kirkster501

F_A_B_U_L_O_U_S_!!!!!!!!!!

Great stuff, thanks Steve, I thought as much but thought wise to check and that makes perfect sense. Going to play around with this a bit more. Mine is set to 1 degree, and the scope peer flips if I stray more than that past the meridian. So it all adds up. You've been correct all the time on this so far and the Gin is in the drinks cabinet (looking very tempting I must say.... ) Where I struggle a bit is the interaction of SGP with the Sitech drivers and the Underpole/overpole settings. Which one is the master? So, if I have peer flip 1 minute past the meridian set in SGP and I am say 8 minutes into a 15 minute sub, what takes precedence? The Sitech driver which may say "I need to flip to prevent a crash"? Or SGP which says, "I'm 8 minutes into a 15 min sub so leave me alone"??????? Something must take precedence or else there is a race condition...

Got new imaging PC in place and one by one reconnected all the gear cables to it. All good. In daytime dummy run, ignoring SGP and just using CdC and syncing the scope to a dummy "guesstimate where Rigel is" position, if I align the scope to just east of the meridian then the peer is on the West side of the peer correctly. If then slew to *just* west of the meridian (i.e a few minutes of arc) scope stays on the West (presumably because of the Sitech settings I have in the "Overpole" and "Underpole"). Stray much beyond that though and try to sync on an object West of the meridian and the scope peer flips. So that means that from at least a CdC and Sitech - and more importantly from a MESU mechanical perspective - the scope/mount is peer flipping properly. Steve (Gnomus) why are your over pole settings at 7:00:00? 7 hours is that past the meridian or 7 degrees? So, next need to try doing the dummy imaging to see if it flips as per your suggestion Steve. Looks good tonight but got Nottingham Cycle Live 125 mile bike ride tomorrow so won't be out of bed much past 10:30 and won't be dark by then.

Just an update on this. I've acquired a new imaging capture PC to go onto my pier with 10 x USB2 ports so I can eliminate USB hubs completely. I am going to rebuild and re-cable my rig and reinstall all astro SW onto that new PC. Will then revisit this tracking dropping problem and test the pier flip during the day. Notice you are on 9.5 FW Steve - did yo upgrade that yourself or did it come with that from MESU?

Interesting and thanks for sharing. What you say is true, and the camera could capture those SN. However, most people, myself included, would struggle to tell the the SN from a star. So I think it is questionable if people could "discover" supernova with that limited gear, although I agree, they could head in that direction and see if they could capture one with the knowledge that is is actually there,

North America my favourite nebula and this is one of the best I have seen. A tour-de-force of a return to AP for you!

Nice picture with nice stars. Don't often see M27 in a wide field background like this and I like it very much. Well done.

Brilliant picture. I'll give that a go in my backyard 2m scope I think.....

Thankyou again Steve, I shall check into that. You are the Jedi-Knght of Sitech/MESU/SGP. I would pack that Doctor malarkey up if i were you and be a pro SGP-Sitecher........

How can you test Merdiean Flips during the day Steve because you can't plate solve...... ???? Thanks for going to such lengths to help last night, I do so appreciate it. I think we are on the right path though. Everything was fine until we approached the meridian and all guiding was spot on. The hypothesis of the approaching meridian seems to fit all observed problems. I definitely had meridian Flip set against the equipment profile. I then imaged with that profile thinking it woudl be set in the control panel. However, upon looking at control panel Meridian flip was not set... I thought Control panel always reflected the equipment profile unless you told it otherwise. I can play around with this during the day.

Something definitely amiss. I just told scope to slew to Deneb from CdC and it crashed into the pier...... It is mixed up and does not know what side of thew pier it is on... But the blind solve worked fine... You are right Steve, the Meridian flip is something to do with this. I need to read up on the Control panel equipment profile and the Equipment profile on my gear and see why they were/are different. Thanks again Steve, that bottle of Gin is with me! Maybe I have never been imaging a transiting object before with the MESU and hence this is what would have always happened.

Even now the scope is on the west and I can't get it to plate solve even though bling solve worked fine and said it was pointing West. it should have flipped now. i think I need to call time tonight I need to be up at 6. Thanks Anyway Steve - you are a star.

OK now it marries up. Should control panel ALWAYS match the active profile then Steve? But why would this cause tracking to drop out of Sitech I wonder...?

Switched off rebooted and now tracking button works again. Why does the equipment profile not match the options under control panel?

Restarted SGP but will Sitech will not track.... Button does not work hence star trails/. Yet up and down arrows will slew the mount so it is connected.