Stellarium telescope control problem HEQ5 pro

[David010167]

I hope some one can help or explain what is going on.

Last night I was taking advantage of the nice clear skys.

I set the mount and scope up and did a 3 star align using the controller, then using the controller I slewed to Jupiter to check everything was working fine and also to take a look at Jupiter.

I then plugged the serial cable into the handset, attached a USB to serial cable, and started up Stellarium. Then in stellarium I connected to the scope and then selected vega and did an Alt-1 to slew the cope to vega. The mount sprung into action and the reticule in Stellarium moved towards vega, but then stopped near by.

I did this for several targets, Stellarium moved the scope fine, but always stops short of the targer, on occasions by quite a big margin of error.

Is there a problem with what I am doing or am I missing something that I am likely to slap myself for later

Any thoughts on this one?

regards

David

[Suzpaz]

Are you sure you have put in the correct lat/long time/date in stellarium? Also, stellarium config has an option called:

flag_light_travel_time =

This needs to be either false or true (think it's false)

[lukebl]

I use carte du ciel to control my mount, but I would have thought the principle is the same as stellarium.

I wouldn't do a 3-star alignment THEN connect to Stellarium. Rather, I would do all the alignment and synchronisation through the software, not the handset. If you are controlling the mount via the laptop and EQMOD you don't need the handset alignment.

[brantuk]

Another idea for you is to ensure the tripod is levelled properly and the mount and tube are accurately polar aligned. Then do everything via the software as Luke suggests

[David010167]

Hi everyone, thanks for the comments.

My mount is polar aligned and I believe I have all my coordinates entered correctly, but will double check.

How do you do a star align with stellarium, I have not seen this feature in the software?

Regards

David

[dc509]

How did you get Stellarium to talk to your mount? I bought the USB/serial adapter from Mr Miser but cannot seem to get communications going with my CGEM. Any tips?

d

[David010167]

For me it was straightforward, other than it never aligns on the star correctly.

I have the skywatcher HEQ5 synscan. To control using stellarium I plug the serial cable into the handset controller, then using a serial to USB cable, I connect to the laptop. Then it was a case of picking synscan in the telescope control menu.

Regards

David

[Daggerstab]

I then plugged the serial cable into the handset, attached a USB to serial cable, and started up Stellarium. Then in stellarium I connected to the scope and then selected vega and did an Alt-1 to slew the cope to vega. The mount sprung into action and the reticule in Stellarium moved towards vega, but then stopped near by.

The key shortcut for "move telescope 1 to selected object" is Ctrl+1 (or Cmd+1 on Macs). Alt+1 will move the telescope to the current center of the screen.

If this doesn't help, please try the following:

Make sure you use the latest version of Stellarium, 0.10.6. In the "Telescope Properties" window, under "Coordinate system:" select Equinox of the date (JNow). Try again slewing to objects with Ctrl+1 and see if there is any difference.

[David010167]

The key shortcut for "move telescope 1 to selected object" is Ctrl+1 (or Cmd+1 on Macs). Alt+1 will move the telescope to the current center of the screen.

If this doesn't help, please try the following:

Make sure you use the latest version of Stellarium, 0.10.6. In the "Telescope Properties" window, under "Coordinate system:" select Equinox of the date (JNow). Try again slewing to objects with Ctrl+1 and see if there is any difference.

Doh. It is always the simple things, thank you.

For some reason I had it in my mind that it was Alt. I will give it another go when the next clear night happens.

regards

David