well I did get out but didn't have much luck getting things to work.. so will have to visit the manual some more to see what I'm missing.. though I didn't spend a lot of time with the guide angles they were completely off ( differant part of the sky off )track to any objects I knew of ... but strangely in another mode the unit was identifing all constellations all over the sky.. again I'm not very well read on all the set up it seems and am likely missing something important ... pity it was a very clear evening for a change.
Hi Graham,
Your SETUP ALT STEPS encoder direction sense sign is almost definitely
incorrectly set and possibly your SETUP AZ STEPS sign as well.
Highly recommend you perform the procedure for establishing them as I outlined
in my previous post.
this could be it
I think I have a "conceptual" problem ..with this being a point and shoot observer.. I think I pointed my sope around canis minor and swept to the east through az motion then back to the north through the same motion.. the corresponding values moved as they should so I left them be ..
wrong way round eh ?.
thanks for your time gary ...
this could be it
I think I have a "conceptual" problem ..with this being a point and shoot observer.. I think I pointed my sope around canis minor and swept to the east through az motion then back to the north through the same motion.. the corresponding values moved as they should so I left them be ..
wrong way round eh ?.
Hi Graham,
Indeed, it sounds as if your current settings are for a configuration where the
OTA is 'flipped' beyond the zenith. This means that you will be able
to correctly identify objects or constellations, but that when you go to
GUIDE to an object, the directions will want to steer you in the other direction.
The check for pushing the OTA to the zenith, performing a FIX ALT REF
of 90 degrees then watching what happens to the Alt reading in
MODE ENCODER when you push the scope down toward the horizon
will betray this.
Both ways it still moves as per directions .. 90 reducing as i go down towards the horizen.
Do I have to have the mount set to fork ?? when I do all this .
az motion seems way off tonight.. no matter what i seem to change it dosn't make a differance ??
Both ways it still moves as per directions .. 90 reducing as i go down towards the horizen.
Do I have to have the mount set to fork ?? when I do all this .
az motion seems way off tonight.. no matter what i seem to change it dosn't make a differance ??
any thoughts most welcome
Hi Graham,
On your Dob you will set the SETUP MOUNT parameter to ALT/AZ DOBSONIAN.
On your Dob, you will push the scope to the vertical stop and use
ALT REF = +90.
The encoder direction sense signs are the +/- signs in front of the
encoder step counts in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS.
There are what you are trying to determine. You will not be reversing the
sign in SETUP ALT REF. You will be keeping that at +90. What you will
be doing is changing the signs in SETUP ALT STEPS and SETUP AZ STEPS.
When you dial up MODE ENCODER, observe the left-hand displayed
value. Initially, it should be +90. As you move the OTA down in Alt
only toward the horizon, it should decrease, +89, +88, ... +1, +0.
If it increases, i.e. +91, +92, then reverse the SETUP ALT STEPS sign and
repeat the procedure.
Once the Alt encoder sign is established, you are going to perform a two
star alignment and then point the OTA to the intersection of the meridian and
celestial equator. You are then going to DIAL up MODE RA DEC
(not MODE ENCODER). As you sweep across the celestial equator toward
the eastern horizon, RA should increase on the display. if it decreases, then
reverse the SETUP AZ STEPS sign and re-perform the FIX ALT REF step
and two star alignment.
Keep in mind that in the end that there are only four combinations of signs
(+ +, + -, - +, - -). The above procedure will establish them for you, but
in the worse case you can always simply try all four, recoding your results
with pen and paper as you go.
AN was a great help tonight, tracking Saturn at around 300-400 mag. I was swapping eyepieces, barlows. After each swap, I just had to carefully guide back to 0,0 and Saturn was always close enough to locate with a gentle search around that location!
thanks gary ..I'll revisit again.. though as far as i can tell I'm following those steps
mount is set to dobsonian
set up alt ref reads ALT REF= +090.000 AUTO ADJUST OFF
through set up I scroll up SETUP ALT STEPS ALT= +0010000
same through ..............SETUP AZ STEPS AZ=+0010000
The alt numbers do reduce as per directions
Though I believe they also reduce if I change to ALT REF=90 .
I'll check the pole sweep again .. I'm going from a point alittle east of canopus and sweeping down to the east through altitude motion .?.
I'll check the pole sweep again .. I'm going from a point alittle east of canopus and sweeping down to the east through altitude motion .?.
Hi Graham,
For checking the SETUP AZ STEPS sign, avoid that part of the sky.
Why is that?
From your latitude there in Victoria, stars between approx. Canopus and the
SCP are all circumpolar. What this means is that if you sweep easterly
from stars north of the SCP, RA will increase, but for those between the
SCP and the southern horizon, RA will decrease.
So there is room for uncertainty in those polar regions when performing a check.
Better to sweep along near the Celestial Equator. This time of year, think
Orion's Belt, think Rigel, think Betelgeuse and even Sirius and Procyon
as the starting points.
The purpose of this check is to ascertain the encoder direction sign
for the Az encoder. You have already determined the sense of the
sign for the Alt encoder using the FIX ALT REF +90, MODE ENCODER
procedure. Though from your latitude you can't move the Dob along the
Celestial Equator without moving it in both Az and Alt *, the primary purpose of this
step is to ensure motion in the Az axis, because that is the axis you are
checking.
Whereas you use MODE ENCODER to check the Alt sign you are using
an alignment followed by a check of the left-hand display in MODE RA DEC
to check the Az sign.
* If you were standing at the geographic South Pole, you could move
the scope in Az only long the celestial equator, which in that case would
be pointing on the horizon. As a side-effect of physically moving your Dob
to the geographic South Pole, it will transform itself into an equatorial mount.
thanks gary..i'll try from orions belt and move to the south through az motion.. I have a differant computer working now and can "slowly" scroll through the user manual,,the old one was a little awkward ...I did have my alt ref set at =90 (not user defined)for a while as per the manual mentioning somewhere.
ballina isn't in victoria ,,, though through winter theres a lot of vic no plates
up this way .
Ei captain ..I be headin east now and all seems well
Well I have the unit pretty much picking out a few objects from
popular deep sky which the bigger of are in the field of view in my 28 mm pretoria 55 dfov
I could of aligned a little better but its good enough for now .. Its wants to initialize all the time now so I'm thinking the batteries have had enough of me ... part of my earlier problems I think were I jumped over to your..alternative procedure.. without thinking through I still have to change the mount from exact fork align at some stage .. well thats my story anyway
Ei captain ..I be headin east now and all seems well
Well I have the unit pretty much picking out a few objects from
popular deep sky which the bigger of are in the field of view in my 28 mm pretoria 55 dfov
I could of aligned a little better but its good enough for now .. Its wants to initialize all the time now so I'm thinking the batteries have had enough of me ... part of my earlier problems I think were I jumped over to your..alternative procedure.. without thinking through I still have to change the mount from exact fork align at some stage .. well thats my story anyway
thanks gary
Hi Graham,
Great stuff!
You will definitely want to be using the SETUP MOUNT, ALT/AZ DOBSONIAN
setting. As one of my prior posts mentions, now begin using MODE SETUP, SETUP
ALT REF=+090.00 and then when you perform the FIX ALT REF, use
ALT REF=+090.00 AUTO ADJUST ON.
Well that means my scope is pretty much finished now .. It sure takes a while get everything just the way you like it but well worth the time.
Looking forward to getting to know my way around the argo over time .
thanks Gary for your time and patiance
Yeah mate it was a great night out.. I think I went in about 2.00
bet that comet looks a sight for you guys out casino way .It looked very impressive from home and I get a little skyglow for some reason over that part of the sky .
Well that means my scope is pretty much finished now .. It sure takes a while get everything just the way you like it but well worth the time.
Looking forward to getting to know my way around the argo over time .
thanks Gary for your time and patiance
Hi Graham,
Thanks for the post including the pictures.
A really nice looking scope and your installation of the encoders and
your stalk for your unit looks the part
You are most welcome and we wish you many fabulous nights ahead!
Well that was fun .. really the first night out I have spent the whole evening with the argo switched on 3.30 finish ...It certainly is an assault
on the old grey matter so many objects at your finger tips .. A tour of galaxys around leo just never wanted to end
The unit worked flawlessly, all objects mostly centred in my 14 xw
Though some objects from some of the more obscure catalouges just wern't there .. I set the limiting mag to 11 for my back yard which showed up everything pretty clearly , maybe could of went a little deeper but I suspect low surface brightness on some objects would be more of a problem from the burbs .
Is there a way I can say tour planetarys and galaxys excludeing everything else ?
Anyway great observing tool .. best $450 I ever spent
Great to hear you want to perform a Messier Marathon.
As mentioned by other respondents, an optimal way to observe them is
in ascending RA order.......
OK, I think I'm all setup, thanks Gary. Have uploaded a User Catalog containing 99 Messier objects. I've dropped out 11 that were >+50 deg as "no chance". Added a flag to the name of each for "easy", "moderate", "difficult", as per the literature, so I have an explanation if I am having difficulty seeing the object. Now I just need a clear night at camp and for everything to work!
Fantastic to hear of a great night out with your Argo Navis
Hi Graham,
Thanks for the post.
Quote:
Originally Posted by nightstalker
Well that was fun .. really the first night out I have spent the whole evening with the argo switched on 3.30 finish ...It certainly is an assault
on the old grey matter so many objects at your finger tips .. A tour of galaxys around leo just never wanted to end
Excellent and sounds like you had a fabulous run!
The ability to go back and forth so as to be able to compare and contrast so many objects
at ease is something I like myself when using the unit.
We were also fortunate to have a cloudless and mild night just north of Sydney
which provided the opportunity to load the orbital elements for Comet Lulin
into the Argo Navis and have a good look at it. We also spent some time
touring the smörgåsbord of galaxies on offer at this time of the year.
Quote:
The unit worked flawlessly, all objects mostly centred in my 14 xw
Though some objects from some of the more obscure catalouges just wern't there .. I set the limiting mag to 11 for my back yard which showed up everything pretty clearly , maybe could of went a little deeper but I suspect low surface brightness on some objects would be more of a problem from the burbs .
Undoubtedly many of these would be surface brightness related.
Whilst in GUIDE mode, if you press the DIAL and read-off the detailed
description, surface brightness (SB) is often reported. The size of the
object, which is usually reported, is also often a good indication. For example,
some of the Local Group Dwarf Galaxies can have sizable integrated magnitudes
but spread over such an area that the SB is very low. Those that are obscured
by the Milky Way can even be more challenging to find.
Quote:
Is there a way I can say tour planetarys and galaxys excludeing everything else ?
Not at present. As you see, you can select planetaries or galaxies or
non-stellar but not a union of only planetaries and galaxies. However,
it is a enhancement that might appear in the future.
Quote:
Anyway great observing tool .. best $450 I ever spent
OK, I think I'm all setup, thanks Gary. Have uploaded a User Catalog containing 99 Messier objects. I've dropped out 11 that were >+50 deg as "no chance". Added a flag to the name of each for "easy", "moderate", "difficult", as per the literature, so I have an explanation if I am having difficulty seeing the object. Now I just need a clear night at camp and for everything to work!
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the post.
Fantastic. We've got our fingers crossed for you for that clear night!
Hope you get as good a night as we did in Sydney last night.