c131frdave Is there a way to force the meridian flip manually?
Wait for object to transit past the Meridian (give it an extra minute or two of time if your east-west mount leveling is not good to better than 15 arc minutes; give it more time otherwise).
Then turn guiding off.
Issue a GOTO to the mount. It will perform a Meridian flip for you to reach the same target. You can then refine the position of the mount by using a series of plate solves.
A German mount will execute a Meridian flip when it is asked to do a GOTO to a target that places the OTA on the wrong side of the pier. (Meridian flip involves moving the mount to point at the pole, then turn the RA motor by 180 degrees, and then a second move to the target. The two movements are usually done by changing both RA and declination to produce the fastest path.
ASIAIR does not execute a Meridian flip. It is not smart enough. The ASIAIR too, simply waits for the target to transit past the Meridian and then sends a GOTO just like above and let the Mount execute the meridian flip. I.e., the ASIAIR choreographs a meridian flip -- ZWO calls that "automatic Meridian Flip." Part of the choreography includes stopping tracking before the target has reached Meridian.
Remember that for circumpolar stars, you need two Meridian flips every 23hr 56 minutes.
Chen
