TheSkySearchers

Hi there!
I am experienced in astronomy but just now i got my first GoTo mount - HEQ5 Pro. It is connected to PC and controlled by Stellarium via USB cable and hand controller. Eqmod cable is on the way. At first everything was ok, aligning and pointing to objects accuracy is fine. As we know, now is visible comet C/2023 P1 Nishimura. So i wanted to add thiss comet to my comet list. In early morning i made a ordinary mount setup routine and found comet in Stellarium and press Slew button, but nothing happens. Than i found mount can not slew to objects which are lower than 25 degrees. In hand controller elevation limits are disabled, if enabled i can set only upper limit (which can not be saved by pressing Enter). So there is no choice to remove these default elevation limits. But i managed to get comet in view by slewing to nearest star which is at least 25 degrees above horizon, than manually slew lower (slewing speed is very low in thi situation) to comet regarding Stellarium. I lost lot of time solving this elevation problem in that morning, so i got just few frames of comet.

So, does anyone know why there are still limits on elevation if they are disabled and why it is not possible to set these limits manually?

Janis.

[image][/image]

Hello Janis

Welcome to the forum.

The minimum elevation is being controlled by both the mount and by Stellerium. I'll go and have a look at the Stellerium settings.

In the meantime, the image you posted is not visible. Can you change the access permissions please.

Regards

Graeme

Oh, thanks! Stellarium could be a problem. I remember mount was slewing slightly under horizon when i was testing it indoors.

We have Members that use the HEQ5, they will be able to advise when they come on line.

In the meantime, that's an excellent C/2023 P1 Nishimura image, thanks for posting.

Graeme

You should be able to use eqmod with your heq5 pretty sure the settings in eqmod should bypass whats on the hand controller and in stellarium

The order of software i boot up is eqmod-stellariumscope then stellarium, i used to run my eq6 through the hand controller but would sometime get issues and end up getting a direct usb cable. nice image btw

Thanks!

I am waiting for Eqmod cable, but comet will not wait As i know genuine Synscan App allows to change elevation settings. But anyway it is weird when all limits are disabled but they are still active..

Just did a little research Indoors. Things are getting more interesting. At first i choose one star Antares for aligning which was 6 degrees above horizon. It was ok. Than in Stellarium i choose star below Anteres, and mount slew there very well. Than i tried East direction and what a surprise, nothing under 15 degrees is available, previously there was a limit for 25 degrees. In West direction i got as low as 0,5 degrees. Looks like a bug

I am getting deeper. I installed Cartes du Ciel. And there is the same problem, but in this time error message occurs from ASCOM driver - positioning to coordinates below horizon not allowed. But these coordinates are above. So the problem is ASCOM?

Is your location set correctly in the mount, Stellerium and Cartes du Ciel?

Have you got NINA installed? This will check the location entered in the mount against the location recorded in NINA.

I don't think ASCOM stores coordinates, it just translates between drivers and hardware.

Graeme

I think location is very accurate. I took coordinates from handheld GPS, also compared them from local geodesic information web site. Also site elevation is correct. I'll try NINA.

Another suggestion you may want to try, I use SkyTech X as my Planetarium and slewing and framing software. It is free just like all the other programs.
http://skytechx.eu/index.php?page=home

Should give a try for Skytech.

Yesterday i made a discovery - my observation site is little bit on slope. In E direction i look up slope, in W down slope. And this angled horizon fits almost perfectly in Stellarium Horizon elevation limits Of course it is just a coincidence, but fun fact.