Starry Night Pro FAQ

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There are different telescope controller plug-ins available for Windows and Macintosh. Please note that these programs are not written by SPACE.com, and you should contact the makers of the plug-ins for more information. If you are interested in writing your own telescope controller plug-in for Starry Night Deluxe or for Starry Night Pro, then you should download the Plug-in SDK.

Windows

• ASCOM plugin. Starry Night's principal telescope plugin can be downloaded here. The download is a zipped file that includes a read-me file with complete instructions on installing and using the plug-in. This plug-in allows users to control the following telescopes from within Starry Night:
  
  1. Meade LX-200 and Autostar-equipped robotic telescopes (such as the ETX 90/125).
  2. Celestron Ultima 2000, Nexstar 5, Nexstar 8, Nexstar 11 GPS and Nexstar 114 GT telescopes (will not work with other Nexstar models).
  3. Generic LX-200 Type Scopes. The Generic LX-200 driver uses the absolute minimum of the LX-200 control protocol, and is thus compatible with a wide variety of amateur type telescopes and mounts that use so-called LX200 emulation. The following telescopes and mounts support the generic LX200 protocol (there may be others): Astro-Physics AP series, Astro-Electronic FS-2, Losmandy Gemini, Mel Bartels Controllers.
  4. ACL Based Telescopes. This includes many types of research-grade telescopes controlled using Astronomy Command Language. ACL is a protocol originally developed by Meridian Controls, Inc. of Berthoud, CO, and has been adopted by COMSOFT of Tucson, AZ for their PC-TCS telescope control system as well as others. Any telecope controlled by either of these packages is accessible via the ACL-based Telescope driver. This includes most Optical Guidance, DFM,Optomechanics Research, and Merlin research telescopes and mounts.
  5. Vixen SkySensor 2000.
  6. Astro-Physics 1200 GTO.
• DigitalSky Voice: A voice-activated control system for your telescope which can be integrated with Starry Night Pro. Digital Sky Voice is not a free product. You can use DigitalSky Voice with the Astro-Physics GTO line of goto mounts, the Meade LX-200 / 650 / 750, Meade ETX-90/125 with Autostar, the Meade DS-series line, the Celestron Ultima 2000 and NexStar 5, the Vixen Sky/Sensor 2000-PC, Quadrant Systems mounts and mounts that use the Meade ACL-Protocol (like Arcimage by Merlin). See the DigitalSky Voice website for more information. Note that you need to download a (free) Digital SkyVoice link bridge in addition to the main Digital Sky Voice program to interface with Starry Night. Also note that the Digital Sky Voice link bridge places the Starry Night plug-in in the wrong folder. Search your hard drive for a file named "Controller.plug", then drag this file into the "Program Files\Starry Night Pro \Starry Night Pro Data\Plug-ins" folder and the link bridge will then work properly.
• SkyGuide/SkyWalk: Plugin for SkyGuide/SkyWalk telescope driver, developed by Carlos Hernandez. Download here. This is a beta version but is almost fully functional. Please send comments to the author.
• Celestron Advanced Astro Master Digital Setting Circle Unit: Plugin and instruction guide for Celestron AAM DSC unit, developed by Greg Miller. Download here. Please send comments to the author.

Macintosh

• InfoGenie. Robin Casady of Casady & Greene has produced plugins for the the Meade LX200 and ETX Autostar, Gemini GOTO and Astro-Physics GTO that includes features for interfacing Starry Night with C&G's InfoGenie personal information manager. See Casady & Greene's astronomy page to download these plugins.
• Ultima 2000: Macintosh users can also control Ultima 2000 telescopes using Tom Stamm's Ultima 2000 telescope controller.
• Nexstar 5/8: A beta version of a Starry Night Pro plug-in for Macintosh to control Celestron Nexstar 5/8 telescopes. This plug-in is not yet compatible with the Nextstar 8/11 GPS version. Plug-in is written by Ricky Lee. Please check his Starry Night Pro Plug-in For Macintosh - Nexstar webpage.

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You need a cable that connects the serial port on your computer to the appropriate telescope or handbox port. Cables for the most popular telescopes can be ordered for both the Mac and PC from this website. If your computer does not have a serial port, you will also need to purchase an adapter which converts your USB port to a serial port. Most computer stores will sell these adapters, and you can also purchase one from a vendor such as keyspan.com.

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From the main Starry Night Pro menu, choose "Guides | Field of View Indicators | Settings". Press the "New" button in the window that appears. You will then be asked to enter a name for your new object, choose the outline style (circle, Telrad bulls-eye, CCD or Rigel QuickFinder) and enter the eyepiece's diamter or field of view. If you do not know your object's field of view, press the "Calculator" button to calculate it. Press the "OK" button to add this indicator. From now on, your object's name will appear in the "Guides | Field of View Indicators" menu, and you can click on its name in this menu to turn the outline on or off.

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A newer version of the telescope plug-in has been released which fixes this problem. Click this link to download the new plug-in. The download is a zipped file which contains a read-me file with complete instructions for installing and using the telescope plug-in.

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The Digital Sky Voice link bridge installer places the plug-in file in the wrong folder. Search your hard drive for a file named "Controller.plug", then drag this file into the "Program Files\Starry Night Pro\ Starry Night Pro Data\Plug-ins" folder and the link bridge will then work properly.

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This can mean one of three things:

1. You have not chosen the correct COM port. You can change the COM port by choosing "Configure" from the Telescope menu and pressing the "Properties" button.
2. Another application is commanding the serial port. The most common culprit is the Palm HotSync application.
3. The telescope cable is defective.
4. The computer's serial port is defective. We have received reports from several users that Dell laptop serial ports do not function properly, giving a voltage output far lower than other models. If this appears to be the problem, you can try connecting to the telescope using the computer's USB port. You will need to purchase an adapter which converts your computer's USB port to a serial port. Most computer stores will sell these adapters, and you can also purchase one from a vendor such as keyspan.com.

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A new version of the telescope controller is available that fixes this problem. Click this link to download the new plug-in. The download is a zipped file which contains a read-me file with complete instructions for installing and using the telescope plug-in. You do not need to uninstall the existing telecope plug-in.

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