Simulator

TheSky's  telescope simulator allows you to simulate the control of a go to telescope without actually connecting to any hardware.

This feature is useful for practicing an observing session during the day, or when testing a telescope script.

To Initialize the Telescope Simulator

1. Click Telescope | Setup.

2. On the Telescope Setup dialog box, select Simulator from the Control System list.

3. Click Settings.

4. On the Settings dialog box, enter values for the simulated COM Port (no actual hardware is requried), the simulated Baud Rate, the telescope's maximum slewing Velocity (from 1-12 degrees per second) and the Acceleration (from 1 to 5 degrees per second per second).

5. Click OK.

6. Click Close.

7. Click Telescope | Link | Establish. The telescope cross hair appears at 0,0 right ascension and declination by default. If this is below the local horizon, you may wish to synchronize the cross hair to a different location.

Telescope cross hair on the Virtual Sky

To Synchronize the Telescope Simulator Cross Hair

1. Click on any object to display the Object Information dialog box.

2. Click the Telescope tab and then click Sync to synchronize the telescope cross hairs on the current object.

To Slew the Telescope Simulator

1. Click on a star or other object on the Virtual Sky, or use TheSky's Edit | Find command to locate a particular object.

2. On the Object Information dialog box, click the Slew button .