Synscan alignment stars

[petevasey]

I have an early Skywatcher EQ6 Pro - in fact so early it has the non-upgradeable hand controller.  Works very well once I'm aligned.  But others may have the same problem I have, the mount  decides which stars it will offer for alignment.  And often the stars are unfamiliar unless you know the skies very well.  Even some of the names are different from the usual ones.

I managed to find a list of the stars with star charts here, but they are rather unwieldy for use at the scope.  So I've weeded out those which are perhaps less useful, particularly for UK users, and set up new tables.   Table 1 shows the more useful stars, magnitudes brighter than 2 are in bold type.  Table 2 has fainter stars with stars of magnitude 2.5 or brighter in bold type. For myself  I've printed them double sided and laminated for use at the scope - hopefully next time I use that mount (it only comes out of the box for star parties etc.)  the alignment process will be less frustrating.

I expect this has been covered before, and may only apply to early versions of Synscan, but it might be useful for some.

Cheers,

Peter

Alignment Stars 1.pdf Alignment Stars 2.pdf

[jambouk]

Does your version of the firmware allow you to alter the way it offers alignment stars? For sometime you can make it list potential alignment stars by brightness, so the brighter, better well known stars appear first.

 

[petevasey]

2 hours ago, jambouk said:

Does your version of the firmware allow you to alter the way it offers alignment stars? For sometime you can make it list potential alignment stars by brightness, so the brighter, better well known stars appear first.

 

Not to my knowledge .  I've never seen any option in the menu system, and there is certainly no reference in the instruction manual.  The stars are offered in alphabetical order.  I can of course scroll through the list of stars that Synscan is offering, but sometimes it can be very frustrating, not including some of the brightest and well known stars which are visible in the sky  They are all in the list for GOTO, but not for alignment.  For example earlier this month during our spring visit to Kielder, Synscan offered mag 2.6 'Bogardus' (theta Aurigae) which is only 12 degrees from 0.1 mag Capella, yet not offer Capella. Both stars at the time were on the same side of the meridian.

Cheers,

Peter

Edited March 27, 2020 by petevasey

[jambouk]

What version is the handset firmware?

[petevasey]

27 minutes ago, jambouk said:

What version is the handset firmware?

Not sure, maybe version 1 - as I mentioned it's an early non-upgradeable handset.

Cheers,

Peter

[jambouk]

Is there a Utility function in the menu tree? If there is, is there an Information option within that? Is there is, is there a Version option? If so, the firmware versions for the handset, and the database etc may be listed. If so, can you post what it says for all options?

James

 

[petevasey]

11 hours ago, jambouk said:

Is there a Utility function in the menu tree? If there is, is there an Information option within that? Is there is, is there a Version option? If so, the firmware versions for the handset, and the database etc may be listed. If so, can you post what it says for all options?

James

 

Hi, James, thanks for your interest.

According to the manual the only entries in the 'Utility' section are:

Show Position

Display Time

Park Scope

RS-232

PEC Training

I can't find any mention of the firmware version in the manual, so will have to power up the unit.  As I only use it for star parties, it's boxed up in my garage.  But won't take long to access and power up in the box, so I'll find time to have a look, probably tomorrow - something to do while I'm in Corona Virus lock down ( I'm not infected, but at 76 in the 'at risk' category).

Cheers,

Peter

[petevasey]

Hi again, James,

I've finally got round to  checking the mount.  The firmware version is 02.04, and the Utility functions are only those I've listed above.

Cheers,

Peter

[jambouk]

OK. Looks like you are stuck with it as it is then. Thanks for getting back.

James