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Re: Astro-Physics status during IL shut-down
Wayne,
Thanks, we like to think we are essential, as well. And so, we need to keep our employees safe and keep rolling on the best we can.
Clear Skies,
Marj Christen Astro-Physics, Inc 11250 Forest Hills Rd Machesney Park, IL 61115 Phone: 815-282-1513 Fax: 815-282-9847 www.astro-physics.com
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io [mailto:main@ap-gto.groups.io]
On Behalf Of Wayne Hixson via Groups.Io
Sent: Friday, March 20, 2020 6:54 PM To: main@ap-gto.groups.io Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Astro-Physics status during IL shut-down
But you guys are an “essential business”!
Thanks for letting us know and making lemonade from lemons.
Wayne
On Mar 20, 2020, at 4:44 PM, Marj Christen <marj@...> wrote:
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Re: Astro-Physics status during IL shut-down
Wayne Hixson
But you guys are an “essential business”!
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Thanks for letting us know and making lemonade from lemons. Wayne
On Mar 20, 2020, at 4:44 PM, Marj Christen <marj@...> wrote:
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Re: APPM Model Creation Problem
Wayne Hixson
Ray, think I figured out I’ve been doing the meridians wrong! I think I need to run the west limits except I move the scope East to the point it’s not going under the eaves. So the west limits show up on the east side. Right? Then use the East limits for the more typical counterweights up run camera into the pier situation. Anyway I’m starting the mapping anew.
does this sound like it will work?
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Astro-Physics status during IL shut-down
Hello astro-nuts,
The governor of IL just announced a “stay at home” order policy for non-essential businesses from Saturday, March 21st at 5pm through April 7. We anticipated this possibility and developed a plan to continue as normally as possible to support our customers and ship products.
Roland, Karen and I will be working at AP. Roland will continue to complete the final assembly and testing of Mach2GTOs and 92mm Stowaways. Karen and I will pack, as needed, and whatever else we need to do.
Office and technical staff will be working remotely from home to answer your questions or take your orders. Although someone will be answering the phone, we ask that you communicate primarily via email if you can.
Our machining and finishing processes will be impacted as well as local subcontractors who anodize and engrave for us. We look forward to having them back at work as soon as possible.
Please be patient with us through this time. We are all in uncharted territory and adapting to changing circumstances on a daily basis.
All of us at AP extend our best wishes for your health and safety. As a wise person told me recently, treat everyone with kindness and compassion, keep your spirits up as we will get through this together…and wash your hands.
Clear Skies,
Marj Christen Astro-Physics, Inc 11250 Forest Hills Rd Machesney Park, IL 61115 Phone: 815-282-1513 Fax: 815-282-9847 www.astro-physics.com
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Roland Christen
The mount will always park according to the LST that the ASCOM driver calculates based on your time, date, location data. If it parks wrong, look at your LST number. Park2 and 3 are always 6 hours from LST. Park 1 , 4 and 5 are always at LST.
LST is your local sidereal time as calculated by the ASCOM driver from your local time that you input to the driver plus your time zone, your daylight savings setting, your longitude and of course your date.
When you slew to an object and it is off by 5 degrees, your inclination then is to move the mount 5 degrees to center the object and recal. When you do that you are actually shifting the entire sky including the overhead hour angle (LST or meridian line) by that same 5 degrees, and along with it all the park positions.
Is this a problem? Not really unless you specifically must have the mount park within a few arc seconds so that your rolloff roof clears the scope. Your time may be off for this session, but when you open up the next session it is not the exact time that determines where the sky objects are, it is the time difference. Therefore, objects will be centered even though the exact time is off as long as the time difference is correct.
This occurs dramatically twice a year when the time changes by 1 hour. If you forget to also change the daylight savings number by 1 hour then the time difference between the last session and the one after the 1 hour time change will be off by 1 hour. Then all sky objects will be 15 degrees in error, so then when you move the scope and recal or sync, you inadvertently also move the meridian line by 15 degrees and all parks accordingly. This is the most common effect that time has on the mount.
Roland
-----Original Message-----
From: Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Sent: Fri, Mar 20, 2020 5:11 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly Thanks Rolando, I have checked those a few times now. And if one of them would be incorrect, wouldn't the Mount always miss the position by the same 15 degrees or what not. Now the mount occasionally gets the park-3 correct. I keep checking but I'm pretty sure all the initial data is correct.
- Mikko
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Re: APPM Model Creation Problem
Wayne Hixson
Yes the neat thing is you connect the mount and it physically moves the mount to each point.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
On Mar 20, 2020, at 2:45 PM, Terri Zittritsch <theresamarie11@...> wrote:
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Mikko Viljamaa
Thanks Rolando, I have checked those a few times now. And if one of them would be incorrect, wouldn't the Mount always miss the position by the same 15 degrees or what not. Now the mount occasionally gets the park-3 correct. I keep checking but I'm pretty sure all the initial data is correct.
- Mikko
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Re: APPM Model Creation Problem
Terri Zittritsch
Hey Wayne, I want to try a model creation myself. I was going to try on the 15th, but after pressing run, it went off and nothing seemed to happen, and not wanting to waste good clear sky, I abandoned the idea and went back to imaging. Terri
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Re: APCC rate settings
Jinyoung
My APCC pro also did not detect new version... so I downloaded latest version manually by altering download url for 1.8.0.5 little bit ;) thanks, jinyoung
On Fri, Mar 20, 2020, 10:55 AM Cheng-Yang Tan via Groups.Io <cytan299=yahoo.com@groups.io> wrote:
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Roland Christen
It always comes down to an improper time issue.
1) send the mount to a known star or object, center it and do a recal on it.
2) send the mount to Park3, let it go wherever it goes.
3) check your time, daylight savings, time zone, date and location. One of them will be wrong.
4) If the Park3 is off by 15 degrees, the time is off by 1 hour. Change the time by 1 hour and send the mount to Park3. You will see that the mount will now park 15 degrees in one direction or other.
5) the fact that you changed the time by 1 hour will not impact the mount's ability to go back exactly to the same star or object that you previously centered and recaled on. As long as you don't loosen the clutches and physically move the axes.
Do the above sequence, and it should provide you with the knowledge about how mounts work and what function time has. Basically once you point the scope to an object and do a recal (or sync), then your mount's time, daylight savings, time zone will determine where the meridian line is and thus where Park3 is.
Park3 is wholly governed by where the meridian line is and that is a function of time. The meridian line is prominently displayed on the ASCOM driver at the top with the heading LST (Local Sidereal Time). Your local sidereal time is calculated from your time entries and should correspond to Universal Time minus your time zone. So it is easy for you to check to see that it is correct. If not, you can make the proper time and time zone setting changes that will tell the mount the correct information in order to always park itself accurately.
Rolando
-----Original Message-----
From: Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> To: main <main@ap-gto.groups.io> Sent: Fri, Mar 20, 2020 1:10 pm Subject: Re: [ap-gto] Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly Thanks Don. I have Luminous so I could try that. But... even if I just use the AP V2 driver, unpark the Mount and slew it to any direction and then ask it to park again, it will miss the park position. Any movement will confuse it now 9 times out of 10.
- Mikko
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Re: APPM Model Creation Problem
Wayne Hixson
Discovered one issue - the plotter ignores my meridian limits and insists on pointing to the zenith/meridian from the west side, which looks straight up into the eaves of my roof. In fact it appears APMM insists on turning off the meridian tracking limits box. Any way to force the model to image from the east side?
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Re: APPM Model Creation Problem
Wayne Hixson
Wow that NASA Sky View camera works great - successfully running a model IN THE DAYTIME!! Will save me a lot of time. 😂😂😂
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Re: APPM Model Creation Problem
Wayne Hixson
Ray, would the fact that I'm using a OSC camera with Bayer matrix make a difference? Wayne Hixson, Stargazer 
On Friday, March 20, 2020, 08:41:05 AM PDT, Ray Gralak <groups3@...> wrote:
Wayne, Assuming you have set up image scale accurately in APPM have you tried setting up All Sky plate solving as a backup for when the normal plate solve fails? It's an option in APPM's plate solve tab. This helps if the problem is just that the mount coordinates are not very close to sky coordinates. There is also a feature in APPM to perform test plate solves on the plate solve tab. You can use that to make sure plate solving is working since each plate solver is different. If you are using APCC 1.8.0.9 you can set the camera type in APPM to "NASA Sky View" for daytime testing. It will download an image in the proper image scale using the mount's RA/Dec pointing position. Not many people seem to know about that. :-) Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. I'm probably not going to be available again until this evening, but I can help you more at that time if you still can't get any further. In that case It would be great if you could use APCC's log zipper to capture logs and send me a private email with a dropbox link to the zip file. -Ray Gralak Author of APCC (Astro-Physics Command Center): https://www.astro-physics.com/apcc-pro Author of PEMPro V3: https://www.ccdware.com Author of Astro-Physics V2 ASCOM Driver: https://www.siriusimaging.com/apdriver > -----Original Message----- > From: main@ap-gto.groups.io [mailto:main@ap-gto.groups.io] On Behalf Of Wayne Hixson via Groups.Io > Sent: Thursday, March 19, 2020 10:08 PM > To: main@ap-gto.groups.io > Subject: [ap-gto] APPM Model Creation Problem > > Hi Ray, trying to create a simple model with my Horizon and Meridian limits turned on. It generates a set of points > but fails every solve. When I manually try a solve in APPM (using Pinpoint) I get this message: > > > Plate Solve failed! > > The plate's exposure start time is required for catalog proper motion calculation. Check the attached image. > > What do I need to do? > > Wayne >
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Re: How to Raise AP1600 Height
Hello Jack Those look like Linak columns. If so, what model are they and where did you get them? Don Anderson
On Friday, March 20, 2020, 10:32:56 a.m. MDT, Jack Huerkamp <mallincamusa@...> wrote:
Robert, I will get a roll of the Safety Tape. I remember seeing it demonstrated in an episode of The Big Bang Theory where Sheldon was demonstrating the safety procedures in his and Leonard's apartment. Now that I know what to look for, I will get some. As far as the dual lifting column, I built it originally after seeing one my friend had erected in his observatory. He had a single column with 1000 Newton (225#) thrust. And he had it installed with the long dimension in the North-South direction. When he had the column at maximum height with his CGE PRO and Meade 14" SCT on top, it did tend to have some flex in the East-West direction. I decided to purchase two of the 1000 Newton columns, mount them parallel to each other with the long dimenseion in the East-West axis, and I started with a CGE PRO on top of the lifting columns. The 450# thrust capacity was fine initially. But the mount got replaced for the AP1600, I changed scopes from a single C11 to a MallinCam VRC-10 riding parallel to a Lunt 152. And ocassionally I added an additional scope on top of the Lunt. With my total load approaching 550#, I still was successful at using the dual 1000 Newton columns, but I ended up ordering a set of 2500 Newton lifting columns and installed them at the end of 2019. With over 1100# of thrust available, I now have a nice safety factor and have had no issues with them.
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Donald Rudny
Mikko,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
One thing that Luca reminded me of is that if my go to is off a bit and I center and realign, when I go back to park the RA is always off a bit, but the Dec is still right on the money. I don’t think that is your problem from what you wrote, but it is something to keep in mind. I assume that you are not doing a recal or re-align before you go back to park. Don Don Rudny
On Mar 20, 2020, at 8:10 AM, Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> wrote:
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Donald Rudny
Mikko, Don Don Rudny
On Mar 20, 2020, at 8:10 AM, Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> wrote:
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Luca Marinelli
Mikko,
While you get to the bottom of the issue, one thing you can try to mitigate the failed centering is to uncheck Prevent Errant RECALs in advanced settings. This will allow an initial large error in pointing and the centering process will not fail. Luca
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Re: How to Raise AP1600 Height
Woody Schlom
Jack,
Woody
From: main@ap-gto.groups.io <main@ap-gto.groups.io> On Behalf Of Jack Huerkamp
Robert,
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Mikko Viljamaa
Thanks Don. I have Luminous so I could try that. But... even if I just use the AP V2 driver, unpark the Mount and slew it to any direction and then ask it to park again, it will miss the park position. Any movement will confuse it now 9 times out of 10.
- Mikko
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Re: Mach1 Unable to Find Home Position Suddenly
Donald Rudny
Hi Mikko,
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Just throwing out an idea here, but do you have an ipad or iPhone? If you do, you could buy SkySafari or Luminous (they’re pretty cheap) to control the mount and take your computer and plate solving out of the link. You can run through a number of go to slews and see if it parks in the same place. If you align to a known object, you can evaluate your go to as well. If that works, it’s not the mount. I only use APCC to initiate and then connect my CP4 to an iPad for control. It works perfectly and is pretty much a no brainer. Hope this helps. Don Don Rudny
On Mar 20, 2020, at 7:09 AM, Mikko Viljamaa <mikko.viljamaa@...> wrote:
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