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Astro Devices | SkySafari Alignment Out After 10 Minutes Of Use

hi everybody. i bought a digital setting circles system from astro devices (thanks serge) had it around 3 years now but it seems to of lost its accuracy when using skysafari pro version 5 on android, i also bought originaly skysafari pro version 4 and its the same with this. had a phone call from serge at astro devices and he suggested that i use the astro devices utility to check that all is ok with my system.

the test was. set the scope up 20" f4 dobsonian and use some kind of indicators to mark alt and azy i used sticky paper and marked a line on each section so i could return the scope back to exactly the same postion and check that my encoders were correct.started the utility and zeroed the encoders. spun the telescope in all sorts of positions for around 15 mins came back to the original rest place and everything is perfect. tried lots of times and each time it returns the same answers. perfectly aligned with all markers and zero on the utility. 

but when i align using sky safari any version the alignment is out within around 10 mins of use, the only way i can explain it is. the night sky is moving wrongly in sky safari. can somebody please help. this has been  very frustrating over the last 6 months and frankly embarrising when i endorse both products so much. thank you and sorry for the long message

 

regards

mike faulks (faulksy sgl)

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3 comments

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    What do you have specified for the Scope Type and Mount Type in SkySafari?  All that immediately comes to mind is that you have the mount type as Push-To on Equatorial Platform when it is not, or plain Push-To when it is actually on an equatorial platform.  That would certainly cause the alignment to start deviating as time passes.  You might also check in the Astro Devices setup for something like this.  It could be wrong there as well.

  • 0
    Avatar
    mickfaulks

    hi bill

    these are my settings

    date and time set to current time

    location set to current

    coordinates horizon

    precession current epoch

    apperance colour chart

    horizon and sky set to off

    solar set to surfaces

    stars mag8.4

    deep sky 15.5

    milkyway realistic

    telescope set up

    basic encoder system

    mount type alt-az.push to

    readout rate 10 per second

    hope this helps

    display 1.0*

     

  • 1
    Avatar
    dksolar3294

     01Jun2018  -  I recently obtained an Explore Scientific push-to DOB scope.  To make it easier to use, I then obtained an Astro Devices (AD) Nexus II and set of encoders.  While the azimuth encoder is a conventional rotary type, the altitude encoder is magnetic.   The rotary encoder has a known Steps/Rev (SPR) parameter.  For the altitude encoder, the SPR must be determined empirically by looking at the relationship between encoder steps and the altitude angle of the scope.  Encoder steps are obtained from AD's app DeepSky Browser.   These two encoder SPR parameters are then used in SkySafari/Telescope/Setup.   There is some unknown small amount of error in calculating the altitude SPR.   As the scope is moved across the sky, it is inevitable the SkySafari scope cross-hairs will slightly move off target. 

    My request is for SkySafari to add a 'Sync" button to move the cross-hairs from slightly 'off target' to 'on target'.     This feature is used on other planetarium programs and it is extremely valuable when star hopping to find those little dim targets.  

    Thanks,  Don K

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