Finer points of Synscan AZ goto - anyone know?

[Aenima]

Hi,

I have a Explorer 130p AZ GoTo and so far have only used it mostly to slew the scope round to point at whatever I need to look at, not knowing how to do much else. I find a lot of the functions difficult to understand, as well as the more technical aspects, especially calculating celestial coordinates, slew speeds and usually get lost with the reversed up/down/left/right directional thing.

Can anyone give me some advice on the synscan az functions - i have read the manual and much of the stuff on the net, but still cant wrap my head around it all - I particularly need help with the Tracking - (sidereal/lunar/solar rate) settings, and what is backlash and how do you set it? I'm thinking it might offset the delay in the motor when you try to adjust one way after going the opposite way.

I'm hoping there is someone on here that has got the Synscan AZ sussed out and knows the problems I'm talking about. Maybe, too, there might be an article I've missed whilst searching the net. Either way, thank you in advance for any help and also to the many who have previously helped me in various ways.

Hopeful,

Aenima

[Aenima]

Anyone have experience of this goto mount? A few pointers would be appreciated, if anyone has had it for more than a few months and can use it beyond a basic level, it'd be good to hear from you.

thanks muchly,

regards

j

[brantuk]

The first thing you need to do with this mount is get it aligned with the stars. Use two or three well spread stars in one quarter of the sky. You'll need to learn a few stars for that - use Stellarium (free to download) or the center page pull out from Sky at Night magazine.

Make sure you enter your date/time and coordinates correctly when you switch on. Use the PAE (pointing accuracy enhancement feature) over the course of a session and the goto will function with increasing accuracy. A careful read of the manual on these points is a good idea, and a bit of practise in the light of day first so you can become familiar enough to operate it at night in the dark.

Hope that helps

[Tribal-Wolf]

Once you set it up once it becomes so easy you do it without thinking. It's not as scary as you think just take it one step at a time.

[Aenima]

I appreciate the encouragment, thank you. But I was already using the goto features described above, eg aligned 2-star and brightest star , used it to then locate objects ie saturn, mars etc. and had it track these things for a short time. I also use the goto for learning names of stars and constellations which make my next alignment easier and furthers my knowledge of the sky. My problems are in the finer points of this mounts functions as mentioined in the original post - tracking (sidereal,lunar,solar rates.) - backlash and others i cant remember at the moment, sorry. But appreciate the responses, it all honestly does help.

Cheers,

Jay

[cyborg421]

To be honest Jay, I have never used any other than the basic setting. I assume it is sidereal. Even when observing the moon I don't move to lunar rate. It may be that these settings are used when you are not using alignment.

Mine will hold Saturn, for example, with a 6mm eyepiece in the centre for a considerable amount of time.

Simon

[carean01]

With regard to tracking, the default setting seems to be sidereal but if you "goto" the moon it automatically changes to Lunar and tracks at that speed. I've played a bit with the settings, but this is one that I don't think you need to touch.

HTH

Andrew

[Aenima]

With regard to tracking, the default setting seems to be sidereal but if you "goto" the moon it automatically changes to Lunar and tracks at that speed. I've played a bit with the settings, but this is one that I don't think you need to touch.

HTH

Andrew

Thanks man,

I Do appreciate the responses. Anything beats nothing everytime.

I know there are many settings that are best left alone, Its just certain aspects that i would really like to understand, and i need to learn more about the fundamental workings of the whole goto/tracking/altazimuth part of the synscan mount, plus the celestial coordinates in general. Much of it will have to be learnt properly but things like - "Always align the scope by aproaching the alignment stars the same way - 'up and right' consistently, so the slack in the motor when centering objects once they are found is accounted for and the goto doesnt suffer so badly from the drag and delay in the motor when it is changing direction." - was simple advice but incredibly helpful to me when getting to know the alignment process properly.

And the accuracy did improve when the lag of the motor was accounted for, which for me was amazingly helpful advice. The AZ goto's have a slack moment when changing from left slewing to a sudden slew to the right, where no movement occurs for quite a few seconds.

Thank you ppl for much valued advice, it is all gratefully recieved.

Regards, clear skies and collimated scopes,

Jay.