The StellarMate Plus Manual
271 / 341
Using Ekos Alignment Module, aligning your mount using the controller's 1, 2, or 3
star alignment is not strictly necessary, though for some mounts it is
recommended to perform a rough 1 or 2 star alignment before using Ekos
alignment module. If you are using EQMod, you can start using Ekos alignment
module right away. A typical workflow for GOTO alignment involves the following
steps:
1. Set your mount to its home position (usually the NCP for equatorial mounts)
2. Select Slew to Target in the Solver Action.
3. Slew to a nearby bright star.
4. After slew is complete, click Capture & Solve.
If the solver is successful, Ekos will sync and then slew to the star. The results are
displayed in the Solution Results tab along with a bullseye diagram that shows
the offset the reported telescope coordinates (i.e. where the telescope thinks it is
looking at) vs. its actual position in the sky as determined by the solver.
Each time the solver is executed and returns successful results, Ekos can run on
the following actions:
· Sync: Syncs the telescope coordinates to the solution coordinates.
· Slew to Target: Syncs the telescope coordinates to the solution coordinates
and then slew to the target.
· Nothing: Just solve the image and display the solution coordinates.
Troubleshooting
Sometimes, the solver would fail to solve an image for various reasons. Here are
some tips to get you started in the right direction:
· Do you have the correct index files installed for your FOV? By default
StellarMate come preinstalled with index files 4206 to 4219, but if your FOV is
on the narrower scale, you might need to install more index files.
· Do the RA/DE coordinates of the telescope in Alignment Module make sense?
By default, the solver searches within 30 degrees of the current mount
location. If the mount is way off in the sky, the solver would fail. If this
happens, go back to your parking home position and then slew to a nearby
star. If the star is off by more than 30 degrees, then there is something wrong
with the mount, time, and location settings so check each of those.
· Check the quality of your image, does it have suffcient stars? Astrometry.net
can work with minimal data, but if there is a lot of noise and very few stars, it
might struggles to find a solution. Try increasing exposure time to
compensate.
To Next Page
