Remind me please! (Synscan)

[Simms]

I've been out of the Astro game for a couple of years but have finally dusted down the HEQ5 and getting to enjoy all things Astro again. However, one of the things I have forgotten is a feature of Synscan that allows you to slew to an object (e.g. Jupiter) but if it is a little bit out you can manually slew to center the object then program the adjustment in.. I recall it being a single key press but for the life of me I cannot remember what it was... Any ideas? Thanks!

[spaceboy]

Been a while myself but is it not escape twice or maybe press and hold?

[ronin]

Not 100% sure as I do not own one, but if I recall a post correctly you press and hold the Esc button down for a slight time, guess 1/2 to 2 seconds. Then the handset will ask something like centre ABC, then I would expect you to centre the selected object and press Enter to confirm.

Part of the problem is that Skywatcher didn't have a single button for resynching the mount and object, Meade did. I think Skywatcher added this Esc option late and likely ended up in dispute with Meader, so that brings up the question is it on your firmware.

[Stu]

I'd be very interested in knowing this too, I did not know you could improve accuracy after doing the original alignment, which this seems to imply you can?

[Phil Fargaze]

I've attached a picture from the Synscan instruction manual which shows  the section on Pointing Accuracy Enhancement . Hopefully it's readable. This might be the feature you are thinking of. It is indeed done by holding down the esc button for 2 seconds.

[Geoff Lister]

"PAE" is the 4th entry in the "Utility" section, just after "Park Scope".

"PAE" = Pointing Accuracy Enhancement

The 5th entry, "Clear PAE data" lets you clear previous PAE settings when starting a new session.

Very useful if star hopping, and gets you back to Jupiter quickly if the seeing conditions improve later in a session.

Geoff

[Phil Fargaze]

I am now wondering how necessary it is to clear PAE data. Should it be done regularly or can it be left? 

[ronin]

Would not say it "improves" the accuracy, it is more how the things work.

You start at A, then move to B, then on to C. By the time you are at C it very likely will not be in the centre, BUT whereever the scope slews to it assumes it perfect. What I think then occurs it that you move the scope a bit, this is not interpretted as centering C but moving to a new RA+Dec that is close to C. So when it then slews to D the start position used is not that of C but the "virtual" object that you were looking at that was close to C.

By doing the Sync/Esc or whatever it si referred to, then you move the scope to centre C and tell the scope that that position it is now at is actually C. In effect it resyncs where the scope is pointed to the object. The corrections that the scope determined during alignment would I suspect remain the same.

PAE does similar but by a slightly longer route through the menu tree. Also as I think Skywatcher did not originally have the sort of one button on their scopes, it was added later. Also some memory says not to do it too often, as in do not do it at every star or object you visit. Really would be nice if they issued the software and an SDK

[Stu]

51 minutes ago, Phil Fargaze said:

I've attached a picture from the Synscan instruction manual which shows  the section on Pointing Accuracy Enhancement . Hopefully it's readable. This might be the feature you are thinking of. It is indeed done by holding down the esc button for 2 seconds.

Thanks Phil, very useful.

It looks like it does improve accuracy when you slew to objects in different parts of the sky. When I'm using SkySafari/Skyfi I can align on any object I observe which continually improves the accuracy in whichever area you are observing, but it's handy to be able to do this when operating without SkyFi. Thanks  

[Pig]

I haven't come across any feature like this as yet. I believe the alignment differences are communication related as SS is not as accurate as the mount itself  when using the hand controller ? It would be great if SS can in fact repeatedly improve slowing using the align function.

[Stu]

37 minutes ago, Pig said:

I haven't come across any feature like this as yet. I believe the alignment differences are communication related as SS is not as accurate as the mount itself  when using the hand controller ? It would be great if SS can in fact repeatedly improve slowing using the align function.

Shaun, when I slew to an object in a different part of the sky, I re-align using SkySafari ie centre the object manually and choose re-align (or whatever it is called) in SS. It seems to help the local pointing accuracy?

[carastro]

I think what you are looking for is called "sync".  Presuming you are using the synscan, if your GOTO is a little out, centre the target, and then press ESC holding it down for a few seconds, the synscan screen will flash about 3 times, and then press the Enter button, this re-sync's the target and it should tell you it has done so.  

I use this often so I know it works. 

Carole 

 

[Pig]

44 minutes ago, Stu said:

Shaun, when I slew to an object in a different part of the sky, I re-align using SkySafari ie centre the object manually and choose re-align (or whatever it is called) in SS. It seems to help the local pointing accuracy?

Stu I have tried this but it only seems to work on the target that you aligned to, maybe I should try as you have suggested and keep aligning and see if collectively it helps. In all fairness SS gets so close that it doesn't really matter and it's never more than a tiny adjustment away. It's not like I need to land a probe up there ?

[wookie1965]

Like Carastro says supposing the object your looking at is Jupiter press escape the press it again in this time holding it down it will then flash and say centre Jupiter once you have centred it press enter and bobs your uncle.

[tteedd]

Carastro & Wookie have it right. I don't think I would ever get my video camera on target with out this feature.

I select a known target in a close area of the sky and PAE on that and generally find that (if the initial setup was reasonably accurate) I then find the wanted target straight away.

In my experience using the PAE in one part of the sky makes pointing more inaccurate in distant parts of the sky.

[Wpit]

I found the youtube demo shows the use of the PEC esc feature to improve the tracking before DSO images were captured. This guy makes it look so easy, in fact he has insired me to try the same when skys improve.