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18

6.8 iterative Polar alignment without Polar Scope

Polar alignment of your mount by means of the polar-axis find-
er scope is covered in the instruction manual for the mount.  
However, there is another, more accurate way to polar align. 
This software-based polar alignment routine can be performed 
without use of the polar-axis scope. You will need to use a ret-
icle eyepiece for this procedure to ensure precise centering of 
the stars in the eyepiece field of view. 

1.  Complete a 2-star alignment or 3-star alignment. At 

the end of the alignment, the Syn Scan hand controller 
will display the polar alignment error (refer to Section 
5.16). Based on the error given, you can decide 
whether it is necessary to adjust the polar alignment.

2.  Press the “SETUP” shortcut key, and then access 

to sub-menu “Alignment\Polar Align. >”. Press the 
ENTER key to proceed to the next step.

3.  The screen will display “Select a Star”. 

•  Use the scroll keys to browse through a list of star 

names and press the ENTER key to pick one as the 
reference star for polar alignment.

•  The mount will start slewing to point the telescope 

to the reference star. 

4.  Use the direction keys to center the reference star in 

the eyepiece of the telescope after the mount stops 
slewing. Remember to end the centering operation 
with Up and Right direction keys. Press the ENTER 
key to proceed to the next step.

5.  The screen will now display the polar alignment error 

in altitude (Mel=dd’mm’ss”). You can then use the data 
to determine whether or not to adjust the altitude of 
the R.A. axis. Press the ENTER key again to proceed 
to the next step.

6.  The mount will slew to a new position. When it 

stops, the screen will display “Adjust Altitude:”. By 
using ONLY the altitude adjustment mechanism of 
the mount (DO NOT touch the azimuth adjustment 
mechanism, DO NOT use the direction keys on 
the hand controller), bring the reference star back 
to the closest point to the center of the FOV of the 
telescope’s eyepiece. Remember the reference star’s 
position in the eyepiece for later adjustment. Press the 
ENTER key to confirm the centering operation.

7.  The screen will now display the polar alignment error 

in azimuth (Maz=dd’mm’ss”). You can then use the 
data to determine whether or not to adjust the azimuth 
of the mount. Press the ENTER key again to proceed 
to the next step.

8.  The mount will slew to a new position. When it 

stops, the screen will display “Adjust Azimuth:” By 
using ONLY the azimuth adjustment mechanism of 
the mount (DO NOT touch the altitude adjustment 
mechanism, DO NOT use the direction keys on 
the hand controller), bring the reference star back 
to the closest point to the previous position (at the 

end of Step 6). Press the ENTER key to confirm the 
centering operation.

9.  The screen will display the polar alignment error 

again, press the ENTER button to end the polar 
alignment process. It should be an improvement over 
what was given in Step 1. 

10. Go back to the “Alignment” menu on the SynScan 

hand controller and execute another 2-Star or 3-Star 
alignment, and then check the polar alignment error 
data reported at the end of the 2-star alignment or 
3-star alignment. Repeat Step 2 to Step 8 until the 
error is small enough to be acceptable. Generally, you 
can expect to get up to 1 arc-minute polar align ment 
accuracy after repeating this polar alignment process 
2 or 3 times.

7.  Connecting SynScan to 

a Computer

7.1 Working with astronomical Software 

Programs

The SynScan hand controller can communicate with a com-
puter via the RS-232 port at the bottom of the controller 
(

Figure 1b). In this way you can use many commercially avail-

able planetarium software programs to control your GoTo tele-
scope or mount, essentially bypassing the hand controller’s 
interface. The computer must have a RS-232C serial port; oth-
erwise, an optional USB-to-Serial adapter is required. Connect 
the SynScan hand controller to the computer with the RJ-12 to 
DB-9 serial cable supplied with your telescope or mount.

7.2 PC Direct Mode

PC Direct Mode is a special mode for the SynScan hand con-
troller to work with a PC. Under this mode, the hand controller 
becomes a repeater between the PC and the motor control-
ler in the telescope mount. The application running on the PC 
controls the motor controller directly.
Currently, the PC direct mode is mainly used to update the 
motor controller’s firmware.
•  Access the menu “Utility Func. \ PC Direct Mode” and press 

the ENTER key. The screen will display “PC Direct Mode \ 
Press ESC to exit.”

Figure 4. 

Application window for SynScan firmware loader.

Содержание SynScan GoTo

Страница 1: ...t 800 676 1343 E mail support telescope com Corporate Offices 831 763 7000 89 Hangar Way Watsonville CA 95076 Providing Exceptional Consumer Optical Products Since 1975 SynScan GoTo Hand Controller IN...

Страница 2: ...Variable Stars 11 4 4 SAO Stars 11 4 5 Deep Sky Tour 11 4 6 User Defined Objects 11 5 Configuring Hand Controller and Mount Settings 12 5 1 Date Time Site Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time 12 5 2 Han...

Страница 3: ...s slewing to an object The direction keys are very helpful when initially aligning the mount centering objects in the eyepiece field of view slewing and manually guiding The left and right direction k...

Страница 4: ...ost recent speed will be kept and the LCD display will return to its previous content The following table lists the available slewing speeds Rate No 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Speed 1 0 5X 2 1X 3 8X 16X 32X...

Страница 5: ...It automatically detects the model of the mount to which it con nects and selects the appropriate operation mode accordingly For an Equatorial Alt azimuth dual mode mount such as the Orion Atlas Pro A...

Страница 6: ...ro cess the screen will display Begin Alignment and ask you to select 1 YES or 2 NO Press 1 to start the alignment process The SynScan hand controller will operate in Full Feature mode refer to Sectio...

Страница 7: ...t be performed again To do this turn the mount s power switch off then on again 2 Star Alignment Two star alignment requires only two alignment stars but may produce lesser pointing accuracy than the...

Страница 8: ...the selected region the hand controller will display No object found in this region Press ENTER or ESC and select another region of sky 4 Now use the Scroll keys to scroll through the list of bright s...

Страница 9: ...at the hand controller will not prompt you to select a directional region for a bright star Instead you ll be presented with a list of stars available in your current sky to choose from for each of th...

Страница 10: ...other 8 planets of our solar system and Earth s Moon NGC 7 840 of the brightest deep sky objects from the Revised New General Catalog IC 5 386 of standard stars and deep sky objects from the Indexed...

Страница 11: ...4 5 Deep Sky Tour The SynScan hand controller enables you to take a tour of the best deep sky objects visible in the current sky from your location You can select them one by one and command the SynSc...

Страница 12: ...direction is reversed on one or both axes of motion using the direction keys on the hand controller So when you re looking at an object in the eyepiece it will not move immediately upon pressing a dir...

Страница 13: ...o end the input and proceed The screen will display Lower XXX Xo at the bottom row fill in the data in a similar way 5 7 Enable Disable Auxiliary Encoder Some Orion telescopes and mounts are equipped...

Страница 14: ...ignment is which will allow you to decide if you should perform the polar alignment procedure again or if it s good enough for your purpose Access the menu Utility Func Show Information P A Error and...

Страница 15: ...or may vary in different portions of the sky The SynScan hand controller divides the sky into 85 small zones and you can calibrate the pointing error for each of these zones The next time the SynScan...

Страница 16: ...sure time in minutes and seconds and the last 3 digits are the number of frames to be shot up to 999 Press the ENTER key to pick a group and proceed to the next step 4 The first row of the screenshot...

Страница 17: ...een will display Select Speed 1 0 125X 2 0 25X This is the speed used to move the star in the FOV of the telescope when you press the Left or Right direction key on the SynScan hand controller Choosin...

Страница 18: ...mm ss You can then use the data to determine whether or not to adjust the azimuth of the mount Press the ENTER key again to proceed to the next step 8 The mount will slew to a new position When it st...

Страница 19: ...r at the bottom of the window to show the progress 5 Once update is complete the application will display a green bar with Update Complete at the bottom of the window 8 4 Troubleshooting 1 If a window...

Страница 20: ...and controller Place the GPS module on a horizontal surface 2 Access the menu Utility Func GPS and press the ENTER key 3 The screen will now display GPS fixing as the GPS module is attempting to fix o...

Страница 21: ...21 Appendix A Standard Time Zones of the World...

Страница 22: ...lign Polar Align Brightest Star SETUP MODE Show Position Show Information Identify Park Scope PAE GPS PC Direct Mode Polar Scope LED PEC Training Camera Control Adv Filter Sort By Time Version Tempera...

Страница 23: ...ith the optical tube of the telescope Note Steps 2 to 4 are to identify R A and Dec move ments of stars in the reticle eyepiece If you are already familiar with the movements proceed to step 5 2 Find...

Страница 24: ...center of the eyepiece by HALF not all the way 13 Repeat Steps 8 and 9 to check whether the cone error is now acceptable Repeat Steps 10 11 and 12 if necessary until Polaris remains in the center of...

Страница 25: ...res The screen will display Key in the top row If a key is pressed the name of the key will be displayed and the hand controller beeps The power voltage and the temperature will be displayed on the bo...

Страница 26: ...A C O B ig D ip p e r T A U R U S B e t e l g e u s e L i t t l e D i p p e r P o i n t e r s P o l a r i s U R S A M A J O R C a s t o r C a p e l l a P r o c y o n C Y G N U S L E O M I N O R H E R...

Страница 27: ...i p p e r P o l a r i s U R S A M A J O R C O M A B E R E N I C E S C Y G N U S P I S C E S P I S C E S P E G A S U S L E O M I N O R HERCULES OPHIUCHUS SCORPIUS TELESCOPIUM C O R O N A B O R E A L I...

Страница 28: ...I D A N U S PHOENIX PISCIS AUSTRINUS CAPRICORN U S MICROSCOPIUM AQUARIUS O P H I U C H U S V U L P E C U L A S A G I T T A H E R C U L E S U R S A M I N O R C E P H E U S C A S S I O P E I A C A M E...

Страница 29: ...ONOCEROS Alphard LEPUS COLUMBA CAELUM B O T E S U R S A M I N O R C E P H E U S C A S S I O P E I A C A M E L O P A R D A L I S GEMINI M i r f a k H YDRA PYXIS ANTLIA M I N O R C A N I S MAJOR CANIS D...

Страница 30: ...rranted instrument that proves to be defective provided it is returned postage paid Proof of purchase such as a copy of the original receipt is required This warranty is only valid in the country of p...

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