Date: Fri, 26 May 2000 11:37:28 -0700
Subject: [M]: RE: Satellite Tracking

> Have a look at my latest version (1.1.5) of satellite tracking
> (freeware) software as it is able to smoothly continuously track
> satellites with a LX200.

>How do you get the LX200 to continuously track?

>Jon B

First of all alot of experimenting with the win32 API that does the serial communication so that I could
send goto commands out the serial port as quickly as possible and yet make sure the LX200 doesn't overflow.
Secondly, trying to anticipate the movement of the scope to maintain a constant tracking speed by timing the
coordinates slightly ahead of the target (ie the further away the coordinate, the faster the scope slews)
(Should I give all my secrets away?). The only problem is that as the object moves across the sky the
accuracy of the LX200 alignment varies (ie in different parts of the sky) so the object will drift sometimes
from the center of the eyepiece slightly. I still probably prefer "leap frog" tracking, but cont. tracking
is pretty neat as you watch all the stars "rush by". Got an email from "Sky and Telescope" and they want to
feature the program in their "Software Showcase" in a upcoming issue. My only regret in making the program
freeware is that I wish more people would register,(just for my own interest basically!), yesterday alone, I
had over 100 new downloads and only 1 registered! As to the question about a Mac version, I don't have
access to a Mac (actually never even used one but I do hate Windows and all its bloatware - I hope someone
noticed the program is only 208K and no other supporting DLLs). If someone sends me their Mac, I'll see what
I can do...(Haha)

http://sattracker.hypermart.net

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