The StellarMate Plus Manual
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alignment errors. To measure Azimuth error, point your mount to a star close to
the meridian. If you live in the northern hemisphere, you will point the mount
toward the southern meridian. Click on Measure Az Error to begin the process.
Ekos will try to measure the drift between two images and calculates the error
accordingly. You can ask Ekos to correct Azimuth error by clicking on
the Correct Az Error button. Ekos will slew to a new location and asks you to
adjust the mount's azimuth knobs until the star is in the center of the Field of
View. You can use the Focus Module's Framing feature to take a look at the
image as you make your adjustments.
Similarly, to measure Altitude error, click on the Measure Alt Error button. You
need to point your mount either east or west and set the Altitude
Direction combo box accordingly. Ekos will take two images and calculates the
error. You can ask Ekos to correct Altitude error by clicking on the Correct Alt
Error button. As with Azimuth correction, Ekos will slew to a new location and
asks you to adjust the mount's altitude knobs until the star is in the center of the
FOV.
After making a correction, it is recommended to measure the Azimuth and
Altitude errors again and gauge the difference. You may need to perform the
correction more than once to obtain optimal results.
Before starting the Polar Alignment tool, you must complete the GOTO Workflow
above for at least one point in the sky. Once your mount is aligned, proceed with
the following (assuming you live in the northern hemisphere):
1. Slew to a bright star (4th magnitude or below) near the southern meridian
(Azimuth 180). Make sure Slew to Target is selected. Capture and solve. The
star should be exactly centered in your CCD field of view.
2. Switch mode to Polar Alignment. Click Measure Az Error. It will ask you to
slew to a star at the southern meridian which we already done. Click Continue.
Ekos will now perform the error calculation.
3. If all goes well, the error is displayed in the output boxes. To correct for the
error, click Correct Az Error. Ekos will now slew to a different point in the sky,
and you will be required to ONLY adjust the mount's azimuth knobs to center
the star in the field of view. The most convenient way of monitoring the star
field is by going to the Focus module and clicking Start Framing. If the azimuth
error is great, the star might not be visible in the CCD field of view, and
therefore you have to make blind adjustments (or simply look through the
finderscope) until the star enters the CCD FOV.
4. Begin your azimuth adjustments until the bright star you slewed to initially is
as close to center as you can get it.
5. Stop Framing in the Focus module.
6. Repeat the Measure Az Error to ensure we indeed corrected the error. You
might have to run it more than once to ensure the results are valid.
7. Switch mode to GOTO.
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