[Kstars-devel] LX200 GPS 16" With KStars

[Jasem Mutlaq]

Hello all,

Today I had the chance to try to control a truely huge
LX200 GPS 16" scope with KStars. While I wrote the
driver for this scope a few years ago, I never had the
chance to test it directly, and today I did.

The scope is owned by a local astronomy club that is
part of the Kuwait Science Club. They also have 12"
GPS, 8", 10", a few CCDs and other goodies! So it
looks like there is a _lot_ of testing and
improvements coming up. 

One idea is to utilize the scope to perform automated
search to look for 'dwarf planets' or less exotic
objects in the neighbourhood :) At any rate, I'll have
a direct feedback and might end up developing the long
sought 'guiding' feature if possible. 

The first test was successfull, we had a permission
problem at first that took a while to sort out. We
took some pics. I'd like to thank Maryam AlJoaan for
taking the pics. The images speak for themselves,
enjoy! 

http://indi.sourceforge.net/kstars/first_attempt.jpg

http://indi.sourceforge.net/kstars/damn_permission_problem.jpg

http://indi.sourceforge.net/kstars/success.jpg

(the little red dot in KStars is the LX200 GPS
crossair. Next to me are Fatma, a young amateur, and
Ali, the club secretary).

http://indi.sourceforge.net/kstars/chat.jpg

Clear skies,
Jasem