Explore Scientific will be hosting an OpenGOTO Community Event focusing on the PMC-Eight Platform and Mount Systems on April 1, 2020 – one day before the North East Astro Imaging Conference (NEAIC 2020) and the North East Astronomy Forum (NEAF 2020) being held from April 2-5, 2020.
This event will be held at the Crowne Plaza in Suffern, NY in the same location where the NEAIC is being held. The event is free to all PMC-Eight customers and also those interested in finding out more about Explore Scientific’s vision for the PMC-Eight system going forward. For questions or if you plan on attending you can email Jerry Hubbel, Explore Scientific’s Vice President of Engineering at jrh@explorescientific.com.
The PMC-Eight has taken GOTO technology to a whole new level by utilizing a smart electronic design philosophy that utilizes a multiple processor approach with eight CPUs that operate independently of one another to focus on defined functions. This delegation of tasks among the processors results in a system that offers superior responsiveness, high efficiency and unsurpassed reliability.
The PMC-Eight is operated by firmware that takes advantage of the deterministic properties of its microcontroller, contributing to the high reliability of the system. It incorporates 64 Kbyte EEPROM of Non-Volatile Memory which is also used to store the controller parameters.
The hardware supports an Auto-guider port (ST4 contact input); Wireless Ethernet 10/100 with full IP function permits operation from anywhere over the internet; it is fully ASCOM compliant and supports the ExploreStars APP (available on Windows, Android, and Apple iOS) or any APP or software created through the OpenGOTO community. Currently the PMC-Eight Controller is delivered with the Losmandy G-11, EXOS2GT-PMC8, and iEXOS 100 PMC-Eight mounts.
To meet the versatile needs of the greater amateur and professional astronomy community, the PMC-Eight is compatible with the industry standard ASCOM Standard interface. The specific PMC-Eight ASCOM 32-bit legacy, or 32-bit/64-bit Any CPU driver allows you to use the ASCOM-powered planetarium or observatory control software of your choice to run your PMC-Eight mount either wirelessly or through a wired connection. Through ASCOM, you can access a number of outstanding star map software/telescope control programs.
Created specifically for the PMC-Eight, the ExploreStars app streamlines the observing experience and serves as an ideal introduction to the many benefits of the OpenGOTO system. ExploreStars is all-encompassing and has an intuitive nature that makes it simple and quick to align your telescope, navigate the stars and learn specifics about tens of thousands of celestial objects.
You can learn more at the Explore Scientific website.
Shown here is a short video interview with Explore Scientific’s founder Scott Roberts discussing the PMC-Eight GoTo System.