meridian flip

[hubble space telescope]

hello everyone 

yesterday i was doing some astrophotography and it all went very good and precise but when my dslr camera was to close to the mount i wanted to do a meridian flip. i have the eq6r pro from sky watcher and in the settings i saw that the flipping mode was i auto, but the camera was to close to the mount so i switched it to force and tried to do a meridian flip (to choose the target again so that the telescope will switch tracking direction - that how we do a meridian flip? it was my first time), but the telescope didnt move to the other way (because he was allready on the target - M27, but when you choose the target again from the hand control, its need to change the direction, right?), so i tried to move it from the pc because i controlled the mount via stellarium, but its also didnt do a meridian flip... so eventually i didnt do a meridian flip and stop the session... so what i need to do????

thank you very much!!!!!!!!!

[Dr_Ju_ju]

What software are you using to control the mount\camera etc. ??    I mainly use SGPro, and it does it all automatically, but I'm not sure if APT does an auto flip ?

[hubble space telescope]

i control the camera via APT and the mount via stellarium...

but the the settings of the eq6r rpo the flipping mode is on auto, but the mount didnt done the flipping!

am i doing something wrong or the software dont do their job? because its really bummer to stop the whole imaging session because the meridian flip...

[alacant]

Hi

I'm assuming you have eqmod in which case you simply lose the hand controller.

APT does automatic meridian flip but I don't know whether it will do an anticipated flip and then do either a cw-up track on the other side or wait for the object to catch up'. If your camera is to crash into the mount, the best way to be sure no harm is done is to stop the plan, wait for the object to pass say 15 minutes past the meridian, then platesolve and restart the plan on the other side. You can follow the progress across the meridian in stellarium. Then consider a mount extension to eliminate the possibility of the crash and in so doing get back to automated peace-of-mind- flip whilst you sleep:)

Cheers and HTH.

 

[hubble space telescope]

😁😁 thanks alacant!

maybe to wait that the object will move to the other part of the sky and then resume the plane is the best option! i think i will do it the next time! thanks!

and what is platesolve? and what do you mean mount extension?

and yeah, when the mount will move without the worry that it will hit the camera it will be great to be in peace of mind - flip while you slepp!

[alacant]

20 hours ago, hubble space telescope said:

platesolve?

In APT it's called PointCraft. You take an image and the program will tell the mount exactly where it's pointing, update stellarium and generally relieve the trial and error tedium. Use it once and you'll never go back to anything else;)

20 hours ago, hubble space telescope said:

mount extension?

HTH and gets you automated.

Cheers and clear skies.

 

[hubble space telescope]

wow, i read on it right now from the APT manual, its sound crazy! 

but, an auto guiding will do the work as well, no? what is the difference between them except from the way they work?

[david_taurus83]

Bit of a read but it's worth the time invested

 

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/334568-setting-up-platesolving-in-astrophotography-tool-apt/

 

Also, if your scope is getting close to the mount or tripod, as long as the target has passed the meridian, stopping guiding and issuing another Goto to the target will initiate a flip. You cannot force the mount to do the flip before the target passes the meridian. If your scope is getting close to its limits before this you need to look at raising it so it doesn't catch the tripod.

[alacant]

48 minutes ago, hubble space telescope said:

from the way they work

Hi. Platesolve will get you to the target. Autoguide will keep it there.

HTH

[hubble space telescope]

but if i just will stop imaging, wait that the target will pass the meridian, resume the guiding and the plane imaging?

its sound that there are a lot of options to do a meridian flip... 😅

[alacant]

42 minutes ago, hubble space telescope said:

wait that the target will pass the meridian

Hi. Yes that's fine, the disadvantage is that you either need to be there or set another plan to execute. It was one of the reasons we went INDI last year. At the time, anything reasonably priced in windows didn't have auto-flip.

 

[hubble space telescope]

INDI?

so platesolve it is! i think the next time i will try from the APT!