Thanks Gary
And thanks to all for the suggestions made in this thread - it is very much appreciated. In the end I took another path. On the assumption that the problem related to software, I installed theSkyX and the ASCOM/X2 connectors. Set the mount up as an ASCOM mount and set camera control as a MaxIm connected camera then used the integrated TPoint modelling capability of theSkyX.
I'm just doing a quickie 32 point model, but the scope has already flipped and the unimproved SkyRMS us approximatey 52.3 arc secs. Should be better when (if?) I run the super model.
So it appear the problem was that one of the software components was not correctly returning the scope RA/DEC as suggested by you. I'm not going to try to sort it out now that I have it working, it has consumed enough nights already.
Ill do an export of the finished model if you are interested
All the very best and thanks again
Lars
Quote:
Originally Posted by gary
Hi Lars,
This is what I pointed out yesterday. By masking the sampling data
when the OTA was on the "other side" of the meridian, you are masking out
data that has incorrect "side of pier" information.
By way of background, some telescope control systems have the ability
to keep track of which side of the meridian the OTA is on.
I refer you to pp 15-16 of the TPoint manual of specific restrictions
if your telescope controller does not have the capability to convey
what they refer to as "side of pier" information.
See http://www.bisque.com/sc/media/p/28065.aspx
So the data you collected from the "flipped position" is in one sense
"good" rather than "evil" but you would need to manually convert the
scope RA and scope Dec positions as per my previous post.
Whether your controller provides support for supplying side of pier
information by way of a protocol that TheSky supports, I do not know
and you will need to independently determine that.
Otherwise when you sample stars, you should stick to the restriction
as outlined in the TPoint manual.
I hope this helps. |