As others have pointed out it also has a lot of add ons like T-Point, CCD Ops and there is a lot of new stuff coming out that SNP just doesn't have, but T-Point is why a lot of observatories use it of course. The Sky X connects just fine and has a huge list of supported scopes. Don't ask my why, but their support told me several years ago, if its not on the list they don't support it. I didn't find that out till after I bought SNP. I've got a 'push-to' with encoders and SNP won't recognize the Celestron AAM computer I happen to have. One big limitation of SNP is that the list of scopes it will connect to is pretty short compared to The Sky X. It might depend on what scope and mount you and OS you want to use with software. My other reason for considering purchase of a version of The Sky X is that many observatories seem to use it and so it may be helpful to be familiar with it for times when I might have access to an observatory that uses The Sky. Maxim DL states that it is ASCOM compatible. Being buried in work, I have not gotten going with imaging as yet but still intend to. Quite some time ago I bought Maxim DL in preparation (and hopes) to begin astro imaging. Since my post, I have read that The Sky X Professional does not integrate with Maxim DL (by ). While reading the Software Bisque web page, I quickly read about subscription options but did not read it thoroughly enough to understand which, if any, subscriptions are needed to continue using the program after owning it and a valid license. Before buying this pre-owned version I would contact Software Bisque to make sure that I could successfully transfer the previous owner's License to me. The reason I asked about comparisons of Starry Night Pro Plus 6 to The Sky X Pro with TPoint is that the pre-owned copy of The Sky X that I am considering purchasing includes the Pro version with TPoint (and the Starry Night software version that I currently own and use is Pro Plus 6). Not just TheSkyX's cost/annual subscription itself, but all of the other required components that allow it to perform from software plug-ins (like TPoint) to compatible cameras (mostly SBIG). Perhaps a better way of looking at it is Starry Night is an excellent stand alone digital planetarium, while TheSkyX is that, but provides much greater imaging/mount control capabilties - but at a much greater cost. The graphical representations in Starry Night have always been excellent! On the other hand, if you want an application that helps automate control of your scope, and allows you to manage several very useful functions for imagers (plate solving or "image link", mosaic creation/management, TPoint for improved pointing accuracy, and the ability to automate sky mapping), then TheSkyX Pro is what you are looking for. From my prior use of Starry Night, I think if the only thing you are looking for is a digital planetarium, with the ability to print sky maps for later use, Starry Night is hard to beat (even more so it would seem with the Pro Plus enhancements). Starry Night Pro doesn't have the same kind of point mapping that TPoint enables in TheSkyX (at an additional cost too). I think if you are going to make a fair comparison, you need to remove TPoint from the equation.
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