GET ra and dec from mount? in target settings?

Sequence Generator Feature Requests
1

Here’s one (maybe asked before?) I tend to need it a lot lately.

I use worldwide telscope (any planetarium program really) and I find what I want to see and “GOTO” it. Once I’m pointing I want to start or create a sequence. (usually I open a blank stock one aeq form for RGB or another for NB.

For the furture, I want to know where I’m pointing to shoot other nights with same view when I save the sequnce as (new targetname here). I click the GEAR for target settings. And the RA and DEC are blank. Can we get a button to load current RA and DEC from mount?

I could then just click ok and save and next time I’ll be pointing at the same spot. AS IS - I have to click in the planetarium program each night and hope I’m close to the same crop.

I hate entering in RA and DEC

2

In the control panel for the Telescope there is current RA and DEC field. Have you looked there?

3

You can right click on one of the images that you used the night before, plate solve it and set those coordinates to your target.

You can also use the Framing and Mosaic Wizard to frame your object and just get that data from the very beginning rather than using a planetarium.

Thanks,
Jared

4

FYI a FR request I got was copy and paste from Stellarium, into the target settings.

So, I GOTO in Stellarium, then make a new target, press control C in Stellarium (copy) then paste twice, once in the target name and once in the RA box. Bingo, name and coordinates are input for the target. (RA and Dec both are populated in the paste to RA).

Does that meet your request?

5

Jared, Ideally I’d not want to plate solve. It’s less than fast.
I could type RA and DEC in manually faster than a plate solve.

Also - if the first night, I don’t have a shot. I could do a frame and focus or just a plate solve soon as I get to the new “goto” target I clicked on. Once I solve the RA and DEC will be entered if if I go look at the new blank sequence I’m creating?

Ok - I just tried it (daytime here). I loaded a last image. So if it’s a new target I can just grab a frame and focus image in 10 seconds. Then plate sold and click use this for this target… I see it entered the RA and DEC - I can then name the target and save. I guess that’s not to bad. But really a button to pull in current mount location would be nice. Plate solving still took 10 seconds or so.

6

The issue is that the coordinates from the mount are not very accurate…especially if you haven’t plate solved and synced your mount. We tried “trusting the mount” before and quickly reverted that change as pier flips were WAY off. So while it may take 10 seconds to plate solve that is minutes of time you’ll save when you have to recenter your object because the coordinates that your mount gave you were wrong.

Pulling the coordinates from the mount seems like a quick win but it would add more problems than you think. Best bet is to get coordinates from a planetarium, the Framing and Mosaic Wizard, or from a plate solve of one of your images.

Thanks,
Jared

7

that’s fine, but my mount is balls on. If I’m trying to import it’s dec and ra - then it’s on. But solving only took 10 seconds so I can live with it.