N.I.N.A.-Help Needed: Choosing pier side for slewing to target - Forums

Topic starter

Oct 9, 2023 · Edited: Oct 9, 2023

Hello,

this is something for NINA-specialists (could not find anything in the manual about this):

When starting a sequence in NINA the sofware automatically starts slewing according to the position of the target:
- Target before meridian: pier slews to the left (west)
- Target after meridian: pier slews to the right (east)
(for the northern hemisphere, that is)

So when I start imaging just an hour before my target crosses the meridian, the pier slews west and I will have to do a meridian flip very soon.
To save some time and for convenience, can I just tell NINA to start the sequence by slewing east an hour early?

I'm using a Skywatcher EQ6-R and EQMOD in N.I.N.A.

Can this be done and how?

Thanks very much for your help!
Chris

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Linwood Ferguson

Oct 9, 2023

NINA is just issuing a slew, it is up to the mount and mount software how it deals with side of pier during a slew. It's more an EQMOD question (about which I know nothing).

NINA will in some circumstances request a specific side of pier but that is only during a programmed meridian flip.

If "use side of pier" is set, and if (!) you can get the mount to slew to the "wrong" side in anticipation of a flip soon, NINA should recognize it is already pierside east when it comes to transit and not try to flip again.

David Rosenthal

Oct 9, 2023

I will be following this because that has happened to me in every session lately. Most of my recent targets are really close to the meridian this time of the year. It would be nice to start on the other side to save the flip time. Hopefully this is something that can be configured.

Tom Marsala

Oct 9, 2023

There is a button check box in EQMOD when it is up and running called "Force Flipped Goto" (go through the different screens and it is on the "Set Limits" screen). I have used this when I am already to the west of the meridian and it will slew to the target on the east without flipping. I have never checked at the start of a sequence in NINA, so I don't know how it will behave. But that is what that button is for. Before using NINA, I used to slew to the west side of the meridian and check that button and slew to the east side without flipping so as to be able to image right past the meridian.

Be careful though: it unchecks automatically after each slew, including plate solving error calculations. So it is easy to end up right back where you started.
I just don't worry about it anymore unless I am imaging a planet near the meridian.
Abundant Clarity-Tom

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DrTAV

Oct 9, 2023

You may also want to try Green Swamp Server at some point in addition to the replied answers. It gives you more flexibility in my experience. There are two training videos that show how flips and the goto function on your scope can be customized by setting the Meridian Limits.

Linwood Ferguson

Oct 9, 2023

Tom Marsala:
There is a button check box in EQMOD when it is up and running called "Force Flipped Goto" (go through the different screens and it is on the "Set Limits" screen). I have used this when I am already to the west of the meridian and it will slew to the target on the east without flipping. I have never checked at the start of a sequence in NINA, so I don't know how it will behave.

Unless you avoid having NINA do any kind of slew-and-center, NINA is going to do another slew to the target position. if this is a one-off setting, that will probably send it to the other pier-side. You can start NINA's sequence with no slew-and-center of course, but you would also want to avoid very nice features like center-after-drift as that might again do a slew while still counterweight up. If you are watching it for the hour-or-so before transit, NINA's advanced sequencer would actually allow you to put in the center-after-drift trigger after transit without stopping, then you could go to bed.

The "real" answer is a mount that can have defined "opportunity limits" (this is a term AP uses in their software), allowing a slew to a position that would normally be pierside-west pointing east, at certain hour angles, to instead slew counterweight up pierside-east pointing east.

But... depends on the mount. NINA just does the ASCOM driver things, which really lack the ability to control these sorts of things. Which is probably a goodness as mounts are so very different how they handle counterweight up positions (if they do at all).

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Christian Koll

Topic starter

Oct 9, 2023

Hello and thanks very much for your replies!

I will try to do as Tom Marsala suggested (greatly appreciate your help!) - this sounds very promising.
I enclosed a screenshot of the specific EQMOD setting:

I will see how this behaves when slewing between plate solving/centering attempts - maybe I just have to keep the EQMOD window in the foreground while slewing to target and check the box after every incremental slew.

As soon as the target is centered I turn off the "center target" option in the (legacy) sequencer, so there should be no problems there.

Again, thanks very much!
Chris

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Linwood Ferguson

Oct 9, 2023

One piece of advice – if your mount is portable, do all this inside, in daylight, perhaps with no OTA on where you can safely and comfortably experiment. You can take something like stellarium and look up stars that would be visible if not for the sun, at times close to or as far from the meridian, or on each side, and then just let everything run. The one thing you can't do is a slew-and-center (just use slew instead), and have to take out autofocus and guiding and such. If you don't want to hook up a real camera (so you can do exposures, which are necessary for nina's triggers to fire) you can create a profile and put the simulator camera in. It doesn't matter what you take as an image, it just needs to do exposures so it can walk through its meridian flip logic.

THis can be particularly useful when trying to test mount limits, without the risk of a collision (in the dark).

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Christian Koll

Topic starter

Oct 9, 2023

Linwood Ferguson:
THis can be particularly useful when trying to test mount limits, without the risk of a collision (in the dark).

Yes, this is a very useful suggestion - thanks very much!

For the targets I'm currently after I know I can go 1-2 hours post the meridian without any collision.
Using a mobile setup only, I always closely observe the slewing of my mount when centering a target.

It's a good idea to have one finger on the off-switch of your mount when trying new things like these!
Chris

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Bernd Limburg

Oct 9, 2023

Hi,

this topic is of interest for me, too. I'm using NINA and EQmod (Ascom) now, but I'm coming from KStars/Ekos/INDI, and there the EQmod has a setting "Target pier side", which can be "Auto", "West (pointing east)" or "East (pointing west)". With this setting, one can force the mount to slew to a target with a fixed, defined pier side (only within certain limits, not too far into the "wrong" side of the meridian).

Seems that the EQmod Ascom driver is a bit different here from the EQmod INDI driver.

CS, Bernd

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Christian Koll

Topic starter

Oct 12, 2023

Hello, we have a solution!

I tested Tom Marsala's suggestion to use check "Force Flipped Go-To" and it works perfectly fine!

However, note, that, when slewing to target, the checkbox unchecks itself after every individual slew.

So, if slewing to target needs 3 or 4 incremental attempst until plate solve is happy, you have to check the box again after every incremental slew.
So make sure to keep the EQMOD-window in the foreground and check the box again after every slew.

As already outlined, make sure your telescope/camera does not bump into your tripod!

CS
Chris

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