ASCOM provides a set of standards, APIs (Application Programming Interfaces), and drivers that allow various astronomy software and hardware to communicate with each other using a common language. This enables the user to control multiple devices from a single software interface, automate observing and data acquisition, and perform complex image processing and analysis tasks. The ASCOM platform runs on Microsoft Windows.
It was developed by the ASCOM Initiative, a group of astronomy enthusiasts and professionals, to address the problem of incompatibility between various software and hardware used in astronomy. With ASCOM, different astronomy devices can communicate and work together seamlessly, regardless of the manufacturer or software used.
The ASCOM platform has been widely adopted by the astronomy community, and there are now hundreds of ASCOM-compatible devices and software available from various manufacturers. ASCOM drivers can be found for almost every type of astronomy equipment, including telescopes, mount controllers, focusers, cameras, and more.
It’s important to your hobby because it’s a common standard that allows different software to talk to hardware without each piece of software needing to explicitly support your hardware. You’ll generally find that each piece of equipment will have an ASCOM driver available that should be installed so your software can use it if it doesn’t already support your hardware natively.
