Help please

[Trade007]

Hi guys after wanting to explore astronomy for years I finally took the plunge and bought a telescope two weeks ago 

it's a sky watcher 150p goto I'm based in East Sussex now it seems what ever I do I can't seem to lign my scope up .Ive tried the brightest star alignment and also two star alignment no joy with both .At first the alignments were out by loads now I'm getting a warning message after it saying alignment successful.The warning says something about the last value was off due to HPE can't find that abbreviation meaning any where .After I've done alignment and it says it was successful I tried to see if it was aligned by asking it to slew to the moon but handset said it was below horizon which it clearly wasn't I then asked to to point to Jupiter I went straight past Jupiter and was way off .

Im at a loss what I'm doing wrong I can use the scope manually which I have to see Jupiter which was so much fun and awe inspiring to see it with my own eyes I also stayed up last night to see Mars which was great as well but I really want to be able to align my scope properly so I can get some nice pics of planets and other things so I'm after some help please .

 

couple questions regarding entering all the data at start of alignment I use a site for my geo location I see people on here saying they in put longitude as west but my geo location gives me east is this why my goto handset say the moons below horizon am I being stupid here ?? 

The next thing is my elevation which is 163 metres how do I input that data do I put a 0 before the 1 ? 

ive ordered a power pack which be here next week just using battery's at moment and thanks for the help guys 

[Cornelius Varley]

Hello and welcome to SGL. Which mount do you have ? The Synscan Pro equatorial mount or the Star Discovery alt-azimuth ?

[laudropb]

Hello and a warm welcome to the SGL. Please give the mount you have.

[Trade007]

Hi thanks for your replays it's the alt-azimuth mount the battery's are new Duracell just waiting for power pack to come .Ive learnt a few stars already which I've been using for two star alignment which has helped but I don't understand how I'm getting this so wrong that it's telling me the moons below horizon when it's not it's nearly full moon. Feel stupid lol ha ha 

[Cornelius Varley]

The first things to do are to ensure that you have inputted all the relevant info correctly. Things to check are:-

1. The date format. This is entered as mm/dd/yyyy  ie 02/19/2016
2. The time. This is normally in the 24hr format ie 8.00 pm = 20.00
3. Daylight saving (DST) is off, until the end of March.
4. Timezone = 0.00. This is the default so UK users shouldn't need to change this.
5. The correct location. The coordinates for the centre of Hastings are 000 34E, 50 51N . This is format and order the coordinates are entered into the handset and yours will be similar. This site will give you a more accurate location.
6. Ensure that you get the tripod level. Extend the tripod legs to your desired height and then use a bubble level. 

 

[LukeSkywatcher]

Not sure if this applies to all Go-To scopes (certainly does with Celestron):

When aligning you have to enter the date in the American format (mm/dd/yyyy). Also you have to either choose either DST or BST (right now we are on DST). 

Sorry.......ive just seen the post above mine which covers everything i just said. Its important to check off of these are correct. If you have your exact co-ordinates.......great. If not...........the nearest big city on the list will do.

 

[Trade007]

17 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

The first things to do are to ensure that you have inputted all the relevant info correctly. Things to check are:-

1. The date format. This is entered as mm/dd/yyyy  ie 02/19/2016
2. The time. This is normally in the 24hr format ie 8.00 pm = 20.00
3. Daylight saving (DST) is off, until the end of March.
4. Timezone = 0.00. This is the default so UK users shouldn't need to change this.
5. The correct location. The coordinates for the centre of Hastings are 000 34E, 50 51N . This is format and order the coordinates are entered into the handset and yours will be similar. This site will give you a more accurate location.
6. Ensure that you get the tripod level. Extend the tripod legs to your desired height and then use a bubble level. 

 

Hi cheers for your reply all that you've put there I'm pretty sure I've done and double checked I've been going just outside hasting near a country park these are the coordinates 

50 52 n 0 37 E 163 meters 

I bought a little spirit level made sure was good done both alignments brightest star and two star I get alignment successful message but then next message say something about the last value being out due to hpe I can't find any information on this warning message or meaning of hpe .If I back out and ask it to slew to the moon it says it's below horizon when it's clearly not .I thought I must be getting something drastically wrong for it to be saying moon below horizon just can't seem to crack what's wrong I'm having great fun looking at things I've never seen before but it's starting to get really frustrating now lol anyway thanks to anyone who can help

[Davey-T]

HPE may stand for "high precision encoder" don't know what the message means, check you aren't set to Southern hemisphere if that's possible with your mount.

I think it has dual encoders so that once aligned you can loosen the clutch and move it manually without losing alignment, always supposing you can align it to start with

Dave

[LukeSkywatcher]

"50 52 n 0 37 E 163 meters". 

Ive never been asked by my Go-To how far above sea level i am. I cant see how that would help the scope find its location on the planet. Also "50 52" makes no sense. You can only be either 50 or 52 degrees north. I'm just outside of Dublin (Ireland) and a lot further north then Hastings and i am i think 52 degrees north. I'm hazarding a guess that Hastings is 50.

 

[Cornelius Varley]

1 minute ago, LukeSkywatcher said:

"50 52 n 0 37 E 163 meters". 

Ive never been asked by my Go-To how far above sea level i am. I cant see how that would help the scope find its location on the planet. Also "50 52" makes no sense. You can only be either 50 or 52 degrees north. I'm just outside of Dublin (Ireland) and a lot further north then Hastings and i am i think 52 degrees north. I'm hazarding a guess that Hastings is 50.

 

The latest versions of the Synscan firmware asks for an altitude. I think it is for atmospheric adjustments, only a guess. 50 52 is 50 degrees 52 minutes North.

 

16 minutes ago, Trade007 said:

Hi cheers for your reply all that you've put there I'm pretty sure I've done and double checked I've been going just outside hasting near a country park these are the coordinates 

50 52 n 0 37 E 163 meters 

I bought a little spirit level made sure was good done both alignments brightest star and two star I get alignment successful message but then next message say something about the last value being out due to hpe I can't find any information on this warning message or meaning of hpe .If I back out and ask it to slew to the moon it says it's below horizon when it's clearly not .I thought I must be getting something drastically wrong for it to be saying moon below horizon just can't seem to crack what's wrong I'm having great fun looking at things I've never seen before but it's starting to get really frustrating now lol anyway thanks to anyone who can help

Make sure you enter all the numbers in the correct order ie 000 37E. If you entered just 0 37 this could be 037 00 E

[Trade007]

Cheers for all your help guys I really appreciate this heres my scope and the place I bought it I'm gone email them see what they say about this message I'm getting after alignment http://www.firstlightoptics.com/az-goto/sky-watcher-star-discovery-150p.html

what I don't understand is where could the handset think it is for the moon to be below horizon that's what's confusing me if it thinks it's in the northern hemisphere surely the moon would always be above horizon unless it thinks it's a lot later in the night than it really is ? Does that make sense because if it thought I was in Southern Hemisphere the list of elignment stars would be different wouldn't they ?

[LukeSkywatcher]

50 52 is 50 degrees 52 minutes North.

Ah ok...........so even 50N and 51N.........are split into minutes?.

Learn something new every day.

[Tinker1947]

As mentioned the Date, Location will be input in the wrong order, if the stars are visible but the Moon isn't, you could wipe out all the data write it on a piece of paper then input it all again, also type it on here.

[Trade007]

9 minutes ago, Tinker1947 said:

As mentioned the Date, Location will be input in the wrong order, if the stars are visible but the Moon isn't, you could wipe out all the data write it on a piece of paper then input it all again, also type it on here.

Hi cheers for reply but surely the moons always above horizon when it's in its rise stage ?? Like say it rises at 11 am and sets at 4 am in the morning in between them times it would always be visible even if I had put in wrong latitude and longitude as long as it was still northen hemisphere it would only be the time that I could enter wrong for the moon to be below horizon am I wrong here ?

[Tinker1947]

What it the month was wrong or the time its going to be 99% input error, nearly everybody has been there and done that..... 

[JemC]

1 hour ago, Trade007 said:

Hi cheers for your reply all that you've put there I'm pretty sure I've done and double checked I've been going just outside hasting near a country park these are the coordinates 

50 52 n 0 37 E 163 meters 

Hi  Trade007

in the above comment re the co-ordinates is that the order you are putting them into the handset? 50 52 N 0 37 E

If so you need to swap them around and input 0 37 E first then 50 52 N pretty sure that's how my Synscan handset requires them

James

 

[Trade007]

7 minutes ago, JemC said:

Hi  Trade007

in the above comment re the co-ordinates is that the order you are putting them into the handset? 50 52 N 0 37 E

If so you need to swap them around and input 0 37 E first then 50 52 N pretty sure that's how my Synscan handset requires them

James

 

Hi James that's the way the hand control asks for them it's north and south first then east and west . It's really frustrating lol but I think there's something major wrong some where for the moon to be below the horizon from my understanding there's only two sets of data that could be put in wrong for the moon to be below horizon.Either the scope thinks it's earlier or later than it is therefore the moon either hasn't risen or it's already set or the scope thinks it's in Southern Hemisphere so the moon wouldn't be visible but that doesn't make any sense because the alignment stars it offers are northen hemisphere.If it was the other data that was wrong that wouldn't account for moon below horizon must be a fault with the synscan 

50 52 n 

0 37 e on this unlike the one above only room for three digits I've 0 37 e 

163 meters this has room for 4 digits I've been entering 0163 for elevation 

2/19/2016 date 

2030 for 8.30 

thats exactly how I've been inputting data 

[Cornelius Varley]

20 minutes ago, JemC said:

Hi  Trade007

in the above comment re the co-ordinates is that the order you are putting them into the handset? 50 52 N 0 37 E

If so you need to swap them around and input 0 37 E first then 50 52 N pretty sure that's how my Synscan handset requires them

James

 

You can only enter them in the order E/W and then N/S. If correctly entered all the digits will be used.

[Cornelius Varley]

1 minute ago, Trade007 said:

Hi James that's the way the hand control asks for them it's north and south first then east and west . It's really frustrating lol but I think there's something major wrong some where for the moon to be below the horizon from my understanding there's only two sets of data that could be put in wrong for the moon to be below horizon.Either the scope thinks it's earlier or later than it is therefore the moon either hasn't risen or it's already set or the scope thinks it's in Southern Hemisphere so the moon wouldn't be visible but that doesn't make any sense because the alignment stars it offers are northen hemisphere.If it was the other data that was wrong that wouldn't account for moon below horizon must be a fault with the synscan 

50 52 n 

0 37 e on this unlike the one above only room for three digits I've 0 37 e 

163 meters this has room for 4 digits I've been entering 0163 for elevation 

2/19/2016 date 

2030 for 8.30 

thats exactly how I've been inputting data 

There is something wrong here. The longitude coordinates have 5 digits DDD MM E/W where DDD are degrees between 000 and 179 and MM are minutes between 00 and 59 . Latitude coordinates have 4 digits DD MM N/S. The longitude coordinate must be entered into the handset first and will be in the form of 000 34E and then the latitude coordinate entered second in the form 50 52N.
Can you power up the mount and take a photograph of the handset showing the coordinates as they are currently entered. ?

[Trade007]

14 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

There is something wrong here. The longitude coordinates have 5 digits DDD MM E/W where DDD are degrees between 000 and 179 and MM are minutes between 00 and 59 . Latitude coordinates have 4 digits DD MM N/S. The longitude coordinate must be entered into the handset first and will be in the form of 000 34E and then the latitude coordinate entered second in the form 50 52N.
Can you power up the mount and take a photograph of the handset showing the coordinates as they are currently entered. ?

The mounts down in my car I'll pop down in next hour or so and post pic

 

im sure it asks for North or south  first and has room for 4 digits then east or west and only has room for three digits I'll double check if this is the problem lol I am stupid ha ha thanks I'll check hope it is just want it aligned properly 

[Trade007]

It does ask for longitude first 034 24 then latitude I can't add pics says there to big my mistake I've checked and there the correct way round time zone set at +  so don't really know what I'm doing wrong dates in correct format as well maybe there's something wrong with handset can't get out again till Monday night I'll try again then see how I get on 

[michael8554]

Maybe a typo in your last post, have you moved from 00 37 to 00 34  ?

Enter 00  34                 NOT                           034   24

(or 00  37)

Michael

 

[Cornelius Varley]

31 minutes ago, Trade007 said:

It does ask for longitude first 034 24 then latitude I can't add pics says there to big my mistake I've checked and there the correct way round time zone set at +  so don't really know what I'm doing wrong dates in correct format as well maybe there's something wrong with handset can't get out again till Monday night I'll try again then see how I get on 

Enter the longitude as 000 34E (Hastings is just slightly East of the Greenwich Meridian) If you entered the longitude as 034 24E you have given your location as somewhere close to the Ukraine/Russian border. The correct coordinates which must entered in the format and order are 000 34E, 50 52N

[popeye85]

I have the same setup. If you give me a bit then I can enter the same info into my handset and see what  happens. 

[Trade007]

7 minutes ago, Cornelius Varley said:

Enter the longitude as 000 34E (Hastings is just slightly East of the Greenwich Meridian) If you entered the longitude as 034 24E you have given your location as somewhere close to the Ukraine/Russian border. The correct coordinates which must entered in the format and order are 000 34E, 50 52N

Thanks for that I got the geo data from a website that's how they formatted it unless I'm reading wrong I'll try that on Monday when I go back out I knew I was doing something wrong cheers for being patient with me 

 

would that explain the message about moon being below horizon