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EXAMPLE OF A SCREEN OF THE PC
I had a very stable video-tripod.
I have fitted an encoder on the vertical shaft and another one on the
horizontal shaft. They are connected to a portable PC.
I can put on that alt-azimutal tripod any optic (binocs, tele, telescope,
camera, etc...)
I carry out by hand the two motions (up to 1/4 rev./sec is OK ! )
A program I made performs this:
The sky of the instant and of the observation place appears in a square
at the right hand side of the screen.
The left part of the screen is dedicated to the instructions
like in "LOGIS-CIEL".
One can ask for the following objects:
Sun, Moon, Planets.
1628 Stars up to 5th magnitude with their name, etc...
9155 Stars from 5 to 6.5 magn. with SAO Nr and spectral class.
110 Messier objects.
ALL the NGC and ALL the IC.
One can ask also for any RA and DEC or any Azim. and Altitude.
THIS IS USEFULL TO AIM THE OPTIC ONTO A POINT WHERE A SAT IS
EXPECTED TO PASS AND THEN TRACK IT.
The square gives a field of 60x60 degrees by default but by ZOOMING,
it gives from 10x10 to 180 degrees.
While running one's eye over the sky by means of the optic fitted
on the tripod, the sky at the screen follows the motion and it is always
centered onto the aimed point.
The touring is at once in the real sky and on the screen.
If one wonders "What do I see?", I(dentify) and the answer is there.
If one asks to aim onto one of the objects, the screen shows Up, Down,
and to the left or to the right.
But beeps of different frequencies say if one is close to the asked object.
So one has not to look at the screen and it's possible to stay at the
eye piece (when observing alone).