Hi Greg, apart from homing the mount, i did not perform a sync. the guys from bisque say that ideally the Tpoint model will make this unnecessary. i will sync it next time i am down there (unfortunately i only get to troubleshoot these issues once a week), still doesn't really account for the issues though... the hemisphere is definitely set to south in TCS (attached)
I am pretty sure the manual says to sync and a Tpoint model definitely does not get rid of the need to do that.
Although Chris on this site mentioned he homes and then does a plate solve and used that to sync the mount. I am not sure how you use the plate solve to sync as I tried that the other night and not sure how you get the Sky X to recognise the plate solve as the sync.
thanks guys, i will clear the data, perform the sync and then rerun the Tpoint model and see how that goes. to me there seems to be a bigger issue at hand, but we will see.
I am pretty sure the manual says to sync and a Tpoint model definitely does not get rid of the need to do that.
Although Chris on this site mentioned he homes and then does a plate solve and used that to sync the mount. I am not sure how you use the plate solve to sync as I tried that the other night and not sure how you get the Sky X to recognise the plate solve as the sync.
Greg.
You go to the "Telescope" tab above the "Camera" tab. On the top left there is a drop down menu "Start Up", about half way down there is an option "Synchronise". When you click that it asks if you want to Sync to the current model, start a new calibration run or start a recalibration run.
You go to the "Telescope" tab above the "Camera" tab. On the top left there is a drop down menu "Start Up", about half way down there is an option "Synchronise". When you click that it asks if you want to Sync to the current model, start a new calibration run or start a recalibration run.
You go to the "Telescope" tab above the "Camera" tab. On the top left there is a drop down menu "Start Up", about half way down there is an option "Synchronise". When you click that it asks if you want to Sync to the current model, start a new calibration run or start a recalibration run.
Yeah I did that but it was showing a star to sync to which I don't think I did in fact sync to.
After you have done an Image Solve there should be a grey box indicating your FOV and what not. You need to select that box first so that you're syncing to the Image Solve and not the star/location you slew to.
I am not sure how you use the plate solve to sync as I tried that the other night and not sure how you get the Sky X to recognise the plate solve as the sync.
Ahem, if all else fails you read the User Guide. Open the PDF and search for "Image Link and Sync". It's much easier to do than it is to describe. It goes basically like this. Point the scope anywhere you like. The home position after homing is as good as any. Take a photo. Go into Tools->Image Link, make sure the "Search->Show Photo" checkbox is checked. Image link the photo. Go on over to the virtual sky display. Click anywhere within the displayed image linked photo overlapped on the virtual sky until you see "Linked Photo" as the target (not any other star or object). Then click on "Telescope ->Startup ->Synchronize". Make sure the sync confirmation dialog says you're syncing on "Linked Image" and not something else.
I'm permanently set up so that is probably a factor. However, I have not synched my mount for a very long time. I just start a new automated T-Point run and then finish it. This probably wouldn't work too well with a portable setup though it might with all sky image linking. If I understand Patrick correctly the finished model essentially is a "synch."
Aidan,
I saw your post at SB but recently can't find it. Did SB ever respond to you?
After you have done an Image Solve there should be a grey box indicating your FOV and what not. You need to select that box first so that you're syncing to the Image Solve and not the star/location you slew to.
Cheers for that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by frolinmod
Ahem, if all else fails you read the User Guide. Open the PDF and search for "Image Link and Sync". It's much easier to do than it is to describe. It goes basically like this. Point the scope anywhere you like. The home position after homing is as good as any. Take a photo. Go into Tools->Image Link, make sure the "Search->Show Photo" checkbox is checked. Image link the photo. Go on over to the virtual sky display. Click anywhere within the displayed image linked photo overlapped on the virtual sky until you see "Linked Photo" as the target (not any other star or object). Then click on "Telescope ->Startup ->Synchronize". Make sure the sync confirmation dialog says you're syncing on "Linked Image" and not something else.
Thanks for that explanation. That could be handy especially if I move my mount to my dark site temporarily and have to do a sync. Its tricky without a finder scope attached to the mount and a narrow FOV!
I'm permanently set up so that is probably a factor. However, I have not synched my mount for a very long time. I just start a new automated T-Point run and then finish it. This probably wouldn't work too well with a portable setup though it might with all sky image linking. If I understand Patrick correctly the finished model essentially is a "synch."
Aidan,
I saw your post at SB but recently can't find it. Did SB ever respond to you?
Peter
I think the problem with that is that you will not get successful plate solves without the all sky link database when you are too far off. If not synced then the mount could be sending the scope to a location too far off for plate solve to work easily. Perhaps the all sky database and having that checked solves that problem. I haven't used that yet in that way but I have used it for a plate solve of an existing image.
I'm permanently set up so that is probably a factor. However, I have not synched my mount for a very long time. I just start a new automated T-Point run and then finish it. This probably wouldn't work too well with a portable setup though it might with all sky image linking. If I understand Patrick correctly the finished model essentially is a "synch."
Aidan,
I saw your post at SB but recently can't find it. Did SB ever respond to you?
Peter
I have not had a response since posting the tsx file
I'd suggest that you bump your post over at SB. Things do go missing when they fall too far behind. The danger seems especially large if you post close to the weekend.
I'd suggest that you bump your post over at SB. Things do go missing when they fall too far behind. The danger seems especially large if you post close to the weekend.
Peter
will do, but i think i will wait until the weekend when i get an opportunity to run another model after a sync. i will see if that fixes the issue.
That could be handy especially if I move my mount to my dark site temporarily and have to do a sync. Its tricky without a finder scope attached to the mount and a narrow FOV!
Since the advent of all-sky image link, the only thing I still find a finder scope to be useful for is the quick polar alignment. That's the one where you home the scope, tell TheSkyX to slew to a any known bright star, then physically move the tripod and/or ALT/AZ adjusters to center the star.
Yes I can see it will be very handy to use the all sky image link. It would have saved me a few hours a few weeks ago! Its very difficult to manually line up the telescope with no finder scope or image link with a small sensor even only at 1159mm focal length. It took a while!
so i am currently running another model and it is becoming clear what the issue is but i have no idea what is causing it. the model is running really well, i homed the mount and then synced to a plate solve. i tested my syncing by pointing to a target, NGC 1365 and it landed smack bang in the middle of my image, great ... now i am running my tpoint model and all the RA for the scope are almost exactly 12 hours out from the star RA (attached). to be clear, this is set to southern hemisphere in TCS and the location is correct. also pointing seems fine so i have no idea what this means.
I have had it happen where I was getting the mount trying to point as if it were set to Northern Hemisphere yet the TCS said it was set to the Southern Hemisphere.
I clicked the set to Southern Hemisphere again anyway and after a short lag a lot of the numbers it displayed changed.
It was fine after that.
Sky X occasionally tends to be Northern Hemisphere biased.
talking on the bisque forums it seems that the figures are mechanical not stellar ... which means that if you are meridian flipped then they will be 12 hours out so all good. i am finally seeing the power of this mount. i was testing the pointing last night, swapping between many targets and each one landed dead in the middle of the FOV, amazing, i have never had anything like that before. just need to sort out my guiding issues (shouldn't be a major issue) and test my PE
