Can't get Starry Night 7 and my eyepiece to agree...

[GeezerGazer]

When using my Orion xx12g (SynScan hand control) through SN7 I'm having difficulty getting what is in the eyepiece to match what the screen says I'm looking at.. Time, Date, Location, etc. are all matched - any thoughts?

[Guest]

You may need to mirror the view in SN7 to match the view at the eyepiece.  I use DSO planner and it has a setting to mirror the view, I would presume SN7 has that option too. 

[michael8554]

Do you mean the field of view of sn7 doesn't match your eyepiece ?

OR

Sn7 isn't pointing in the same direction as your eyepiece is looking ? 

Michael 

[GeezerGazer]

My apologies - I did not state my issue clearly. The problem is not with the inverted image (as in the eyepiece up is down, left is right, etc. - I am aware of that) but rather with alignment; i.e. after 2-star alignment (w/ illuminated reticle EP) and connecting the scope, I had the SN7 software slew to an unmistakable target, Sirius.  The slew ended with the scope actually pointing somewhere up in Orion, even though the cross-hairs on the screen were dead-on Sirius. After re-centering Sirius in the eyepiece with the HC, I went back to SN7 and clicked "Sync On Sirius" but nothing happened. Again, time (within less than one second), date, location, etc. are all matched. Bottom line: how do I get the two (SN7 and SynScan) to properly align?

[michael8554]

If sn7 also has the correct time and location, and pc time is correct, then sounds like you're doing the right moves. 

Michael 

[lenscap]

Could you repeat 2 star alignments a few times using the same alignment stars but ordering SN7 to slew to widely different targets.

In each case note how much error is present in RA & in DEC. If the errors are consistent and in RA only this points to a time or longitude problem. DEC only suggests a latitude discrepancy. Apparently random errors may point to a software bug.

When I first set up my GoTo it took me a week to realise I had put in the wrong time (Daylight Saving intead of Standard) despite checking, double checking & triple checking. Doh.

Edit; Is there any possibility that the telescope type is incorrectly set in SN7?

[cletrac1922]

There is now a SynScan WiFi adapter available

Down load the APP

Takes the guess work out of everything, as sets GPS, date, time from your mobile device

Still fine tuning mine, saving after doing 2 star alignment

John

 

 

 

 

[Thalestris24]

I assume you have Eqmod? Make sure the epoch settings (J2000 or Jnow) match up between apps.

Louise

[GeezerGazer]

Thank you Louise - I am not familiar with Eqmod - please tell me about it..Buddy

 

[cletrac1922]

1 hour ago, Thalestris24 said:

I assume you have Eqmod? Make sure the epoch settings (J2000 or Jnow) match up between apps.

Louise

 

Try the attached

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/blog/eqmod-controlling-the-heq5-neq6-and-other-mounts-directly-from-a-pc.html

John

 

 

[Thalestris24]

40 minutes ago, GeezerGazer said:

Thank you Louise - I am not familiar with Eqmod - please tell me about it..Buddy

 

It's a driver for Synta mounts but only applicable if you're wanting to control your mount from a laptop/pc:

http://eq-mod.sourceforge.net/

Louise

[GeezerGazer]

Thank you John and Louise - I'll check it out - Buddy

[michael8554]

Having reread your Sirius sequence:

You asked sn7 to goto Sirius.

You centred Sirius.

You Synched.

Well nothing would happen, your mount and Sn7 were both pointing at the same object and Synched ?

It's what happened next that we don't know.

What RA and Dec readings were the mount handset showing,  and Sn7 showing,  when you centred and synched Sirius?

What happened when you asked sn7 to goto say Betelguese ?

Sirius and Orion are about 1 hour different in RA ?

Michael 

.

 

 

[GeezerGazer]

Great questions Michael! When I can get back outside I’ll keep those in mind to answer, and that will probably tell me a lot.. 

In regards to my stated discrepancy over Sirius:

the scope is pointing up and to the right in Orion while the SN7 position cross hairs are on Sirius. When I move the scope (using the SynScan HC) down and to the left, the cross hairs move accordingly - down and to the left away from Sirius.  Then when I “sync to Sirius” nothing happens on the screen. What I have noticed since then is that the “sync to xxx” works as long as the scope and SN7 are close. I will try moving shorter distances multiple times, re-syncing each time.

Thanks so much for sharing your insight!

Buddy

[lenscap]

16 minutes ago, GeezerGazer said:

Then when I “sync to Sirius” nothing happens on the screen. What I have noticed since then is that the “sync to xxx” works as long as the scope and SN7 are close.

This is intentional.

Software such as SN7, Stellarium & similar will refuse to accept a Synch if there is a large discrepancy between the target position & the position that the app "thinks" that it is pointing at , since this is likely to be due to an error rather than just innaccurate slewing.

[Thalestris24]

21 minutes ago, GeezerGazer said:

Great questions Michael! When I can get back outside I’ll keep those in mind to answer, and that will probably tell me a lot.. 

In regards to my stated discrepancy over Sirius:

the scope is pointing up and to the right in Orion while the SN7 position cross hairs are on Sirius. When I move the scope (using the SynScan HC) down and to the left, the cross hairs move accordingly - down and to the left away from Sirius.  Then when I “sync to Sirius” nothing happens on the screen. What I have noticed since then is that the “sync to xxx” works as long as the scope and SN7 are close. I will try moving shorter distances multiple times, re-syncing each time.

Thanks so much for sharing your insight!

Buddy

Maybe check your daylight saving time and location? I think Orion is about an hour ahead of Sirius...

 

[GeezerGazer]

Thanks again to all posters for your helpful advise! I had a lot more fun last night because of your tips. My conclusion is that my scope, goto, and tracking systems are all ok. No problems with encoders or motors, etc. I (as most of you already suspected) created my own problems with syncing the scope and Starry Night by not making 100% sure I had a good alignment BEFORE I connected it to the computer. This time I used the "Brightest Star" alignment method, and made sure it was dead on. I used a 12.5mm EP with illuminated reticle to center the alignment stars. I took advantage of SynScan's "Pointing Accuracy Enhancement" feature to fine-tune the alignment. I then switched to a 28mm EP which gave me a much larger FOV. I had the SynScan HC slew to other bright easy targets, and those all came up in the eyepiece. Only then did I connect to the computer, and (amazingly!) it worked as advertised. My thanks again to all who took the time to help me out!

[Astro Imp]

Great news, good to read of your success.
Good luck for the future and enjoy.