I have been experiencing ongoing issues attempting to use SkySafari Pro 6 (iPhone 11, iOS 14.2) with my Celestron 130 SLT scope and Celestron SkiPortal WiFi. I have tried literally dozens of times to complete a “Connect and Align” and, each time, I get an “Alignment Failed” message. I have also tried to simply connect and do an “Align”—with Rigel, Capella, Jupiter, or Mars—and this action gives me a “Command Failure” with the message indicating the scope is too far from the selected object—even though the object is exactly centered in the crosshairs of my reticle eyepiece. Also, the scope position indicator in the app is always way off from where the scope is actually pointing.
I see the same problem using the SkyPortal app. All of the various alignment methods with the 130 SLT hand controller work perfectly—as do sidereal and lunar tracking after alignment.
The most recent alignment attempt is detailed as follows:
At the recommendation of the Celestron Chat technician, I updated the hand controller and SkyPortal WiFi firmware on December 26th. I also installed new batteries in the scope.
I leveled the scope and set it at zero degrees altitude
I reset the SkySafari app to “Factory Settings”, selected “Celestron WiFi” and retained “SkyAlign” (as opposed to “Manual”) as the alignment method.
I reset the hand controller to factory settings when powering the scope on by holding the “0” key during power on.
I set my iPhone WiFi to “Celestron xxx” (the SkyPortal SSID)
I reopened the SkySafari app and selected “Connect and Align”
The app connected to the scope and brought up the “Connect and Align” screen, requested that I select the first object.
In sequence:
I slewed the scope to Capella, centered it in my spotter, observed it in my reticle eyepiece, selected “Enter” in the “Connect and Align” sub-screen, finely adjusted to center exactly on Capella, and selected “Align” in the app. The app then went on to request object 2.
I then slewed the scope to Rigel, centered it in my spotter, observed it in my reticle eyepiece, selected “Enter” in the “Connect and Align” sub-screen, finely adjusted to center exactly on Rigel, and selected “Align” in the app. The app then when on to request object 3.
I then slewed the scope to Betelgeuse, centered it in my spotter, observed it in my reticle eyepiece, selected “Enter” in the “Connect and Align” sub-screen, finely adjusted to center exactly on Betelgeuse, and selected “Align” in the app. The app then displayed the message “Alignment Failed” and indicated I should go through the procedure again.
As I said, this has happened dozens of times (with both the same and different alignment objects) with the identical outcome.
While I certainly can use the hand controller, the experience with the app should be better, particularly since, as a senior with declining night vision and have some trouble actually seeing the buttons on the hand controller. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
