Meridian Flip Settings

 

Defines how many minutes before the celestial meridian passing to start the preparations for flipping the mount. On process start it will determine the current position via taking a short image and plate solving it in PointCraft. It will stop the tracking and guiding once the position is determined.

 

If an imaging plan is in progress and there is no time to take the next exposure before the flip moment occurring, the imaging will be paused earlier and the additional time will not be counted as delay - it is an extra pause to prevent collisions.

 

Flip Moment works in combination with Delay Flip Move and Delay is counted after meridian. See the notes.

 

If this value is negative this means that process will start after meridian passing. We suggest to investigate very carefully the behavior of your mount before using negative values! Delay is counted after meridian passing has to be unchecked.

 

 

Defines how many minutes to wait before executing the actual scope move that will flip its position according to the pier/tripod side. This delay can be counted from two moments - from the object passing through the celestial meridian (Delay is counted after meridian is checked) or from the "Flip Moment" (Delay is counted after meridian is unchecked).

 

During this delay the mount tracking and guiding are disabled. It gives time the object to move away from the positions where scope can hit the pier/tripod or/and to guide poorly.

 

Example: Let have an object that will pass through celestial meridian in 22:15. Let have Flip Moment set to 5 minutes and Delay Flip Move set to 7 minutes.

 

No matter if Delay is counted after meridian is checked or not, Session Craft will stop the guiding and tracking in 22:10 (or earlier if there is no time to take scheduled image, but for simplicity we will ignore that extra pause). This happens because we have set to stop 5 minutes before meridian reaching. Here are the two options depending on Delay is counted after meridian state:

 

1. If Delay is counted after meridian is checked - Session Craft will wait 5 minutes the object to pass the meridian in 22:15 after that will wait another 7 minutes and then will make the flip move. Total pause 5+7=12 minutes.

2. If Delay is counted after meridian is unchecked - Session Craft will wait 7 minutes after 22:10 and will make the flip move. Meridian passing is in 22:15, so the move will happen just 2 minutes after the passing. Total pause 7 minutes.

 

If we have running plan and there is extra pause, consider that Session Craft will be idle for X minutes till 22:10 is reached then the above calculation will be applied.

 

We suggest to use Option 1 because it is easier to predict the flip move and measure the scope position limits. Be careful, not all mounts can flip the scope pier/tripod position before object passing through the meridian! If the flip move is started too early is possible to be ignored by the mount and to leave the scope from the old side leading to crash! Option 1 ensures that object will be on position that can be safely used by all mounts and flip will happens!

 

Option 2 gives possibility for optimizing the flip process and to take the maximum of your mount, but requires very careful measurements of the Flip moment (positive or negative) and the needed delay. Also needs knowing if it is possible to make flip move before meridian. Make experiments in various parts of the celestial meridian - from Zenith to South and from Zenith to North keeping an close eye on the mount and in the messages in the Log panel.

 

 

 

Defines how the pre-flip delay is measured. When checked the delay is measured from the object passing through the celestial meridian. When unchecked the delay is measured from the Flip moment. See the Delay Flip Move notes!

 

 

Defines what solving method to use for the first GoTo++ step after flipping the pier/tripod scope position. When checked the first solving will be blind solving via ASPS. All other GoTo++ steps will use near solving via PS2. When unchecked only PS2 will be used.

 

 

When checked will force PHD2 recalibration after the flip before guiding star. MGen2/3 does recalibration unconditionally.

 

 

Defines the minimum time in seconds that your mount needs to change the pier/tripod side during usual meridian flip. Shorter time will be considered as indicator of problem with flip and SessionCraft will stop all movements in order to prevent damages.

 

 

Some mounts support command to change the side of the scope according to the tripod/pier. This command is handy during Automated Meridian Flip, however sometimes the mount refuse the change the side. If such problem occurs, enable this option and SessionCraft will use appropriate GoTo command to complete the task.