Setting a good park or home position.

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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Setting a good park or home position.

#1

Post by Larry 1969 »


Hello all!

Can someone point me in the direction of a video or set of instruction for setting my park position on my EQ6-R pro?
I saw one for an iOptron CEM 25 and the guy was using a level. Kinda made sense but I can't figure out how to adapt it to my mount.

I assume that, when parked and polar aligned Polaris should be in my FOV in my 800mm FL scope with an ASP-C camera sensor?

I'm using APT to control everything via EQmod and no hand controller.

Thanks!

Larry
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

For imaging:
Orion 8" astrograph 800mm @ F3.9
Eq6-R Pro controlled by APT via EQmod with an OTA mounted mini PC
Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 coma corrector
Altair Hypercam 26C
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Juno16 United States of America
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Re: Setting a good park or home position.

#2

Post by Juno16 »


Hi Larry,

Why not use APT to park the mount?
Jim

Scopes: Explore Scientific ED102 APO, Sharpstar 61 EDPH II APO, Samyang 135 F2 (still on the Nikon).
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 Pro with Rowan Belt Mod
Stuff: ASI EAF Focus Motor (x2), Orion 50mm Guide Scope, ZWO 30 mm Guide Scope, ASI 220mm min, ASI 120mm mini, Stellarview 0.8 FR/FF, Sharpstar 0.8 FR/FF, Mele Overloock 3C.
Camera/Filters/Software: ASI 533 mc pro, ASI 120mm mini, Orion SSAG, IDAS LPS D-1, Optolong L-Enhance, ZWO UV/IR Cut, N.I.N.A., Green Swamp Server, PHD2, Adobe Photoshop CC, Pixinsight.
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My Astrobin: https://www.astrobin.com/users/Juno16/
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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Re: Setting a good park or home position.

#3

Post by Larry 1969 »


Juno16 wrote: Wed Jan 29, 2020 1:59 am Hi Larry,

Why not use APT to park the mount?
Hi Jim,

I can use APT or EQmod to actually park the mount but my question is what should the actual position of the mount be when parked?
I suppose I should have asked it differently.
After leveling the tripod and performing a polar alignment exactly where should my scope be pointing and how do you mark this position for repeatability?

Thanks!

Larry
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

For imaging:
Orion 8" astrograph 800mm @ F3.9
Eq6-R Pro controlled by APT via EQmod with an OTA mounted mini PC
Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 coma corrector
Altair Hypercam 26C
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yobbo89 Australia
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Re: Setting a good park or home position.

#4

Post by yobbo89 »


It should be parked in any position you like, i park my scope so the counter weight bar runs horizontal/or level, this gives me more resistance to wind and it ducks under the fence line which creates a good shield during big storms. it's also a typical position for people with low roof observatories.

edit: for repeatability , software will take care of that, and if you have moved the scope via undoing the clutch then slew to a star in software and then undo the clutch and slew it by hand to a star and then tighten it up. the software is on the alignment star and the mount/scope is back on the star.
scopes :gso/bintel f4 12"truss tube, bresser messier ar127s /skywatcher 10'' dob,meade 12'' f10 lx200 sct
cameras : asi 1600mm-c/asi1600mm-c,asi120mc,prostar lp guidecam, nikkon d60, sony a7,asi 290 mm
mounts : eq6 pro/eq8/mesu 200 v2
filters : 2'' astronomik lp/badder lrgb h-a,sII,oIII,h-b,Baader Solar Continuum, chroma 3nm ha,sii,oiii,nii,rgb,lowglow,uv/ir,Thousand Oaks Solar Filter,1.25'' #47 violet,pro planet 742 ir,pro planet 807 ir,pro planet 642 bp ir.
extras : skywatcher f4 aplanatic cc, Baader MPCC MKIII Coma Corrector,Orion Field Flattener,zwo 1.25''adc.starlight maxi 2" 9x filter wheel,tele vue 2x barlow .

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KathyNS Canada
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Re: Setting a good park or home position.

#5

Post by KathyNS »


You are talking about two different things: park position and home position.

The park position is whatever you set it to. People with roll-off roof observatories, often want a park position where the counterweight arm is horizontal and the scope is horizontal. This minimizes the height of the rig to allow for roof clearance.

The home position is the starting position for your gotos. Yes, the scope should be pointing roughly at Polaris. It should be pointing exactly at the north celestial pole. Whether or not Polaris is visible will depend on your field of view.

To set an accurate home position, start with the counterweight arm horizontal. Use a level to measure that it is as accurately level as possible. Now use the RA setting circle to swing the counterweights down by exactly 90 degrees (6 hours of RA). Lock the RA axis. Now, without moving RA again, swing the scope in Dec so that it is horizontal. If the scope is mounted, use a level on the OTA to ensure that it is exactly level. If the scope is not mounted, use the level in the dovetail saddle to ensure that it is exactly level. (It will be tilted to your latitude of course, but you want it level in the east-west direction.) Now use the Dec setting circle to swing the scope exactly 90 degrees towards the pole.

An accurate pole position will ensure that you can find your goto alignment stars: they should centre themselves in the field of view.
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DSO AP: Orion 200mm f/4 Newtonian Astrograph; ATIK 383L+; EFW2 filter wheel; Astrodon Ha,Oiii,LRGB filters; KWIQ/QHY5 guide scope; Planetary AP: Celestron C-11; ZWO ASI120MC; Portable: Celestron C-8 on HEQ5 pro; C-90 on wedge; 20x80 binos; Etc: Canon 350D; Various EPs, etc. Obs: 8' Exploradome; iOptron CEM60 (pier); Helena Observatory (H2O) Astrobin
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Larry 1969 United States of America
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Re: Setting a good park or home position.

#6

Post by Larry 1969 »


Thanks!
Yes! Home position is what I was getting at. I guess close is good enough?
I fumbled around a bit and once I solved and synced I have spot on gotos! Working on M81 / M82 right now!

Thanks again!

Larry
For visual:
10" Skywatcher collapsible goto dob, various EP's and a Celestron StarSense auto align.

For imaging:
Orion 8" astrograph 800mm @ F3.9
Eq6-R Pro controlled by APT via EQmod with an OTA mounted mini PC
Tele Vue Paracorr Type 2 coma corrector
Altair Hypercam 26C
Image
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