Astronomers actually use KStars to control their observatories!

Well, I didn’t expect that people would be using KStars to control observatories! I knew it was capable of that [Implements INDI protocol for control of instruments], but I didn’t know it would actually be used for that!

At the Vainu Bappu Observatory in Kavalur, they use Windows to control the 1m telescope observatory dome, CCD and capture images. [Ugh!]. The telescope control software for the 40″ is written in Delphi by someone in IIA, and cannot seek directly to an object. One has to look up the co-ordinates of the object in huge catalog books listing RA and Dec of various DSOs, Planet Ephemerides etc or go down to the computer lab and use SIMBAD to read the coordinates, and then slew the telescope manually to that RA / Dec. The software is only capable of reporting the current RA / Dec of the telescope, and slewing the dome appropriately to follow the telescope, if I remember right! I doubt it the telescope / CCD support INDI. I wish we could provide them with and request them to move to better FOSS solutions.