If your scope is computerized or motorized, you have to interact with the electronics.
There are three primary ways to interface:
- A Hand Controller (the HC)
- A phone or tablet Planetarium app
- Computer
"Amateur" Astrophotographers almost always have a laptop setup from which they can control the telescope, the camera, and all the other gear they use to take images that even the professional astronomers can't take (because they can't get the scope time required for sometimes hours and hours of exposure).
The computer smarts are most often presented to the observer via a Hand Controller (HC, for short). They generally have a couple of lines of text and a number of buttons. Most of your mass market manufacturers have similar hand controllers (Celestron, Meade, iOptron, Sky-Watcher, Orion, etc.).
A better experience for new and experienced users is, like everything electronic, your phone or table. Rich Graphic User Interfaces are not a fad, they're here to stay. Softare Planetarium Software, such as SkySafari, show a beautiful interactive sky map on your phone or table and can interface with your telescope. Telescope manufacturers are increasingly integrating a wifi interface to their onboard telescope computers. This is good.
For everyone else, a Hand Controller or Planetarium App is used:
The Hand Controllers all have a learning curve and generally require looking up documentation (onboard help is limited).
Planetarium Apps also have a learning curve, but they're shorter and the interface is much better. Browsing the sky with an interactive map is fundamentally intuitive. You can even control GoTo scopes directly from the app. More here: Planetarium Apps
More and more manufacturers are integrating wifi into their telescope mounts to facilitate using Planetarium Software. Most newer mounts without integrated wifi allow attaching a dongle (!) that provides the wifi connection to the phone/tablet.
There is a bit of a setup to get them working (primarily getting the phone to recognize the wifi network and IP address). Once connected that first time, you're set.
Some observers abandon their hand controllers completely, using only their phone/tablet to control the scope.
Add-on Encoders
Add-on encoders and computers (Digital Settings Circles (or DSCs)) generally have a small computer box with a couple of lines of readout and a few buttons (some have the 0-9 keys as wells).
| The Argo Navis, a cult favorite has a couple of buttons and wheel. It's a very powerful Hand Controller, just as abacuses are powerful at math. Who wants to learn to use an abacus? |
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