Problem with "syncing" before doing "Set Home Position"

[MikePaling]

Can anybody help ???

 

For the second time I have completed a full Autopointing file and loaded it up into Autoslew but I am having a real problem getting my mount to sync before setting my new Homeposition.

 

The steps that I am taking are:

(1) Start up Autoslew where I can see that the correct Autopoint file is being loaded up when I start up the mount

(2) I then carry out the normal Homefind procedure to find the RA & DEC marks.

(3) Connect up to CdC and connect the mount. Autoslew and CdC are now tracking properly.

(4) I slew to a star in CdC

(5) I take an image using Maxim and adjust the star, using the movement keys on Autoslew, until the star is exactly on the cross-hairs on subsequent Maxim images

(6) I then click on the "Sync" icon on Autoslew ...... BUT ... I then get a message, on Autoslew, saying "Please select a valid object" ...... but I have just spent 5 minutes doing this so why doesn't it accept it???

 

I have also repeated the whole process by syncing the star in CdC first ... and then syncing it again in Autoslew ... I get the same message in Autoslew despite getting a message on CdC asking me to confirm that I am synced onto the correct star :-(((

 

I am going round in circles !!!!

 

How do I get Autoslew to sync properly? What simple step am I missing here ????

 

Regards Mike

 

 

 

 

 

 

[GeorgeCarey]

I have never synced in Autoslew.

I sync using Cartes du Ciel and then carry on.

I centre a star - check with an image in Maxim - then sync in CdC.

If I get a message from Autoslew about syncing I ignore it.

Seems to work fine.

[tbaehnck]

Hi Mike,

 

as George already mentioned, you have to sync in Maxim or in CdC.

The sync-Button in autoslew is just used for performing a manual pointing file.

 

If you use MaximDL you can also do a plate solving and then use under "Observatory/ Telescope at the target cordinates" "image centre from pinpoint" and "sync".

So you don't have to centre the star manually.

 

Hope it helps.

 

BR Thomas

[MikePaling]

Thanks for these two answers ... I will try to get things right when I get a clear night :-)))

None of this is very clear in any manual that I have seen.

 

So just what does the big red sync target icon do in Autoslew then???

It seems to be pretty redundant as far as I can see.

 

Mike

[RamaSpaceShip]

Hi Mike,

 

As far as I understand, the "Sync" button in Autoslew is only meaningful when you use Autoslew itself to go to an object. If you use any other mean (like CdC), Autoslew is not aware of the target object, just of the coordinates indicated by the external program, and so refuses to sync. In this case, you must use the sync feature of the external program.

 

The sync feature in Autoslew can be helpful when you don't use an external program to locate objects (I don't know anyone doing that, but that does not mean that there is nobody).

 

Best regards.

 

Bernard