This section gives control over the telescope/mount. In this document telescope and mount will be considered as same thing - the device that points the optical tube.
The mount connection is used or can be used by the following APT features:
Note: APT has a special feature Mount Tracking Watch-Dog that is configurable by setting. When a mount is connected and the tracking is enabled the watch-dog will monitor if the Alt/Az coordinates are changing. If there is no change in 60s (and the declination less than +-85 degrees, i.e. away from celestial poles), this is sign for problem with the mount connection or with the mount itself. APT will start to beeping and the Alt/Az coordinates will start flashing to notify you about the problem. In such case disable the tracking to stop the alarm and take care for the problem.
Connect / Disconnect
Connects / Disconnects telescope. When Connect button is used for the first time you will see the ASCOM or INDIGO / INDI telescope chooser dialog box where to select the driver for your mount. APT remembers the selection and next time will use the same driver without need to select it. If you want to change the driver or to tune its settings, hold the Shift key when you click on Connect button. Use Ctrl+Click to forget the selected connection parameters.
To control a telescope via ASCOM simultaneously from several programs use one of the hubs that are installed by the ASCOM platform. The mount connection is made in the hub, then all applications make connection to that hub in order to use the shared mount connection. The Devices Hub is preferred choice, but for very old drivers the POTH or Generic hub is the only option.
Note: Some ASCOM drivers works better with APT when the connection is made through hub. If you have mount connection or control problems try this solution.
Opens the settings dialog of the ASCOM driver. If this action is not supported by the driver, use Shift+Click on Connect button and then click Properties in the driver selector dialog box.
Note: Not all mount drivers support opening the properties dialog box during active connection!
The coordinates in Object Browser or these returned from PointCraft are in J2000 epoch while some mounts are working in JNow epoch. When JNow buttons is active (high-lighted) APT will convert the coordinates from J2000 to JNow before sending them to the mount. This action is made on GoTo, GoTo++, Sync and #GoTo APT command.
Goes to the coordinates entered in the GoTo RA/Dec fields. If any of these fields are empty APT will take the current coordinate from the mount and will use it. For example if you want to make move only by Right Accession enter the new value and leave Declination empty.
Use Shift+Click on GoTo button or Alt+V shortcut to open the Advanced GoTo dialog box.
The first section allows making GoTo to Az/Alt coordinates.
The second section allows making GoTo to an offset from the current Az/Alt coordinates. Useful if you want to move the scope by few minutes without need to calculate the exact coordinates.
The third section allows making GoTo to an offset from the current RA/Dec coordinates. Useful if you want to move the scope by few minutes without need to calculate the exact coordinates.
The last section allows making GoTo near the celestial equator (with possibility to define Declination offset form the equator) near the meridian in order to train guiding in optimal way.
If the mount is not supporting movements by Alt/Az coordinates APT will convert them to RA/Dec for current time and for the current Location.
Changes the speed of the mount moves when any direction button are used. m' - will move the mount with 1 arc-minute per second, s" - with one arc-second per second.
Ringy Thingy is an innovative way to edit numeric values using only mouse or touch pad. See details and animation how to use it in the Application Interface notes.
PointCraft is one of the most important features of APT. It uses the power of plate-solving to give way for easy and accurate object framing and centering during different nights, after meridian flipping and many other exciting possibilities.
Using blind solving in PointCraft you can synchronize your mount without need to center any star and to avoid the GoTo alignment procedure.
Opens Object Browser to select an object and populate its coordinates in the GoTo RA/Dec.
If you use Shift+Click APT will get the current coordinates from the running Planetarium application rather than opening the Object Browser. See Planetarium section.
Synchronize the mount with the coordinates entered in GoTo RA/Dec. This is the equivalent to make "One-Star GoTo Alignment" through your hand-controller.
You can use LiveView and Cross to center one of the stars listed in the Stars tab of Object Browser then using Sync button to synchronize the telescope. A message will be printed in the Log panel when command is completed.
Note that you can use Blind solving in PointCraft to synchronize your mount without need to center a star.
Note: No sync will be made if the Declination is bigger than 85 or lower than -85. Use regions with Declination in the range from +85 to -85 degrees.
