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Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

One click "sync" in Kstars

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I recently bought a Stellarmate to control my telescope's Takahashi mount via Kstars/Ekos/Indi. For many years I have used Cartes du Ciel (CdC) to control the mount. The Takahashi mount comes with a built-in polar alignment scope so aligning the RA axis with Earth's polar axis is easy to do with great precision. So, when using CdC, I would point the telescope at a bright star, take pics with my CCD camera, center the star, and then go to CdC to sync to that star. Before syncing, CdC always asks if the telescope is on the "east side pointing west" or on the "west side pointing east". I would click which one is correct and then do the sync. I'm trying to do a similar alignment process using Kstars. In Kstars, one is supposed to right-click on the star, select the mount in the pull-down menu and then click on "sync". Kstars does not ask me if the telescope is east pointing west or west pointing east. And, after doing a little bit of experimenting it seems that it is assuming that I'm east pointing west even when I'm not. Is there a way to tell Kstars/Ekos/Indi which orientation the mount is in when syncing?
4 years 1 month ago #49642

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Update. Tonight I set things up and aligned on Venus which was near the western horizon thinking this would work. I clicked to "sync" on Venus. I then clicked on "Go To" on a nearby star. Again, the mount headed up toward due north. So, the problem isn't an issue of which side of the meridian I'm syncing on. Now I don't know what the problem is. I hope someone can give me some hints.
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4 years 1 month ago #49732

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Replied by Andrew on topic One click "sync" in Kstars

Usually all you need to do is start from the home position and let the mount drive itself. You can control the mount within KStars and center the object and then sync to it. But I wouldn't recommend targeting it by undoing the clutches and pointing to it manually, which is the interpretation I got from your description.
There is also a more convenient way to sync. You can select the object and sync with a button in one of the toolbars. But really you should be using the plate solver.
4 years 1 month ago #49736

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I guess I'll have to figure out how to set a nonstandard home position. I keep my telescope on its mount in my garage and roll it out when I want to use it. The usual home position has a telescope pointed at declination 90 over the top of the mount. In that configuration, I wouldn't be able to roll it in and out of my garage. It's too tall in that configuration.

4 years 1 month ago #49744
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Replied by Andrew on topic One click "sync" in Kstars

Setting a custom park position is done within the mount driver's Site Management tab.
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4 years 1 month ago #49780

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