België

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Installing an ASA AZ800 in the observatory at work

By -
Image
On August 30, 2023 we installed an ASA AZ800 telescope in the observatory at work, at the  Institute of Astronomy  of KU Leuven .  The telescope will be one of the telescopes of the MARVEL project, an array of four telescope we will install on the Roque de los Muchachos in La Palma,  It was a very rainy day, but we managed to put the telescope in the observatory.  Enjoy some of the pictures! The upper part of the telescope in the corridor. The lower part of the telescope ready for lifting up. The lower part of the telescope going up. The lower part of the telescope entering the dome. The upper part of the telescope entering the dome. The installed telescope.
Read more

Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas

By -
Image
For Father's day, I got the field edition of the  Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas .  In the past, I always used the first edition of Uranometria 2000.0 by Will Tirion, which was published in 1987!  I was always very happy with the Uranometria and I always preferred the first edition over the second edition.  I never took the book outside, but I made a copy of every page which I put in a sheet protector.  I took the pages in a big folder outside to starhop through the skies.    The Interstellarum Deep Sky Atlas comes in a nice sturdy slipcase. The last years, I mostly observed from home (Bortle 5), so I mostly observe bright objects.  Since last year, I added a SkyFI 3  to my Argo Navis / ServoCat so I can use SkySafari to always have a map on my phone or my tablet.  However, a real star atlas has a nicer overview, which is very useful when observing.  Under dark skies, a good star atlas is really needed to find the faintest objects. A nice card with the legend of the atlas The nice t
Read more

One observing night at the Roque de los Muchachos at La Palma

By -
Image
I was on La Palma from January 15 to January 21 for a technical mission at the Mercator telescope.  The weather was not very good, but I managed to get out the Orion Skyquest XT12i IntelliScope  we have in the Mercator building on the first evening I was there.   I forgot already that the sky is so unbelievably good from the Roque de los Muchachos.  There was quite some wind, but I could hide behind the car, so the wind did not disturb me that much.  The telescope has a right angle finder and a telrad, but the batteries of the telrad were empty, so I could not use the telrad.  Pointing the telescope with only a right angle finder is very difficult, so it was not easy to find the objects I was looking for.  It was quite cold, with a temperature of 2.3° when I started observing around 19h40 and a temperature of 3.7° when I stopped around 22h15.  The humidity fell from 57.5% to 33.2% and the wind speed was around 6 m/s.  I did not observe for a very long time, because I had to wake up ve
Read more