Star Sense Auto Align not working

[Danny89 (Danny)]

G'day guys,

I am green to this hobby and have recently purchased a Celestron CGX Edge HD11. I was sold the Star Sense Auto Align as a feature to make the alignment 'idiot proof'. I have currently tried on 5 different nights but consistently receive the 'alignment failed' message after 3-4 minutes of the Telescope/sky sense moving about the sky 'acquiring images', finding 100+ stars and then solving the image.

I have tried all of the suggestions I can find online; ensuring the clutch is tight, updating the firmware and aligning to the South but I always get the same error message of 'alignment failed'.

Any help or advice would be much appreciated.

[Ittaku (Con)]

Try North since we're in the Southern Hemisphere (though it shouldn't matter, it should still be able to work itself out.) Does it get an unobstructed view of the sky?

[Hemi]

Hi Danny,

Ive used Starsense for a number of years, both on Celestron and SW mounts.
The commonest reason for Alignment failing IMO, is a user error in time/date and location.

These must be setup carefully, and you should check that you've entered the correct time, date and most importantly location. Also just check that you have correctly setup Eq as the mount type in the SS hand controller.

let us know, its usually something simple. Although not critical you should be roughly polar aligned: ie mount pointing to SCP.

Cheers

Hemi

[bluesilver (Peter)]

Hi Danny,
I have had this same issue a few times myself, different mount but the same exact issues.
I have 3 things wrong and now it works a treat.
1. Obvious one but still, make sure the lens cap is off.
2. As mentioned before, make sure you have the time / date/ locations correct.
3. And this one was my main problem, make sure the plug is connected into the camera correctly.
I had multiple times when the cable wasn't plugged in correctly.
So just run over the cables, unplug them all, check them and plug them in.
Hopefully this will help with the issue.

[Danny89 (Danny)]

Thanks Mate. I fixed up the date/time in the handset and it is now completing the auto align.

Once aligned it still isn't very accurate. I have completed the star sense align procedure with a bright star on several occasions but I still can't get the mount to track to an object and be visible in the scope. It goes to the right region but it takes a bit of searching to find an object. Is this normal or should it be aligned better?

[Zuts]

Originally Posted by Danny89

Thanks Mate. I fixed up the date/time in the handset and it is now completing the auto align.

Once aligned it still isn't very accurate. I have completed the star sense align procedure with a bright star on several occasions but I still can't get the mount to track to an object and be visible in the scope. It goes to the right region but it takes a bit of searching to find an object. Is this normal or should it be aligned better?

I may be wrong here, hopefully others will correct me..

StarSense works best on AltAz mounts and you have a CGX which is an equatorial mount. For this to work and give you good gotos you need to be reasonably well polar aligned.

Cheers
Paul

[Hemi]

From my experience using both az and eq, starsense works just as capably in both setups. But you should do several iterations of ASPA. Better Polar alignment makes tracking better.

For better pointing (not tracking) you need to make sure firstly that the star sense camera is aligned with your scope (just like with a normal finder). There is a calibration function in the handset.

And secondly, the more alignment points you add, the better your pointing (goto).

Lastly, is expectation: lower magnification/wider fov will lead to more success in your goto. So initially use a lower powered Eyepiece until you build a really good model with lots of alignment points.

Cheers

Hemi