SkyPilot Telescope Control Software

The original Voyager software was developed in 1976 to control a telescope. It was written in the Forth programming language, which has its origin in the control of large observatory telescopes.

SkyPilot is now included with Voyager III as a standard feature. You specify the type of telescope you are using, and the necessary parameters to control its position in the sky. The telescope's position appears as a moving cursor on the sky chart, a 'celestial mouse' that records the telescope position as it moves across the sky. With Voyager SkyPilot, you will spend your time viewing objects, rather than reading coordinates from a star chart in the dark. SkyPilot will transform your observing experience.

Voyager SkyPilot supports the Meade LX200, ETX-90EC, LXD650, or LXD750 telescopes, the Celestron Ultima 2000 and NextStar, SkySensor 2000, Lomandy Gemini, AstroPhysics GTO, and most commercial encoder boxes (digital setting circles) that have a serial interface to a computer. SkyPilot also supports the Meade Magellan encoder system, and the newer high resolution 8192 line encoders.

SkyPilot can display the telescope position in multiple windows. Simultaneously, you can follow the telescope in a wide field as it moves through a constellation, and also see a close up of the eyepiece field as you move from object to object. A third window can show the eastern horizon at dawn when a faint comet will be visible. The telescope cursor can be customized and rotated to match a specific eyepiece or the dimensions of CCD frame.

You can double click on a galaxy, and your telescope will slew to the selected object (for Celestron and Meade compatible "GoTo" telescopes). If you have ever spent many hours looking for faint objects at the limit of observability, you will find that SkyPilot is an indispensable tool.

The telescope panel has been updated with more information. You can create an observing list of selected objects, direct your telescope to each object in turn, and save the list for future use. And the screen display and telescope dialogs can be customized for night vision.

Carina Software also offers interface cables for most popular telescopes. Telescope communication with the telecope is through the serial port of your computer. If you use a Mac portable computer with only a USB port, you will need a USB to serial adapter.

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