Sheila Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Had a lot of trouble last night with Goto. Don't laugh, the positions were way out, even I could tell that. Thought about it this morning and wondered if I set the time and put in that it was not daylight saving? Would this make a huge difference to the positions as I suppose it would be 1 hour out. I assume summer is on daylight saving? Just trying to figure out ehat I did wrong! Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Fluke Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 I made that mistake too - Daz put me right. Yes its daylight saving for summer, and dont forget that the GPS location needs to be spot on too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 Yep hours last night thinking I had a big problem with my alignment, ah well, won't make the same misltake twice I hope Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Also, remember the date format is American, so month/day/year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 remebered that and the opposite way round for GPS coordinates, will two out of three not bad Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Yup - if you get DST wrong and everything else right you'll be 15 degrees off target every time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Still no joy last night. Set daylight saving, set latitude 53 degrees etc, but goto is still not going to right places. It is quite a lot out and I do not know why. Leg pointing north etc etc and polaris in polar scope. What to look at next I am at a loss. Asked it to slew to Dubhe as I know where it is and it was quite a lot out. i.e. about 10 degrees lower at least and much to the left. Not even in the eyepiece! Maybe I should dimantle the whole lot and start again, unless there is something wrong with the synscan. Running out of ideas even levelled the scope as well. Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Hi, that is to be expected. I think you need to star align, when I first did the mother in laws 130P synscan GOTO, even though I put in the correct time, date etc etc it was massivly off. So set up as as you have done previously, then can you rememember when I suggested you need to pick 2 stars that are about the same altitude and as far apart as possible, get your scope to find one (it will be out) manually adjust it using the handset (remember you will need to increase the slew speed, number 2 on the keypad, then I suggest slew speed 5-6) centre that, then once centred and entered into the handset, get the mount to point to another star (again it will be off), manually adjust as previous and your done. Then select another object from the database and as long as you did the above acuratly, you will now be able to find and track to your hearts content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 I assumed the goto would be more accurate than that so I gave up on the aligning as I thought I had done something really wrong! Also I can only see norh, eaast and some west from where I am set up, the house is in the way for anything else. Can you suggest what stars I use in this position - really easy ones as when I look through the scope there are millions of stars where witht he naked eye I can only see a few. It gets confusing! Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antares_Paul Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Sheila, The stars I would use for alignment with your visible sky are; North [Capella] East [Altair] West [Arcturus]. All prominent stars. Regards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brantuk Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 The goto actually depends wholly on polar alignment and star alignment - both are necessary to make it work. You can however "trick" it into thinking it's star aligned. This is what I do if I'm doing visual only and in a hurry: Point the mount magnetic north as best you can, set the altitude scale to your location latitude, then switch on. Choose an object in the sky that you can see naked eye and tell it to go there. It will point anywhere but the object. When it stops - loosen the clutches and swing the scope round to your object - lock off the clutches - and center it using the handset. Now the scope thinks it's pointing where you told it to go and will track away nicely. If you slew to another object it is certain to be out. But you can use the PAE (pointing accuracy enhancement) feature to make the correction. After two or three object corrections it should be ok all night Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Will attempt this again tonight, I think I had unreasonable expectations of how intelligent the goto was, I just assumed it was me that was a little short in that department Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Sheila, The stars I would use for alignment with your visible sky are; North [Capella] East [Altair] West [Arcturus]. All prominent stars. Regards. Sheila, Paul has got some good one's there, I did not reply as I do not have access to Stelarium (being at work) but Arcturus and Altair are really bright stars, Arcturus tends to be one of the first stars visable on a night. 2 star alignment should do you but three star allignment will really nail it, when setting the mother in laws GOTO up I have only ever done 2 star and it is spot on, finds things and tracks them 1st time evry time. The wife is at work tonight until about 22:00 hrs so I cant leave the house but you are more than welcome to pop round if you want and I will give you a hand setting up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Unfortunately I am out till bout the same time. Will have another go tonight and see. Can set up before I go out then all ready when I return, Acrturus is going to be difficult as earlier on it is behind the house so may have to find something else! Why does no one tell me to do Dubhe or Altaid, I know where the are!!! Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daz Type-R Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Do you mean Altair or Alkaid, I don't think there is a star called Altaid? You can do them, nothing is stopping you from doing a 2 star or 3 star allignment in the same constellation for example, it is just the further apart the 2 (or 3) stars are the more accurate your GOTO will be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 can't spell it was Alkaid, too hot to think here at work Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+RonC Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Good luck for tonight Sheila, I got my Goto sorted last night so looking forward to tonight!! Ron Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 Good luck for tonight Sheila, I got my Goto sorted last night so looking forward to tonight!! Ron still struggling with mine. its slewing way off the targets but then i cant find thr star i want because view in ep like looking for needle in haystack, only thing i can seem to find is polaris! and thats with the polar scope. getting to the point of despair. anyone near heanor at 11.40pm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Ibbo Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Just a thought on my GPDX it wants the long before the lat took me 3 hours in a dark field to sort that out but I'm a man and don't need to read the manual :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheila Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Sheila was Ep are you using ,I use a 9mm in mine it's illuminated .,and works well I had a Meade goto once if I used a 20 mm Ep it would point all over the place I used a 7 mm which was tricky but I did 3 stars and it worked a treat Pat Was using 28mm EP as someone said that was better. Bear in mind I have never looked through as telescope before, never mind pilot one!!! so wasn't expecting it to be so confusing, still not sorted but hopefully Friday at Belper will help I have a baader hyperion clickstop zoom 8-24mm Mk III, would this be better? Sheila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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