Sync goto instead of Sync mount

jgschaefer

Hello,

With my ASIAIR, after a successful plat solve I get a button that says "sync goto" before I updated the software it used to say "Sync mount". After a successful plate solve I select sync goto and the mount starts to move. I have no idea where it's trying to goto. I have let the mount move a long way before hitting cancel. The sync seems to work because the mount knows where it is. BTW, auto guiding and image acquisition work great. My question, is this a software bug or am I missing something. The manual says it should say "Sync Mount".

Any help would be appreciated.

Regards

Joe Schaefer

My equipment:

ASIAIR

ASI294

Sai290 guide camera

IOPTRON CEM60

ES127 refractor

Tech@ZWO

1.After a successful plat solve,you should get the "sync mount".

2.If you selected an object from“choose object”first，after plate solve,you will get the"sync&Goto xxx".

Please see my attachment.

1562032559(1).png

w7ay

When you click on "sync" after a plate solve, you are instructing the telescope mount where it is really pointed at (i.e., the true RA and Declination coordinates), not where the mount thinks the telescope is pointed at before you synced it.

If you had previously performed a goto to a star or DSO object in ASIAIR's telescope window, then a "sync and goto" will (1) first do the above, and (2) then move the mount to center that star or DSO object on your sensor.

So, before you do a "sync and goto," you *must* have already done a previous goto in the ASIAIR telescope window. Otherwise, it will go to wherever the target was set to when the ASIAIR boots up.

If you are using SkySafari, notice that ASIAIR's target object is *not* the same as SkySafari's target object. If you prefer using SkySafari to move the telescope around, what you need to do is (1) perform a goto in SkySafari, (2) switch app to ASIAIR and plate solve, (3) perform a plain Sync (do not use "sync and goto") in ASIAIR, and then (4) switch back to SkySafari and perform a goto in SkySafari to center the object. (You may have to repeat steps 1,2,3,4 once again to get close if you had not previously done a multi-star alignement on the mount; see below).

If a star or DSO object is in the ASIAIR catalog, the easiest thing to do is just use the ASIAIR to do everything... select a target object, then click goto, plate solve, and click "sync and goto" in the plate solve window; there is no need to switch apps. There is really no need to use SkySafari anymore, once you have an ASIAIR.

If the plate center is already quite close to the target object, the target should then be pretty darn close to the center of the camera sensor after you perform a "sync and goto."

You can always do a second plate solve followed by a second "sync and goto," and that should get you really, really close (unless the polar alignment is off by a lot; like many minutes of arc off). You can even do a third pass, but you will find that it is pretty much never needed.

Clear skies,

- chen

jgschaefer

Thanks for the feedback. I will need to cone experimenting. The following is my start up procedure:

1. Poloralign mount using polemaster, "great tool"

2. Take image, plate solve (the only tab option is cancel and sync goto. I have not slewed to any object yet.

3. I select sync goto. The mount starts to move, to where I have no idea. I hit cancel I can then slew to a object in the Southern sky and the object is on the chip (ASI294).

4 when I do another plate solve after going to a obect the only tab options are cancel and Sync Goto. I never see sync mount or sync goto object name

The next clear night I will try not connecting SkySafare to see if I can get the sync

mount button

Regards

Joe

jgschaefer

Another thought is I will try setting a target close to the mount position in ASIAIR and see where the mount moves too.

propus

I "goto" in Sky safari.

Then switch to asiair and take an exposure (1 sec & bin 4) and platesolve.

The only choice it presents is "sync & goto" which yields "object below horizon" error.

Plate solve worked before updated mount page.

I'm thinking I don't have something set correctly on the mount page?

w7ay

>>> The only choice it presents is "sync & goto" which yields "object below horizon" error.

If you click on "sync and goto," I believe the ASIAIR will

1) sync the mount to the plate solved coordinates, and

2) slew to the Object that is selected in ASIAIR's Telescope Settings window.

If the object selected in ASIAIR is under the horizon, you will get the "object below horizon" alert. Unless you have made them the same, the ASIAIR object is *not* the object that is chosen in SkySafari.

If you are using SkySafari, you need to just sync the mount _without_the_goto_ in ASIAIR. This tells the mount the actual RA and DEC it is pointed to using the plate solved RA and DEC numbers.

SkySafari will then receive the new actual location from the mount (usually within 0.25 seconds).

If you now switch to SkySafari, you should see the cursor in SkySafari move ever so slightly away from the original object. You can now do another GOTO in SkySafari. Now SkySafari, the mount and ASIAIR (which gets the mount RA and DEC constantly) are all pointed at the SkySafari object.

This usually gets you close enough to the object, which you can confirm by going back to ASIAIR to perform another plate solve. If not, another pass of plate solve, sync and switching to SkySafari to do a further GOTO, should get you there.

Clear skies,

Chen

w7ay

Dear propus,

Perhaps this screenshot (ASIAIR V1.2 Beta 4) might make it clearer.

http://www.w7ay.net/site/Images/ASIAIR_Plate.PNG

The response from ASIAIR's plate solve was obtained after I had previously asked ASIAIR to choose Polaris ("Choose Object" in ASIAIR's Telescope Settings window), and after that, did a plate solve. In this case, the telescope is pointed at an artificially generated star field of the NCP region that is displayed on a laptop about 10 meters from the telescope. It is completely overcast outside.

Notice that there are three options you can choose after the plate solve: (1) Cancel, (2) Sync & GoTo <star>, and (3) Sync Mount.

I don't remember what the window in the release version showed exactly; the above is a screen capture from the v1.2 4th Beta of ASIAIR (Firmware 2.28).

If you had previously chosen the object in SkySafari instead of from ASIAIR, what you want to do is to choose "Sync Mount" in the ASIAIR Plate Solve result window, then switch to SkySafari and go perform another GOTO in SkySafari.

After the "Sync Mount" from ASIAIR, the three devices, viz, the ASIAIR, the mount, and SkySafari should all be in agreement that the telescope is pointed at the plate solved location. The extra GOTO in SkySafari slews the mount from the plate solved location to the selected star in SkySafari. After that GOTO, all three devices should all be in agreement that the telescope is now pointed at the object that is selected in SkySafari (or very close to it).

If plate solve does not work with SkySafari for you for now (it should; I have used it myself), you can still use SkySafari -- after a SkySafari GOTO, switch to the ASIAIR Main Camera, take an exposure, and you will see the star is probably not fully centered in the main camera's crosshair. Use the RA-DEC directional buttons to center the star manually (you may have to go into the Main Camera's Advanced Settings to ask for "Continuous Preview" so you don't have to manually take an exposure each time you try to center the star). Once the star is centered in the ASIAIR main camera, go back to SkySafari and you will probably notice that the cursor in SkySafari is a little offset from the target star. However, since we know that the star is really centered in the camera, instead of a GOTO in SkySafari, click on "Align" instead. You will notice that SkySafari now moves the cursor on top the selected star without actually moving the mount. At this point, the ASIAIR main camera, the mount and SkySafari are in agreement that you are pointed at the star.

If plate solving for some reason fails to work for you with SkySafari, you can try using ASIAIR's GOTO (I have stopped using SkySafari myself after ZWO added stars to the ASIAIR database). Just go into the ASIAIR Telescope Settings window to Choose Object, and then do a Goto from the Telescope Settings window itself, or do Sync & Goto from the plate solver to get precisely on top of the object.

Clear skies (unfortunately not here NW Oregon :-),

Chen

jgschaefer

My sync issue has been solved. Two things happened at the same time so I am not sure what fixed my problem. I updated to the latest software release and I also stopped using safari and impute the target using ASIAIR. Now I get all the sync options. (Sync mount and sync goto object).

Thanks for all the feedback.

Regards,

Joe

propus

The latest updates seems to have fixed this for me. Problem solved.