GOTO coordinates

[princezippy]

Good evening all

Have a Celestron 8SE, but need some help imputing my exact coordinates.

I do have the exact coordinates. They are as follows:

Lat = 52.918

Long = 1.289

Lat = 52 degrees 55.1 minutes North

Long = 1degree 17.3 minutes west

When i try to put these into the goto, some of these numbers will not be accepted.

Anyone help? Please

Regards

Jeff

[Demonperformer]

Really stupid suggestion, but ...

If you are entering them the wrong way round [Lat in Long and Long in Lat] and not using preceeding 0's you would be entering a longitude of 525 degrees, which it would not like.

The figures look as if they should be accepted (except that doesn't it take DD MM SS.S rather than DD MM.M? but the numbers entered in that format would still produce a valid - if slightly different - result).

[princezippy]

I think the data is being put in the right way around. I just cant get it to accept the coordinates. Im missing something but cant see what it is.

Going to try again. I can get a city 40 odd miles away but presume thats no good for accuracy

BTW Thanks DP

Jeff

[Cornelius Varley]

Good evening all

Have a Celestron 8SE, but need some help imputing my exact coordinates.

I do have the exact coordinates. They are as follows:

Lat = 52.918

Long = 1.289

Lat = 52 degrees 55.1 minutes North

Long = 1degree 17.3 minutes west

When i try to put these into the goto, some of these numbers will not be accepted.

Anyone help? Please

Regards

Jeff

The correct format and order is 001 17W 52 55N

Peter

[princezippy]

Thank you Peter

So do I put in 00 52 55N? Is that any different to just 52 55N

Jeff

[Cornelius Varley]

The usual format for longitude / latitude is DDD MM SS W/E DD MM SS N/S . Longitude is a number between 000d 00m 00s and 180d 00m 00s W/E and latitude is a number between 00d 00m 00s and 90d 00m 00s N/S. The seconds part of the coordinate is ignored on the Nexstar and Synscan handsets. So the format for inputting your coordinates becomes DDD MM W/E, DD MM N/S, where W/E is west or east of the merdian and N/S is north or south of the equator.

Your location 001 17W, 52 55N

Peter

[princezippy]

Thank you very much for that

what does the DDD MM and DD MM stand for?

Jeff

[Cornelius Varley]

Degrees, Minutes. The handset expects a longitude coordinate of a three digit mumber (degrees DDD) followed by a two digit number (minutes MM) and the latitude a two digit number (degrees DD) followed by another two digit number (minutes MM)

Peter

[Demonperformer]

The seconds part of the coordinate is ignored on the Nexstar and Synscan handsets.

Sorry to contradict you, Peter, but I have just checked my SE and it definitely accepts seconds on both Lat and Long. That said, leaving them at zero is not going to make a major difference to the setup and the acceptance of input.

[Cornelius Varley]

Sorry to contradict you, Peter, but I have just checked my SE and it definitely accepts seconds on both Lat and Long. That said, leaving them at zero is not going to make a major difference to the setup and the acceptance of input.

I stand corrected, as the man said in his orthorpaedic shoes.

Peter

[princezippy]

Thanks chaps for your help

jeff

[Gina]

Errr... Isn't west entered as a minus number? I forget now.

[Demonperformer]

Gina

On the SE mount, both lat and long are entered as positive numbers and you then have the option to select either N/S and E/W. On mounts where you don't have that option then yes, west (and south for that matter) are entered as negative.