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Because the Alt-Az mode is almost exclusively used for visual observations it is not required
a very precise polar alignment. Centring the Polar Star in a short focal length eyepiece is
usually sufficient to obtain a good visual tracking. If a more precise polar alignment is
desired, one of the methods described in the M-zero manual may be used, taking into
consideration that the position of the North Pole cannot be determined with the same ease
of using the M-zero polar-scope.
The described North Pole alignment operations are better performed with the StarGO
system powered off.
Since the described position of the telescope corresponds also to the system Home
Position, just after the StarGO power on, it is necessary to Sync the Home Position using
the related button in the Align Tab of the Main GUI, following the instructions of section
4.2.5. The display in the main GUI will show the Alt-Az coordinates of the North Pole (if the
“Show” check-box has been selected in the RA DEC setting tab.
At this point the Control System knows that the telescope is pointing to North. To provide a
sufficiently accurate sky model to perform precise gotos it is necessary to sync the
telescope to at least other two Stars. Select two Align Stars of the Celestial Data-Base,
sufficiently far each other in the sky and perform a goto to the first. It is possible that the
telescope does not center the star at the first attempt. With the help of the finder scope
center the star in the eyepiece using the directional commands in the main GUI or the
directional buttons in the control keypad. When the star is well centred perform a Sync using
the button in the Celestial Database panel. Now perform the goto to the second star. This
time the pointing should be much more precise. Perform again the precise centring as
before and a new sync to this star. At this point the model should be enough precise to
perform a successfully visual session.
4.7
Mount control using ASCOM driver
As already explained in section 3.1, the StarGO system is compatible with the ASCOM
astronomical standard via the Avalon ASCOM driver that Avalon Instruments has developed
and distributed for use with its proprietary StarGO system.
This capability makes it possible to manage the mount using third party software (i.e.
planetarium programs) cooperating with StarGO software in the ASCOM environment.
This section does not intend to provide a detailed discussion of the use of Avalon mounts
with ASCOM software. Instead, we provide here a brief explanation of how StarGO works
with ASCOM. For
a more in-depth review of this topic, please read the document supplied
with Avalon mounts describing the use of third party software (StarGO – Third Party
Software Use, which is part of the documentation supplied with Avalon Mounts and StarGo
Stand-Alone kits).
NOTE: To use Avalon mounts under ASCOM environment, it is of course necessary
that this platform has been previously installed in the computer.
For purposes of illustration, the following is a brief description of ASCOM being used with
the Cart du Ciel (CdC) planetarium program:
(Sky Chart,
http://sourceforge.net/projects/skychart/files/latest/download
).