While I am interested in Astro photography, my reason for automating my observatory is simpler. For medical reasons, my wife can not be left alone. My observations must be done from within my home. That, of course, necessitates placing a camera on my NexStar 8SE and running the system from within my home. I have looked at both Stellrium and NINA but neither lists my telescope as an option. What software can I use that would allow me to control my dome, filter wheel, focuser, Dew heater, GoTo system, etc. from within my home? Am I making this overly complicated?
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I have been looking into NINA, and it sounds pretty full-featured for all the equipment I use to be an integrating platform. However, Stellarium isn't an integrating platform like ASCOM or NINA. There is a good tutorial on the ASCOM site that talks about how these initiatives let all of your separate app for telescope control, camera, rotators, dew heaters, mounts, etc. work through them. It's your choice to use either ASCOM or NINA to connect everything together. There are few other programs that all in one that let you plan your workflow like ACP, SGPro, TheSky, etc. all with learning curves and $$ attached. As far as I know either ASCOM or NINA, make it all work together using Stellarium and Sky Safari, Maybe someone else on the forum can help with that. I know ASCOM has drivers for Nexstar and NexDome and most other astronomy related equipment. There are some limitations based on which operating system you're using: Window, Mac, Linux... One more thing is you'll need a remote desktop application which there are a few, I like AnyDesk but other love TeamViewer.